In 1863, B&O Master of Machinery Thatcher Perkins designed and built a 47-ton Ten Wheeler for passenger service on the steep grades between Grafton and Piedmont in what is now West Virginia. Numbered 117, it was placed into service in early 1863. The engine was a success, and ten more (numbered non-sequentially) were built that same year. Unfortunately, the original No. 117 was scrapped, but No. 147 - the very last of the original 11 engines to be constructed - was saved by Joseph Pangborn for the B&O's transportation evolution exhibit at the 1893 Columbia Exposition; Pangborn had it renumbered 117 to “stand in” for the original. In 1927, for the B&O’s gala “Fair of the Iron Horse,” the 4-6-0 was restored to operating condition with a new boiler and given a replica tender (the original tenders were unceremoniously discarded in 1893 and the locomotives were displayed without this obvious necessity). It was also given the name “Thatcher Perkins” at this time to honor its designer and builder. It’s likely that the locomotive would have remained in this guise if the roof of the B&O roundhouse hadn’t come crashing down on the engine in 2004. With the cab badly crushed, and with other weather-related damage, the 4-6-0 required a full cosmetic restoration. Thankfully the B&O Museum made the decision to restore the 4-6-0 to its as-delivered No. 147 paint and colors when it was restored in 2010, and today the “Thatcher Perkins” name and colors – dreamt up by the B&O’s PR department, no doubt – are only a memory.
