Name/Title
Model Train EngineEntry/Object ID
1945.27abDescription
Model train consisting of an engine car and fuel car. The engine has a chimney, a large bell, and whistle along the top. The front has a pilot grate and a lantern. The wheels are painted red and there is a small red cab at the back printed on the sides with "STRANGER". A small car is attached to the back of the engine with three sides. (The back is left open.) The sides are printed with "N.G.R.R."Context
The model is of the locomotive, "Stranger", which operated for the Vermont Central Railroad starting in 1852. This model was made by Alfred E. Butterfly in 1877.Acquisition
Accession
1945.27Source or Donor
Butterfly, CharlesAcquisition Method
GiftMade/Created
Artist
Butterfly, Alfred E. (1848-1891)Date made
1877 - 1877Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Primary Object Term
Model, ProductNomenclature Class
Advertising MediaNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsDimensions
Height
21 inWidth
14 inLength
44-1/2 inInterpretative Labels
Label
Train Model, 1877
Alfred Edward Butterfly (1848-1891)
Montpelier, Vermont
Painted metal
Gift of Alfred Emmanuel Butterfly, #1945.27
The locomotive "Stranger" started operations on the Vermont Central Railroad in 1852 and may have served the stone industry, transporting unfinished stone to the finishing sheds in Barre and Montpelier. Alfred Butterfly, the son of Canadian immigrants, worked as a polisher in the stone sheds of Montpelier. He died at the age of 43 in 1891 of silicosis, a disease of the lungs caused by granite dust.