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Asteam dummy ordummy engine, in the United States and Canada, was asteam locomotive enclosed in awooden box structure made to resemble apassenger railroad car.[1] Steam dummies had some popularity in the first decades of railroading in the U.S., from the 1830s but passed from favor after theAmerican Civil War.[dubious –discuss]
It was thought that the more familiar appearance of a coach presented by a steam dummy, as compared to a conventional steam locomotive, would be less likely to frightenhorses when these trains had to operate in city streets.[2][3] Later it was realized that it was actually the noise and motion of the operating gear of a steam engine that frightened horses, rather than the unfamiliar outlines of a steam engine.
Baldwin Locomotive Works manufactured steam dummies or steam motors for many American tramways.[4] Baldwin exported to places such as Australia where they were known as 'steam tram motors' – and New Zealand, where two, both built in 1891, survive at museums today. Four were imported for the 1879Sydney International Exhibition and tracks were laid from the Redfern railway station to the Exhibition site. Intended as a temporary transport installation, this became the genesis of a largertram network[5] and probably the exhibition's most lasting legacy.[6]
H. K. Porter, Inc. preferred the term "noiseless steam street motor" in their 20th-century catalog, although they used the term "dummy" (in quotes) in the 19th century. In the 20th century, they offered0-4-0 and0-4-2 wheel arrangements.[7] In the 19th century, they also offered a double-ended dummy with a2-4-2 wheel arrangement.[8] Porter recommended usinganthracite orcoke as a fuel in order to avoid smoke. Side flaps to hide the mechanism were optional. Operating speeds between 15 and 25miles per hour (24 and 40 km/h) were reported by 19th-century users.
In the UK, theGreat Western Railway equipped two engines each from the2021 and517 classes with coach bodywork between 1906 and 1911.[9][10]
When it was decided to hold an International Exhibition in Sydney in 1879 a Bill was hurriedly passed through Parliament empowering the Government to construct a tramway from the railway terminus at Redfern to within a few yards of the Exhibition gates in Hunter Street. It was resolved to adopt steam…
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