Stephen Lafayette Pagenhardt

Stephen Lafayette Pagenhardt was an early Live Steam modeler from Cumberland County, Maryland. Stephen built a 1.5 inch scale, 7-1/4 inch gauge 4-4-0 named Little Maryland. He was 16 years old when he started work on the locomotive, and finished it at age 19. The model was subsequently featured at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Little Maryland

Stephen Lafayette Pagenhardt with the fully operating scale model Little Maryland steam engine he designed and built in the late nineteenth century. Inset: The actual C&P locomotive Maryland Stephen selected as his model. It was built in 1865 in Norris, Pennsylvania and rebuilt in 1898 and 1902 at Mount Savage, Maryland. Photo from Mountain Discoveries.

Little Maryland specifications:

• 1.5 inch scale
• 7-1/4 inch gauge
• Based on Cumberland & Pennsylvania Railroad 4-4-0 Maryland
• Boiler contained twenty three tubes, one-half inch each
• Brass cylinders
• Wheel base: 26 inches
• Tender: three gallon capacity
• Total length: 64 inches
• Weight: 190 pounds
• Track: cast iron rails

The Little Maryland was the first operating model steam locomotive in Western Maryland. The British publication, 7-1/4 News, published an article suggesting that Stephen's locomotive was the first 7-1/4 inch gauge locomotive built in the United States.

The locomotive was damaged in a fire. Richard Arnold restored it to like-new condition. It is now exhibited at the Garrett County Historical Society Museum.

Stephen Lafayette Pagenhardt's restored model steam locomotive at the Garrett Country Historical Society Museum.

External Links

• "Little Maryland", Mountain Discoveries
• Garrett County Historical Society Museum