Part 4 of 4. The Tom Thumb proved that steam could work on the B&O, but that was only the beginning. The famous horse race, the search for better locomotives, the challenge of Parr’s Ridge, and a growing focus on speed, capacity and efficiency helped turn an experiment into a new way of running a railroad, and eventually, a legend.

On the 289th anniversary of Charles Carroll of Carrollton’s birth, his later birthday celebrations reveal a Founder who remained vigorous, curious, and engaged with America’s future well into his nineties.

Part 3 of 4. The decisive August 28, 1830 journey grew out of months of horse-powered excursions, short steam trials, repairs, and repeated demonstrations. Together, they show how the B&O Railroad learned what steam could do.

Part 2 of 4. Improvised parts, uncertain dimensions, broken wheels, missing copper, and repeated trial runs reveal what the Tom Thumb really was .. a working locomotive prototype built in iron and steam.

Project Backgrounder The Remarkable 95-Year Life of America’s Founding-Era Entrepreneur When Charles Carroll of Carrollton died in 1832 at the age of 95, the United States was almost unrecognizable from the British colony into which he had been born. He had lived under three British kings. He had watched the colonies rebel, helped create an independent nation, served in its first governments, invested in its growing economy, supported canals and other transportation improveme

Part 1 of 4. The Tom Thumb experimental locomotive grew from a very large question: could the B& O Railroad rely on steam engines as it pushed west from a successful horse-powered beginning?

How one Maryland founder connected the Declaration of Independence to the dawn of the American railroad age.