The birth of a railroad culture. That culture was really beyond a religion and almost a mania to the young United States, even though Great Britain gave birth to the first practical steam engines, both stationary, atmospheric, steam piston and rotary motion. It was a Cornwall man by the name of Richard Trevithick who first contracted what was soon to be our “railroad mania.” Thus, the railroad obsession began. On the 21st of February, 1804, his unnamed locomotive pulled some very uneasy passengers along the short track at Penydarren Ironworks in Wales. A Welsh friend I have assures me that Wales should never be confused as being part of England.

Once the wheels started rolling, we “Young Americans” jumped aboard. Some in our former mother country would have said head first. Our distant island cousins were only too happy to exchange this new technology for our “Yankee Bucks” though. As a consequence the eventual mechanism to help America’s dreams of “Manifest Destiny” were born, although we did not know it at the time. Delaware also had one of the first railroads in the United States. That was the Newcastle and Frenchtown Railroad, which opened in 1831.

My area of interest in our hobby is early American railroading. Specifically, the Civil War and before 1900. The only problem is, except for a few other intrepid souls, sometimes it feels like it's just me. The real problem, though, in this area of the hobby is the lack of models. Rolling stock and engines are few on the ground for the
Civil War erra. Basically, it's Mantua cars and Mantua or Bachmann engines. Better than Scratch makes great laser wood kits! I can’t sing BTS’s praises enough and I am not paid to say that. Unfortunately, cars without locomotives aren’t very fun to watch for most of us. I finally got to a point where if I looked at another 4-4-0 type I'd give it all up and go back to writing history. I decided to give it one more try. On the early American railroads, there were a plethora of different types of engines. By the 1860's, it was not just the color schemes that were confusing. There were 2-2-0s, 0-4-0s, 0-2-2s, 4-2-2s, and then some. Everyone was tying to invent the biggest, best, or just plain oddest looking mouse trap imaginable. Mr. Frederick Methvan Whyte who came up with our wheel arrangement classification system must have loved it.

But..... Here I am in..... Stuck with only 4-4-0s..... Or so I thought. On Ebay one day I found a model of a Jervis type 4-2-0 Norris built locomotive by Bachmann called the Prussia. It was not a princely sum, which was good as I have a Chateau Lafite taste, and a basically water budget. This locomotive I purchased, and then thought about “how would this work?” It is an 1830's looking locomotive built for a German railroad. It would have been 30 years old when the American Civil War broke out. What was I thinking?

Then I found my answer! The United States Military Railroad apparently had one as a switcher in Alexandria, Virginia. This 4-2-0 was called Romulus. Only problem was, it was all painted over one color to save on upkeep because of its age. In a time where some locomotives could have eight or more colors, with a wood varnished cab, polished brass, painted pictures, painted scenes, and gilt lettering normal on locomotives, this would not do. Also, I wanted to model the Cracker Line. This name was given to parts of railroads General W. T. Sherman took over. They were then handed to the U.S.M.R.R’s administration to help feed his troops and supply lines. So, ok then, the next logical thought is if we Yanks have a 4-2-0 then, the Rebs must have one also! Suddenly, the idea of the fictitious Western and Atlantic Railroads locomotive number 7, the Missouri was born.

Microscale Decals make great sets of locomotive and freight/passenger car decals for the U.S.M.R.R and the W&A R.R., along with great little reference sheets for the decals. The locomotive would need a cab and appropriate smoke stack. I wanted a whale oil style headlight and possibly a cowcatcher. This is because they would have tried to update the locomotive a little to keep her in service longer. Thus, giving a reason for her to still exist in the 1860's. Also, I think the old style “Hit 'em and scatter 'em” type cowcatchers look cool. My railroad, my decision. One day, I found that Shapeways's 3D Printing Service makes a parts pack for the Bachman 4-2-0 locomotives with a cab, smokestack with lamp, and cowcatcher. I loved it! My wonderful fiancee (now wife) surprised me with it as a present. The cab and smokestack with attached oil lamp look great. The cowcatcher does as well, though the only problem is the holding rings where it fits on to the top of the pilot beam were both broken off in the mail. I must say Shapeways packed the package very well, and it was broken due to the way the package was handled.

That night, doing some research, I found many period drawings and some photos that show many of them did not have cowcatchers, only open pilot beams. So, I will save that part for another model. Since purchasing the model, I was afraid I would have to modify it by cutting off the European-looking buffers on the locomotive. However, doing this research, I was surprised to see how many of our American produced locomotives had something like these. While many Norris built 4-2-0 locomotives were produced to sell to Great Britain and Prussia, many of our locomotives early on had them as well. Norris sold many to the Birmingham and Bristol Railway. Norris was America’s first exporter of locomotives and 30% of the company’s revenue was from export in 1840. Norris, Dixon & Co, Tayleur & Co, and other American manufacturers all produced 4-2-0 locomotives for our American railroads with these buffers.

I liked the model's red-brown and green striped boiler, so I stayed with that for the color scheme: a red-brown lacquered cab and a green tender. The brass smokestack had to go. The really neat 3D printed kit on Shapeways was prepared. I painted the balloon stack black. The whale oil lamp was painted red to almost match the color of the buffers because of different weathering effects on each. She was given the number seven in W&A off white and named Missouri. It was the name I liked in the decal pack and also convenient. I wanted the locomotive to look clean and almost new, which is hard for a 30 year old locomotive. So, then I got the backstory in my head. She was being worked on and repainted before the war broke out. When she was done, they re-named her Missouri because of the state having many pro-secessionists. This also gave me a reason to use the little crossed first national Confederate flag decals. This will help give an impression she has been captured when she is decked out with a U.S.M.R.R. crew and two or three Union soldiers sitting on the tender. The locomotive, Missouri, would thus be illustrating Missouri the state. You tried to steal it from us, and now we are stealing it back. This makes me happy with my pro-union, pro-Lincolnite, and pro-abolition sentiments.

These are my musings, and how my HO scale 4-2-0 Norris locomotive the Missouri was born. I am currently trying to figure out how to turn number seven into a DCC locomotive with sound.