J. Craig Thorpe (American, B. 1948) "New Jersey Locomotive" Signed lower left. Original Oil painting on Paper.

Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation.

This painting is the original which appeared on the Fleetwood Legendary Locomotives of the 50 States New Jersey Commemorative Cover postmarked July 14, 1995.

In 1820, physician Jonathan Pitney envisioned New Jersey's Atlantic City, and the eight-mile-long Absecon Island on which it is located, as an ideal spot for a summer resort. He later headed a group that persuaded the Camden & Atlantic Railroad to make the city its eastern terminus -- a move that eventually led to the realization of Pitney's dream. In 1888, many visitors made the day trips from Philadelphia to Atlantic City by train on one of the competing lines. This entailed a short ferry ride and a 55-1/2-mile rail trip that could be made by the fastest trains of the day in 85 minutes. By 1896, the travel time had been shaved to 70 minutes. However, in April of that year, the Baldwin Locomotive Works built engines 1026 and 1027 -- two "camel back" locomotives with the cab astride the boiler that were guaranteed to slash the running time by another 10 to 20 minutes. Convinced that these engines would give it the lion's share of passenger business, the Atlantic City Railroad assigned them to its Boardwalk Flyer. In 1897, from July to August, No. 1027's performance was carefully documented. And on July 14, the 4-4-2 attained an average speed of 71.6 miles per hour -- setting the railroad world abuzz and making this the fastest scheduled train of its time. The Pennsylvania Railroad -- successor to Camden & Atlantic and by now the Atlantic City Railroad's keen competitor -- was so inspired by that remarkable performance it built three engines that were similar in size and design to the 1027.

Image Size: 14 x 12 in.
Overall Size: 17 x 14.25 in.
Unframed.
(B14785)

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