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''John Bull'' is a British-built railroad steam locomotive that operated in the United States. It was operated for the first time on September 15, 1831, and it became the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operated it in 1981.〔Klein and Bell, pp 280–1.〕 Built by Robert Stephenson and Company, the ''John Bull'' was initially purchased by and operated for the Camden and Amboy Railroad, the first railroad in New Jersey, which gave ''John Bull'' the number 1 and its first name, "''Stevens''". (Robert L. Stevens was president of the Camden and Amboy Railroad at the time.). The C&A used the locomotive heavily from 1833 until 1866, when it was removed from active service and placed in storage. After the C&A's assets were acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1871, the PRR refurbished and operated the locomotive a few times for public displays: it was fired up for the Centennial Exposition in 1876 and again for the National Railway Appliance Exhibition in 1883. In 1884 the locomotive was purchased by the Smithsonian Institution as the museum's first major industrial exhibit. In 1939 the employees at the PRR's Altoona, Pennsylvania, workshops built an operable replica of the locomotive for further exhibition duties, as the Smithsonian desired to keep the original locomotive in a more controlled environment. After being on static display for the next 42 years, the Smithsonian commemorated the locomotive's 150th birthday in 1981 by firing it up, making it the world's oldest surviving operable steam locomotive. Today, the original ''John Bull'' is on static display once more in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. The replica ''John Bull'' is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. ==Construction and initial use== The ''John Bull'' was built in Newcastle, England, by Robert Stephenson and Company for the Camden and Amboy Railroad (C&A), the first railroad built in New Jersey. It was dismantled and then shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in crates aboard the ''Allegheny''.〔 C&A engineer Isaac Dripps reconstructed the locomotive to the best of his ability (the shipment did not include any drawings or instructions to assemble the locomotive) and ran it for the first time in September 1831.〔Carter, p 140.〕〔Whittemore, p 32.〕 On November 12, 1831, Robert Stevens (then president of the C&A) repaid some political debts by inviting several members of the New Jersey legislature and some local dignitaries, including Napoleon's nephew Prince Murat, for rides behind the newly delivered locomotive over a short test track. The prince's wife, Catherine Willis Gray, made a point of hurrying onto the train so she could be declared the first woman to ride a steam-powered train in America.〔〔〔Wilson, p 225.〕 Until the railroad construction was completed, the locomotive was placed in storage; horse-drawn cars served the construction efforts until 1833.〔 The C&A applied both numbers and names to their first locomotives, giving this engine the number 1 and officially naming it ''Stevens'' (after the C&A's first president, Robert L. Stevens).〔Whittemore, p 30.〕 However, through regular use of the engine, crews began calling it ''the old John Bull'',〔 a reference to the cartoon personification of England, John Bull. Eventually the informal name was shortened to ''John Bull'' and this name was so much more widely used that ''Stevens'' fell out of use.〔 In September 1836 the ''John Bull'' and two coaches were shipped by canal to Harrisburg, and became the first locomotive to operate there.〔Wilson, p 54.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John Bull (locomotive)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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