1832 – Two steam engines were purchased from Edward Bury Co. of Liverpool, England at a cost of $5,000 each. They arrived by sailing ship at the Port of Baltimore and were hauled in pieces on heavy wagons pulled by teams of oxen to Tamaqua. The engines were soon assembled and put into service on the Little Schuylkill Railroad. These first two engines were named the Catawissa and the Comet. The Little Schuylkill Railroad can rightfully advance the claim as the first railroad in America to use steam power to haul anthracite coal.
