Pioneer (locomotive)

Pioneer
Pioneer c. 1898
Type and origin Power type Steam Builder Baldwin Locomotive Works Build date 1837; 187 years ago (1837)
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 4-2-0
Career Operators Utica and Schenectady Railroad (U&S), Michigan Central Railroad (MC), Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (G&CU), Chicago and North Western Railroad (C&NW), Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) Official name Alert (U&S), Pioneer (G&CU) Retired 1875 Disposition Locomotive on static display, tender stored until 1977 when it was dismantled and subsequently destroyed

Pioneer is the first railroad locomotive to operate in Chicago, Illinois. It was built in 1837 by Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Utica and Schenectady Railroad (U&S) in New York, then purchased used by William B. Ogden for the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad (G&CU, the oldest predecessor of Chicago and North Western Railway). The locomotive arrived in Chicago by schooner on October 10, 1848, and it pulled the first train westbound out of the city on October 25 that year.