Pulling into the station this #TrainTuesday - it's the Lehigh Valley Railroad's 'Delaware', Engine #5.
This wood-burning locomotive was the first built for the Lehigh Valley Railroad by Richard Norris & Sons of Philadelphia in 1855. This glass negative is undated, but would have been taken between its construction and when the locomotive went out of use by around 1870.
This item is part of Hagley Library's collection of Locomotives and views of Mauch Chunk contact photographs and negatives (Accession: 1969.092), a collection was purchased as a lot from a dealer in 1969.
The images in this collectoin document an array of subjects, though the majority of the images are of locomotives, railroad cars, railroad stations, and other railroad infrastructure from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Central Railroad of New Jersey, Erie Railroad, Lehigh Valley Railroad, New York Central Lines, Pennsylvania Railroad, Reading Railroad, and a small number of other railway companies.
Various landscape and cityscape photographs are also included in this collection. Where it is possible to identify the locations, the majority of images document sites in Pennsylvania, though photographs of sites in New York state and Ontario are also present.
Many of the images in this collection were captured by unidentified photographers. Two series in this collection, however, include works by known photographers William H. Rau (1855-1920) and James Zellner (1836-1897).
William H. Rau was prominent Philadelphia photographer. During the 1870s and 1880s, Rau would become best known for his work photographing scenic views from around the world. During his stays in Philadelphia, he was also prominent portrait photographer for the city’s elites.
James Zellner was a lesser-known figure who worked as a regional photographer out of the town of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, where he was credited as being the first operator of a photograph gallery in the town.
Both Rau and Zellner's contributions to this collection include images of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania. Mauch Chunk is the original name of Jim Thorpe borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania. The discovery of coal prompted several mining towns to develop in Mauch Chunk and lead to it becoming an important coal shipping center.
To view this collection online now in our Digital Archive, click here.