(Mostly) Static Display
After the locomotive returned to the Smithsonian, it remained on static display. The museum in 1930 commissioned the Altoona Works to build a second replica of the locomotive's tender for display with the locomotive in the museum. This time, however, the replica tender re-used some of the fittings that the museum had retained when the original tender was dismantled twenty years earlier.
The Smithsonian recognized the locomotive's age in 1931. But, since the museum didn't have the funds to refurbish the locomotive for full operation again, it was decided to run the locomotive in place (with the driving wheels lifted off the rails using jacks) with compressed air. The museum borrowed an 1836 coach from the Pennsylvania Railroad to display on the track behind the newly rebuilt tender, and the locomotive's 100th birthday was officially celebrated on November 12, 1931. The locomotive's semi-operation was broadcast over the CBS radio network with Stanley Bell narrating the ceremonies for the radio audience.
The PRR again borrowed the locomotive in 1933–1934 for the Century of Progress exhibition in Chicago. Unlike its earlier jaunt to Chicago, for this trip, the railroad hauled and displayed it as a static exhibit. While this exhibit was progressing, the Altoona Works were busy again building a replica; this time the replica was an operable copy of the locomotive itself. The replica was then operated in 1940 at the New York World's Fair, while the original locomotive and rebuilt tender returned to the Smithsonian.
The original locomotive was displayed outside the museum one more time in 1939 at the New York World's Fair, but the museum's curators decided that the locomotive was becoming too fragile for repeated outside exhibits. It was then placed in somewhat permanent display back in the East Hall where it remained for the next 25 years. The locomotive was moved to its current home, the National Museum of American History (then called the National Museum of History and Technology), in 1964.
Read more about this topic: John Bull (locomotive)
Famous quotes containing the word display:
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