I'm currently working on an article about replica steam locomotives, and I'm curious about the Baldwin "Old Ironsides" replica at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont. I can't find much information about it. Does anyone know who built it or where it came from? Is it a full size reproduction? Wood? Metal? I know it's not on one of the Pangborn models.

Jeff Terry
Preservation Columnist
Railfan & Railroad Magazine

BLW built a replica Old Ironsides for the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. I have seen some statements suggesting that that replica then passed to the Field Museum. Perhaps the Shelburne locomotive is the same artifact, transferred from one museum to the other at some point (either direct or via a chain of transfers)?

Jeff, as you are a working journalist I would place a call to the Shelburne's PR office. Ask the PR folks if they would have the curator pull the accession file and give you a call or drop you a line with the provenance of the artifact.

Shelburne's PR office contact info:
Phone: (802) 985-3348 x3331
E-mail: lwright@shelburnemuseum.org

In my experience museum PR people are wonderfully helpful in facilitating media queries.