The Boilermaker Special is the official mascot of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. It resembles a Victorian-era railroad locomotive and is built on a truck chassis. It is operated and maintained by the student members of the Purdue Reamer Club. It is often incorrectly assumed that Purdue Pete is the official mascot of the university.
Inspiration for the Boilermaker Special
Purdue University is a land-grant university (or Agricultural and Mechanical (A&M) university) created through the Morrill Act of 1862. In the 1890s, Purdue became a leader in the research of railway technology. For many years Purdue operated the "Schenectady No. 1", "Schenectady No. 2", and the "Vauclain" on a dynamometer in an engineering laboratory on the West Lafayette campus. The Schenectady No. 1 and 2 were "American"-type steam locomotives manufactured by (and named for) the Schenectady Locomotive Works of Schenectady, New York. They were typical U.S. steam locomotives of the 1890s, a period both of rapid change in the technology of steam locomotives and of the intense interest in understanding their performance that inspired the creation of Purdue's locomotive testing program. Purdue even operated its own railroad to connect the campus powerplant to a main rail line. The American Railway Association Building, which stands on the West Lafayette campus to the southwest of the Mechanical Engineering Building, is one of the few remaining vestiges of the railroad testing which occurred on the campus. It was constructed in 1926 to test railroad car draft gears. Locomotive research ended in 1938 when the Vauclain's boiler was declared unsafe and the dynamometer was decommissioned.
Creation of the mascot For many years Purdue did not have a mascot. In 1939, Purdue pharmacy student Israel Selkowitz suggested the school adopt an official mascot to represent Purdue's engineering heritage. He originally proposed a "mechanical man". After much debate, it was decided to build a locomotive on an automobile chassis. This choice allowed the mascot to build on Purdue's engineering and railroading heritage, as well as represent the school's nickname "Boilermakers" in a meaningful way.
The "Boilermaker" nickname came about during the early years of Purdue football. There had been rumors the university enrolled burly boilermakers from the Monon Railroad shops in Lafayette, Indiana as students/football players to help beef up the scrawny football team after a 44–0 victory over Wabash College in 1891. When a railroad operated an extra train independent of the scheduled timetable, it was known as a "special". Thus, the trains which carried Purdue's sporting teams and their fans to other cities for athletic contests were known as "Boilermaker Specials".
Financial support and encouragement to build the first Boilermaker Special were provided by key members of the Purdue University graduating class of 1907, and members of the Purdue Reamer Club from the graduating classes of 1940 and 1941.
Boilermaker Special I
The Boilermaker Special I was introduced in 1940. The locomotive body was constructed by the Baldwin Locomotive Works and installed on a 1939 "Champion" automobile chassis donated by the Studebaker Corporation (South Bend, Indiana). The chassis had a 6-cylinder in-line gasoline engine and a three-speed manual transmission. The gearshift was on the steering column. The cab contained a single bench seat for the driver and one passenger. Although the coal tender area was not designed for passengers, one passenger could sit on top each of the wheel fenders. The cab had two sheetmetal doors, one on each side, each of which had an open window. Although the cab had a windshield, the back only had a window opening with no glass. This meant the wind and weather would enter the cab from the back.
The bell and the whistle on the boiler are believed to have been donated by the Monon Railroad shops in Lafayette. The whistle used exhaust from the engine as its source of compressed gas. Although the cab had marker lights, the only driving light was the single 'cyclops' light mounted high on the front of the boiler. Due to the high placement of the single headlight and a minimal number of other exterior lights, Boilermaker Special I was not driven at night for safety reasons. In honor of the Purdue students and alumni who contributed to the project, the numbers "074041" were later installed in the sides of the headlight.
Boilermaker Special II
In 1953, the Boilermaker Special II was created by installing the original Baldwin body from the Boilermaker Special I on an International Harvester truck chassis. This meant that the Boilermaker Special II was visually identical to the Boilermaker Special I.
After the Boilermaker Special III was introduced, the Boilermaker Special II was scrapped in a Lafayette IN salvage yard. This was personally witnessed by Reamer Club member Roger Brunstrum so that no one could later claim it was purchased from the scrap yard.
Boilermaker Special trailer A matching trailer was introduced in 1956 to provide seats for about 30 passengers. Passengers boarded the trailer by a set of stairs at the rear of the trailer. One member of the Reamer Club rode the trailer at the stairs to prevent anyone from boarding or exiting the trailer while the trailer was in motion and to communicate with those towing the trailer.
