This replica of the 0-4-0 Best Friend of Charleston engine was built in 1928 from original plans, with an adjustment for gauge, to commemorate the centenary of the founding of the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road.
The original “Best Friend” was built for the South Carolina Canal & Rail Road Company by the West Point Foundry in New York in 1830. Disassembled for shipment by boat to Charleston, SC, it arrived in October of that year and was unofficially named the “Best Friend of Charleston”. After its inaugural run on Christmas Day, it was used in regular passenger service along a six mile demonstration route in Charleston.
On 17th June 1831, it had the dubious honour of being the first locomotive in the US to suffer a boiler explosion, seriously injuring the engine's crew. The explosion is said to have been caused by the fireman, having tired of hearing it whistle, tying down the steam pressure release valve, which caused the boiler pressure to exceed its capacity and explode.
The replica was widely exhibited in the following years, appearing at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933-34, the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair and the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1948-49.
The replica got a new boiler in 1969 but, at some point it also had a Ford 302 cid engine and automatic transmission installed under the box in the tender with a chain drive to the axle to provide the drive.
On 6th August 2005, the replica was lent by the City of Charleston for five years to the Norfolk Southern Railway, the current operator of the original South Carolina Canal & Rail Road line. After refurbishing at the Chattanooga, TN, NS shops it was placed on display outside the New York Stock Exchange on 12th December 2005 in a ceremony celebrating 175 years of American railroad history.
The Best Friend subsequently went on display at Norfolk Southern's headquarters in Atlanta, GA, and was then transported by truck back to Charleston, SC, in October 2013. In May 2014, the Best Friend of Charleston Museum opened in the downtown Charleston Historic District to house the replica. It is open to the public daily except on major holidays from 9.00am until 4.00pm.
There is another replica of the Best Friend, which was built in 1972. You can see it on the Best
Friend of Charleston, Columbia, SC, page of this website.