Built in 1972 for the Wings and Wheels Museum in Santee, NC, under Master Craftsman William Stoia, the metal parts of this replica 0-4-0 Best Friend of Charleston were machined at the R. A. Gibbs Shop in Pleasant Garden, NC. It is now on display in the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, SC. Weighing 3¾ tons, it developed 6 hp and had a top speed of 30 mph.
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 and shipped by boat to Charleston, SC, it arrived in October 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 until 17th June 1831, when it became 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.
You can see another replica on the Best Friend of Charleston, Charleston page of this website.
