Locomotives
After 1852, the company expanded again, venturing into the locomotive business. Mason's innovative locomotive designs quickly drew praise from railroad engineers and operators, and were known to be the easiest engines to repair. His ideas and improvements would later be adopted by other locomotive builders.
The company would construct 754 steam locomotives between 1853 and 1889. However, after William Mason's death in 1883, the firm would mostly concentrate on its core business of textile machinery.
Two locomotives built by Mason have been preserved, both fully operational. One is the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's number 25, a 4-4-0 type engine built in 1856, which was later named in honor of Mason. It is currently at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum. The other is Hecla & Torch Lake Railroad Number 3, a 0-6-4 engine of the Mason Bogie design built in 1873, currently at the Henry Ford Museum.
Read more about this topic: Mason Machine Works
Famous quotes containing the word locomotives:
“The flower-fed buffaloes of the spring
In the days of long ago,
Ranged where the locomotives sing
And the prairie flowers lie low:—”
—Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931)