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?