IMG_0602 from iPod touch

this locomotive named Pioneer was the mainstay for the CVRR

I am certain to build a reproduction model of this loco in all scales from the least to the greatest. Once I build the lathe from the plans by Ramah Machines then comes the fabrication of this locomotive. The Pioneer is my dream loco for I am a Pioneer! Amen.

The Cumberland Valley Railroad (CVRR) was chartered in 1831 and ran from Pennsylvania to Virginia. In 1851, it bought a pair of 2-2-2 tank engines from Union Works in Boston named "Jenny Lind" and "Pioneer." These engines were used on light passenger duties, and their light weight let them run anywhere. Pioneer was able to reach 40 miles per hour with two coaches. During the 1850s and into the 1860s, the 2-2-2 tank engine proved so popular that the configuration was known as the Pioneer type in America (it was usually called Patented in Europe). However, as time wore on, trains became heavier and engines became stronger, so Pioneer was demoted to work-train duty in 1881. It was soon retired, but was saved from scrap in 1901 at the age of fifty and went on tour. After many years of restoration, Pioneer is on display at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, in the Civil War exhibit. The railroad track was constructed of cross ties laid 4.5 feet (1.4 m)apart without ballast, with 5x9 in (127x229 mm) oak stringers serving as rails. Iron bar, 0.625 inches (15.9 mm) thick by 2.25 inches (57 mm) wide, was spiked to the top of the stringers. When service began to Chambersburg, the iron was not laid for the last 3 miles (4.8 km) and the cars were run in on the wooden stringers.