B & O Railroad "Atlantic" Grasshopper

By 1830, steam locomotives were regarded as being the most promising source of motive power for the fledgling American railroads.  However, locomotive configuration depended, to a large extent, upon the instincts of the builders.  Thus, the creative minds of Phineas Davis, Ross Winans, Peter Cooper and Israel Gartner gave birth to a unique design which was know as the Grasshopper type.

The first unit emerged from their Baltimore works in 1832 and was named the Atlantic. Weighing about 14,000 pounds, it featured a vertical boiler and two vertical cylinders driving an overhead beam which powered a crank mechanism geared to the front axle.  Since the front and rear wheels were now coupled, theAtlantic could have been classified as an 0-2-2, however it is usually called a Four Wheeler.

The Atlantic, with its bobbing beams and rods, resembled a huge grasshopper walking along the track hence its popular nickname.  She disappeared from service around 1836, however in 1893 the Baltimore and Ohio rebuilt the #7 Grasshopper, Andrew Jackson, to resemble the Atlantic as she appeared in about 1834.  This locomotive can now be seen in the B & O Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.  Aster chose to model in Gauge 1, the Atlantic as she currently appears in the museum.

The Aster Grasshopper found a new employment opportunity as a "backwoods" locomotive.  Check out Sonny Wizelman's article on detailing and weathering - "The Backwoods Grasshopper" -  on the reference pa