The trailer was similar to a wagon in that the front wheels were steered by a towing yoke. The trailer also had pneumatic brakes which received compressed air from the Boilermaker Special via pneumatic connections adjacent to the trailer hitch. The brakes on the trailer were remotely actuated independently from the brakes on the Boilermaker Special by a hand-operated lever mounted to the right side of the Boilermaker Special's steering column. When it was desired to stop the train, the Pilot had to simultaneously operate the foot brake for the Boilermaker Special and the hand brake for the trailer.
While the trailer did provide additional passenger seating, it was difficult to tow. The brakes worked best when the trailer was fully loaded. When the trailer was lightly loaded, the braking action was excessive, which resulted in the wheels locking and skidding when the brakes were applied. Since the trailer brakes were remotely operated by a hand lever, and the Pilot always had to be ready to operate the brakes, the Pilot had to keep one hand on the trailer brake lever at all times while the Boilermaker Special was moving in the event an emergency stop had to be executed. This meant the Pilot was always driving with only one hand on the steering wheel when the trailer was in use. If the Pilot forgot to operate the trailer brakes when the Boilermaker Special's foot brake was operated, the trailer might jack-knife, particularly if more passengers were seated on one side of the trailer. Also, the steering action of the front trailer wheels was not damped, so the towing speed of the trailer was limited to 25 miles per hour. If the trailer hit a bump when above 25 mph, a stable, rapid, side-to-side oscillation was induced in the front of the trailer that could only be stopped by slowing the trailer below 20 mph. This oscillating motion was very uncomfortable and disturbing to the passengers. Finally, since the front wheels were steered by the towing yoke, the trailer could not be pushed backwards by the Boilermaker Special. It always had to be towed in a forward direction. If it was necessary to move the trailer backwards, the trailer had to be completely disconnected from the Boilermaker Special and manually pushed backwards while being manually steered with the towing yoke.
In later years the trailer was infrequently used. It was retired and scrapped in 1993 when the Boilermaker Special V was introduced. Beginning with Boilermaker Special III, the Boilermaker Special had sufficient seating capacity in the "coal tender" area to accommodate most groups. Boilermaker Special V was neither equipped with a trailer hitch nor pneumatic connections to supply the trailer's brakes. As a result, the trailer could no longer be towed and was no longer needed.
Boilermaker Special III
In 1960, the Boilermaker Special III was introduced. It was built in Detroit by the General Motors Corporation on a 2-ton GMC school bus chassis. It was initially powered by a Buick 6-cylinder gasoline engine connected to a two-speed manual transmission. A single rear axle with dual wheels and a manual-shift, two-speed differential rounded out the drive train. It also featured a pneumatic brake system. A trailer hitch and pneumatic fittings were at the rear of the vehicle to tow the trailer introduced in 1956.
Boilermaker Special III featured an all-new body that was much larger and visually different than the Baldwin-manufactured body used on Boilermaker Specials I and II. The cab and coal tender were constructed of plywood with facings of sheet steel on each side. Forward of the cab, the body was heavy sheet steel and steel plate. The brass bell originally installed on Boilermaker Specials I and II was installed on the boiler. A new headlight was installed at the front of the boiler. It featured a standard automotive 12-volt marker bulb reflected by a large parabolic mirror. It was so bright it could only be used during parades. A locomotive air horn was installed on the top left side of the cab. When the horn was sounded, the Boilermaker Special III could be heard from miles away. To complete the locomotive theme, "steam" could be sprayed from the smokestack. The steam was actually carbon dioxide released by the driver from a fire extinguisher cylinder within the cab and plumbed to a nozzle just below the top of the smokestack.
The body featured a full 12-volt negative ground electrical system powered by an alternator. It supplied power to concealed four-beam headlights, parking/marker lights, brake lights, backup lights, instrument lights, electric windshield wipers, a single-speed heater blower, and a radio/public address system. With this equipment, the Boilermaker Special III was capable of day or night operation on most improved roads, including highways. The original headlight from Boilermaker Special I was initially installed on the back of the coal tender as a rear-facing safety light. It was later removed and installed as the headlight of the Boilermaker IV in 1979. A white block P was displayed on the front of the boiler directly below the large front headlight. The block P was mounted to a metal mesh screen which allowed external cool air to be drawn through the radiator by the engine's radiator fan.
In the 1970s, the original engine and transmission were replaced with a carbureted Chevrolet 350 cubic inch V-8 and a three-speed automatic transmission. The two-speed differential was locked in high gear and shift mechanism removed. A power steering pump and steering assist cylinder were installed to reduce steering effort. In the early 1980s, a brass whistle was installed next to the brass bell and used the same source of compressed air as the large train horn.
In this final configuration, the Boilermaker Special III weighed about 9,300 pounds (4,218 kg). When it was retired in 1993, it had traveled over 110,000 miles (177,027 km).
Boilermaker X-tra Special IV