Locomotive 220

Rail Locomotive No. 220, built in 1915 by the American Locomotive Company of Schenectady, New York, was the last coal-burning, steam ten-wheeler used on the Central Vermont Railway. This medium-sized 4-6-0 engine, with four leading wheels, six driving wheels, and no trailing small wheels, pulled both freight and passenger trains in Vermont. It became known as "The Locomotive of the Presidents" for use on special trains carrying Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, and it also hauled a special train for Winston Churchill during his late 1941 visit to Canada and the U.S. Steam locomotives were the only type of railroad engine in the United States until 1895, when the first electric train was introduced, and they remained dominant until diesel-electric locomotives gained wide acceptance in the 1950s. No. 220 had a starting tractive effort of about 28,000 pounds, and with an experienced fireman and good coal it could produce about 1500 hp at 50 mph. The Central Vermont Railway retired No. 220 in 1956 and presented it for preservation.

Shelburne, Vermont · United States