After an in-depth study for the UK's National Railway Museum, an 0-4-0 that was supposedly built around 1822 has been found to actually date from somewhere around 1849!
Back in 1902, Lambton & Hetton Collieries claimed that their locomotive "Lyon" was the oldest working locomotive in the world and was built in 1822 by George Stephenson.
It remained in service with them until 1912 and was then preserved, eventually ending up at the NRM annexe at Shildon where it is currently on display.
The key factor in disproving the "1822" date was that the boiler could not have been constructed earlier than the 1840's due to the technology needed to manufacture long sheets of wrought iron plate that was used in its construction.
It does look rather "old" for something constructed that late though, particularly if you discount the smokebox/chimney/buffing gear, which look more "modern".........

The photo was taken in Shildon museum back in March - the weekend before "Lockdown" hit here...

Is this a "I have my grandfather's hammer" story with the 5 replacement handles and 2 replacement heads?

Brian

Well, if it ran in service for 60 years, that is certainly going to be the case - But at least they have now disproved the story that it ran in service for 90 years! (and would have had even more parts replaced in the extra 30 years......)

A 1849 boiler does not mean that the original locomotive was not built in 1822. It just shows that it was reboilered. You would have to date the rest of the parts to prove that. There is a good chance that only the frame is original.

Stuff like this is more common than you might think.

My understanding is that some of the original signage in the B&O Railroad Museum and the predecessors of the National Railway Museum in Britain occasionally played a bit fast and loose with some of the facts, such as not recognizing replicas as such. And for years, Mt. Clare Station, attached to the Pratt Street roundhouse, was at least implied to be the original 1827 "station" for the B&O and the "nation's oldest station," not the 1852 replacement for the original "shack." Remember, the original "curators" of said museums came from the railroads' marketing departments, not any historical training or museum/curatorial studies.

The USF Constellation in Baltimore was presented for years as the 1797 frigate of that name. Later research proved what every serious ship historian already knew: it was actually an 1853 sloop made up to resemble the frigate.

Many museums and historical sites have engaged in subtle to outrageous exaggeration. Basically every claimant to "city/state/nation's oldest bar" has engaged in some form of lying, including one location in Baltimore claiming to be "since 1792" but which deed records show was owned for ten years in the early 1800s by a virulent anti-alcohol Methodist minister, and used as a congregation meeting place in that time! (The new owners of said bar quietly ditched all the "Nation's Oldest Bar" t-shirts and souvenirs after the deal closed.)

The difference now is that in the internet era, such lies or exaggerations are more easily exposed, debated, and scrutinized. I can't think of any attempts in 2020 to blatantly misrepresent, say, a Shay, an Argent Lumber steamer, or SP 2-8-0 as a "Wild West loco," save for something like the Tweetsie which is still now more "honest" than decades ago. (Though one of the otherwise "classiest" excursion operations still has "Wild West train robberies" regularly......)

There is a bit more about their findings here....
https://www.therailwayhub.co.uk/12168/r ... ocomotive/
Interestingly the NRM website is still showing it as built in "1822" !!!,

Or, as a colleague in the UK once called such an item, "Charlemagne's Original Battle Axe".... ;^)

/s/ Larry
Lawrence G. Lovejoy, P.E.