I figured I'd go here second, as a google search hasn't revealed much of Matthias Forney's patent for his pattern of locomotive (i.e. a Forney). Has anyone ever dug up the patent before? I've seen two seperate citations for when it was originally given to him. The first is a range of 1861-1864 when he worked for the Illinois Central, and the second is 1866 which comes from A History of the American Locomotive: Its Development, 1830-1880. I would guess that begs the further question as to when the patent was actually granted and/or filed for. Some help from the experts among us would be greatly appreciated, as I'm quite curious as to what's actually in the patent.

Patent #52,406 issued February 6, 1866

The patent number is 52406, dated February 6, 1866.

link to the patent - on google patents
https://patents.google.com/patent/US52406A/en?oq=+52406

bob

Anybody think it is funny, that the whole point of the Forney patent was to run cab forward, and basically nobody ever did that?

Immaterial. It's expired, so go ahead and build a few. I'd go in 2',3' and standard gauges.