Christened as the Best Friend of Charleston the locomotive was an 0-4-0 that burned standard wood and was capable of producing 6 to 8 horsepower with speeds reaching 30 mph empty or about 12 mph loaded (laughable, yes, by today's standards but a powerful machine in those days). A vertical boiler mounted on a four-wheel carriage, the Best Friend was built by the West Point Foundry of New York and put into service on a broad-gauge line from Charleston to Hamburg, S.C., by the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company on Dec. 25, 1830. The Best Friend Of Charleston (or simply "Best Friend") is a type of vertical boiler, 0-4-0, steam locomotive. History. The railroad transcended these obstacles and brought economic prosperity back to Charleston. It was built in 1830 by the South Carolina Rail Road Company by the West Point Foundry of New York. Then, tragedy struck. Within five months of the “Best Friend’s” debut, a second locomotive, the “West Point,” arrived in Charleston.

It killed him, scalded the engineer and …

One month later, the rail line reached Woodstock, a point between Charleston and Summerville. Commissioned by the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company, the Best Friend of Charleston was the first locomotive built in the United States for public service.Constructed in New York City at the West Point Foundry to run on the Charleston-Hamburg line, the Best Friend was christened by hopeful supporters on its Charleston arrival in October 1830. Best Friend of Charleston in Huntingburg Indiana 1976 8mm super edited
Best Friend of Charleston, first steam locomotive built in the United States for regular railway service.

A careless fireman unwittingly caused an explosion. Unfortunately, the Best Friend's boiler exploded after just a few months of service. The Best Friend of Charleston was a steam-powered railroad locomotive which is widely acclaimed as the first locomotive to be built entirely within the United States for revenue service and produced the first locomotive boiler explosion in the United States. It is notable for being one of the first steam locomotives to be built in the US. Overall, the unit weighed about 3.75 tons (minus water in the boiler and fuel/wood).