Steamtown Special History Study

BULLARD COMPANY NO. 2

Owner(s):

Bullard Company 2

Whyte System Type: 0-4-0T
Class:

Building: H.K. Porter
Date Built: October 1937
Builder's Number: 7250

Cylinders (diameter x stroke in inches): 9 x 14
Boiler Pressure (in lbs. per square inch): 170
Diameter of Drive Wheels (in inches): 26-112

Tender Capacity:
    Coal (in tons): Not applicable
    Oil (in gallons):
    Water (in gallons):

Weight on Drivers (in lbs.):

Remarks: This oil burner is in pretty good condition.

Bullard Company 0-4-0T Locomotive No. 2

History: Incorporated in Connecticut on September 4, 1894, as the Bullard Machine Tool Company, the firm had actually been established in 1880 by a family of the same name. As its initial name suggested, it manufactured machine tools of various kinds. Over the next century it continued to manufacture ever-new generations of machine tools, many of which were intended for use by the railroad industry in manufacturing and repairing locomotives and railroad cars. The company changed its name to the Bullard Company on January 4, 1929. As of 1930, the firm manufactured such machinery as vertical turret lathes, boring mills, and mult-au-matic and contin-u-matic machines used in manufacture of railroad equipment, trucks, automobiles, electrical equipment, etc. The 1941 edition of the Locomotive Cyclopedia carried an advertisement for "The Bullard Cut Master Vertical Turret Lathe," which touted the machine as "a modem tool designed to put shop schedules on par with train schedules." It is interesting to note that a century after its founding, the Bullard Company still listed men of the Bullard family among its officers.

As was the case with many industrial concerns, the Bullard plant in Bridgeport, Connecticut, apparently had sufficient sidings and loading tracks for the firm to require its own small switching locomotive to switch cars to and from the loading tracks and line up loaded cars for pickup by a freight train.

In the Steamtown Foundation files rests a 1913 catalog of Steam Locomotive Repair Parts issued by the H.K. Porter Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While it lists and illustrates mostly locomotive components, at the beginning of the catalog are a number of pages of photographs of typical whole locomotives produced by Porter. On page 6 is an illustration of a small 0-4-0T Locomotive No. 118 of The Drake and Stratton Company, Contractors. Added above the locomotive on that page with a fountain pen is the script "Bullard # 1273," and below the illustration of the locomotive, the eight specification figures given for No. 118 have been crossed out, again with a fountain pen. Substitute figures for an even smaller 0-4-0T, though of the same pattern, have been inked in. Where No. 118 had 12- by 16-inch cylinders, those of the Bullard engine were to be 9 by 14. No. 118 carried a saddle tank with a capacity of 700 gallons, whereas the Bullard engine was to carry only 450 gallons. Instead of a 5-foot wheel base, that of the Bullard engine was to be 4 feet, 6 inches. Instead of carrying 600 pounds of coal, the Bullard engine was to be an oil burner with a 100-gallon tank. Instead of 35-inch drive wheels, the Bullard engine was to have 27-inch wheels. Instead of 42,000 pounds, the Bullard engine was to weigh 30,000. Instead of a tractive force of 9,200 pounds, the Bullard locomotive was to feature 6,070. Only one specification of the Bullard engine was to match or exceed those of the Stratton model: It was to have safety valves set to pop at 170 pounds per square inch of boiler pressure, rather than the 155 pounds of the Stratton engine.

On its title page, this Porter catalog had five lines penciled in red: "MT # 1273," a designation whose meaning is unclear at present; "Class B-S-I," apparently a builder's class, since it is doubtful that the Bullard Company had established its own classes of engines, this being only its second locomotive; "Serial No. 7250," which is the H.K. Porter shop number for the locomotive; "P.O. 24547," believed to be the Bullard Company's purchase order to Porter for the locomotive; and "R'C'D.--Oct. 25, 1937," believed to mean that Bullard took delivery of the locomotive on that date. The inference is that the Bullard Company used this very catalog in 1937, perhaps with the assistance either in person or by telephone of an H.K. Porter Company representative, to order its Locomotive No. 2. The changes in specifications entered with a fountain pen probably were written by a Porter sales representative, but the red-penciled notations that included the purchase order number were more likely done by a Bullard employee.

In any event, the H.K. Porter Company turned Out Bullard Company No. 2 in October 1937, a Porter inspector named William F. Lintner filled out the engine's first Annual Locomotive Inspection and Repair Report on October 20, and the Bullard Company took delivery of its extremely small Locomotive No. 2 at Bridgeport on October 27.

The subsequent operational history of Bullard Company Locomotive No. 2 awaits further research. Apparently intended to be operated by a single engineer-fireman, the locomotive undoubtedly switched cars around the Bridgeport, Connecticut, plant for about 15 or 20 years prior to being acquired by Steamtown.

At an unknown date, probably in the late 1950s or early 1960s, the Bullard Company sold Locomotive No. 2 to a used locomotive dealer, the American Machinery Corporation of Bridgeport, Connecticut. F. Nelson Blount's Monadnock, Steamtown and Northern Amusements Corporation at North Walpole, New Hampshire, purchased the engine in June 1963.

Condition: Mechanical condition of this locomotive is unknown; its external appearance is reasonably good although at present it is not lettered for its historic owner.

Recommendations: A researched report should be completed on this locomotive. A particular objective of such research would be to ascertain the historic painting and lettering scheme of this locomotive so that its appearance can be accurately restored. This should involve a thorough search for photographs of the locomotive at work at the Bullard plant. Additionally, an effort should be made to locate, and interview on tape or videotape, employees of the Bullard Company who can provide information about the locomotive and its operation--including, if possible, men who served as an engineer-fireman on the engine. The report should also incorporate information on predecessor and successor locomotives to place Bullard Locomotive No. 2 in context, including photographs of predecessor and successor locomotives. To the extent possible, the report should document any physical changes in the locomotive since its construction and include a thorough assessment of its current condition, after which it should deal with the question of whether this locomotive should be restored to operable condition. The report should also contain a more thorough background history of the Bullard Company and its relation to the railroad industry in general.

A Bullard Company employee, or possibly a representative of the H.K. Porter Company, or both working together, used this page from a 1913 Porter catalog to draw up the order for their 0-4-0T Locomotive No. 2. Changes to the specifications of this Drake & Stratton Co. locomotive, marked in with a fountain pen, resulted in the Bullard locomotive being an even smaller locomotive than the one illustrated here. Only the boiler pressure represented an increase; in every other measurement, the locomotive was smaller. Steamtown Foundation Collection.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Annual Locomotive Inspection and Repair Report." Form 289, H.K. Porter Company Shop # 7250, Oct. 1937.

Guide to the Steamtown Collection. Bellows Falls: Steamtown Foundation., n.d. [ca. 1973]: Item 12 and roster entry.

Locomotive Cyclopedia of American Practice. New York: Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corp., 1941, Section 20: 1117.

Moody's Manual of Investments. New York: Moody's Investors' Service 1930: 258.

"Specification Card for Locomotive Boiler No. 3655." H.K. Porter Company, Shop #7250, Oct. 1937.

Steam Locomotive Repair Parts, H.K. Porter Company. Pittsburgh: H.K. Porter Company, 1913: title page, 6.

"Steamtown Engine Roster, September 1967." Bulletin of the National Railway Historical Society, Vol. 33, No. 1 (1968): 8.