Locomotives of Lowell - Lowell, MA
N 42° 38.714 W 071° 18.779
19T E 310387 N 4724013
This historical marker about the Locomotives of Lowell is located in downtown Lowell, Massachusetts.
Waymark Code: WM652C
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 04/04/2009
Views: 5
The marker text reads as follows:
Lowell was a laboratory for technological innovation for the textile industry, water power, and railroads in the nineteenth century. As early as 1832, the Locks and Canals machine shop imported a British locomotive from its inventor, Robert Stephenson, in order to develop an American engine.
In the late 1830s, Engineer George W. Whistler oversaw the construction of the first Lowell-made locomotives copied from the British engine. By 1845, seventy-five were running on new railroads throughout New England. By the 1860s, Lowell no longer made locomotives.
Locomotive No. 410
This steam locomotive was built in 1911 by the Manchester Locomotive Works. It powered trains on the Boston & Maine Railroad, which had merged with the original Boston & Lowell Railroad in 1887 to create a regional rail network.
The Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society and Lowell National Historical Park restored Locomotive No. 410. The two organizations have also cooperated to restore the adjoining railcar and develop a railroad history exhibit in the railcar.