A comparison of the surviving illustrations of Hinkley and Wilmarth engines of the 1850's reveals a remarkable similarity in their details (figs. 14 and 15). Notice particularly the straight boiler, riveted frame, closely set truck wheels, feedwater pump driven by a pin on the crank of the driving wheel, and details of the dome cover. All of the features are duplicated exactly by both builders. This is not surprising considering the proximity of the plants and the fact that Wilmarth had been previously employed by Hinkley.
In 1854 Wilmarth was engaged by the New York and Erie Railroad to build fifty 6-foot gauge engines.[18] After work had been started on these engines, and a large store of material had been purchased for their construction, Wilmarth was informed that the railroad could not pay cash but that he would have to take notes in payment.[19] There was at this time a mild economic panic and notes could be sold only at a heavy discount. This crisis closed the Union Works. The next year, 1855, Seth Wilmarth was appointed master mechanic of the Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, where he worked for twenty years. He died in Malden, Massachusetts, on November 5, 1886.
[1] _Minutes of the Board of Managers of the Cumberland Valley Railroad._ This book may be found in the office of the Secretary, Pennsylvania Railroad, Philadelphia, Pa., June 25, 1851. Hereafter cited as "Minutes C.V.R.R."
[4] _Franklin Repository_ (Chambersburg, Pa.), August 26, 1909.
[5] _Railroad Advocate_ (December 29, 1855), vol. 2, p. 3.
[6] C. E. FISHER, "Locomotives of the New Haven Railroad," _Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin_ (April 1938), no. 46, p. 48.
[8] _Evening Sentinel_ (Carlisle, Pa.), October 23, 1901.
[9] _Norwich Bulletin_ (Norwich, Conn.), July 24, 1879. All data regarding A. F. Smith is from this source unless otherwise noted.
[10] _Railway Age_ (September 13, 1889), vol. 14, no. 37. Page 600 notes that Tyler worked on C.V.R.R. 1851-1852; Smith's obituary (footnote 9) mentions 1849 as the year; and minutes of C.V.R.R. mention Tyler as early as 1850.
[12] A. F. HOLLEY, _American and European Railway Practice_ (New York: 1861). An illustration of Smith's superheater is shown on plate 58, figure 13.