National Museum
of American History

John Bull is a historic British-built railroad steam locomotive that operated in the United States. It was operated for the first time on September 15, 1831, and became the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution ran it under its own steam in 1981. Built by Robert Stephenson and Company, it was initially purchased by and operated for the Camden and Amboy Railroad, the first railroad in New Jersey, which gave it 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 it 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 it was purchased by the Smithsonian Institution as the museum's first major industrial exhibit.

In 1939 the employees of the PRR's Altoona, Pennsylvania workshops built an operable replica of the locomotive for further exhibition duties, as the Smithsonian wanted to keep the original locomotive in a more controlled environment. After being on static display for 42 years, the Smithsonian commemorated the locomotive's 150th birthday in 1981 by firing it up; it was then the world's oldest surviving operable steam locomotive.

As of 2021, the original John Bull is on static display in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., and the replica is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.

Wikipedia

Southern Railway 1401 is a 4-6-2 steam locomotive built in July 1926 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Richmond, Virginia, for the Southern Railway (SOU) as a member of the Ps-4 class, which was based on the United States Railroad Administration (USRA) Heavy Pacific design with some minor differences. It was assigned to haul SOU's premier mainline passenger trains between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia.

Painted in a Virginian green and gold paint scheme, No. 1401 and the other Ps-4s were signified as the First Ladies of the Pacifics around the SOU system. Originally built with Baker valve gear and alligator crossheads, the Ps-4s were eventually re-equipped with Walschaerts valve gear in the 1930s and multiple-bearing crossheads in the 1940s.

During 1945, No. 1401 hauled the funeral train of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Retired from revenue service by the SOU in 1952, No. 1401 was donated to the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., around 1961, where it remains on permanent display.

In November 1961, the No. 1401 locomotive was cosmetically restored and transported via flatbed truck to the Smithsonian's under construction Museum of History and Technology building, which opened in early 1964 and later renamed to National Museum of American History in 1980 to reflect its scope of American history. In 1965, No. 1401 given a visor on its headlight and the Charlotte division logo inscribed underneath its cab per advice of W. Graham Claytor Jr., who was SOU president at the time. The No. 1401 locomotive currently remains on permanent static display at the Smithsonian as the sole survivor of the Southern Railway Ps-4 class.

Wikipedia