The Pennsylvania Railroad at Yeaton-Walsh

At the Archaeology Open House last week, visitors' favorite artifact from the Yeaton-Walsh House was a piece of a model train. It is cast iron coal cart, and embossed with the letters P.R.R, referring to the Pennsylvania Railroad which began operating in 1846. I originally approached the artifact believing it was a toy and belonged to a Welch child. However, this interpretation fell through when I found that this coal cart was produced by Hubley Manufacturing. Based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Hubley began making cast iron train parts in 1894.

Cart from Yeaton-Walsh with wheel bracket circled to
demonstrate shape.





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Hubley manufactured floor trains, so they did not follow tracks. Their wheels were disk-like, as seen in this artifact image. For the brackets outside the wheel holding the axles in place, reproductions have a triangular shape but original Hubleys are oblong. Below is a 3d model of the artifact created through photogrammetry. It combines 84 images from different angles around the car, which was then rendered using Agisoft Metashape.

P.R.R. Coal Cart by mirandaleclerc on Sketchfab.

 No. 994. in the 1909 "Lancaster Brand Iron
and Steel Toys" catalog. Source: WorthPoint.

The connectors linking train cars together and the screw head and placement also match. For decoration, there is a border of embossed dots around the P.R.R. In the 1909 catalog, the same coal cart is in 24 sets. Features and lengths vary, such as automatic couplers, electric engines, animal and freight cars.

The Washington 44, America, Narcissus 44 and Eloise 60 sets all use the same or near identical die cast mold from the 1890s to 1929. This picture shows a 1909 catalog where Washington, Narcissus, and Eloise carts are mixed within the same train. The tender is outlined in the red box.

After plotting the artifact’s manufacturing period against the births of the Welch children, I could see that John, the youngest child, would have been almost thirty when the train was made. As many visitors pointed out, it is possible that an adult collected model trains. This train likely did serve as a collector's item for the Welches, not for rarity or value, but perhaps as a tool of identity formation. 

John's parents, Michael and Bridget Welch, along with Michael's first wife Mary, had all immigrated to Portsmouth. In the United States, the Welches would have faced discrimination and racialization as Irish Catholics and immigrants. Derogatory stereotypes depicted the influx of Irish immigrants escaping the Great Famine between 1845 and 1851 as morally and hygienically unclean. These prejudices relegated many men to industrial work, such as Michael who was a sawyer and laborer, and women to work as domestic servants, as with Michael and Mary's daughters Mary Agnes and Ellen. 

This item may represent the Welches joining in the celebration of the railroad in Portsmouth. During the 1840s, over a dozen railroads connecting New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine passed through the city. One of the most significant railroads during this period was the Great Falls & Conway Railroad. Opening in 1844, the company acquired lines in South Berwick, Portsmouth, Wakefield, Ossipee, and Rochester. In 1865, it became the Portsmouth, Great Falls & Conway Railroad, shuttling travelers to and from the White Mountains.

The North Conway Railroad Station,
an extant landmark from the PGF&C Railroad.

In artifacts such as this cart, we can see how a toy captures a much greater story. When put in conversation with other artifacts excavated from the site, including a plate decorated with Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant and a souvenir spoon commemorating the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine, the Welches appear to have valued patriotism, or at least made attempts to show it off to others. Instead of accepting an outsider status in the United States, alienation energized the Welches to craft an Irish-American identity merging their cultural background with American value systems.

Sources:

https://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/documents/nh_railroad_context.pdf

https://atca-club.org/atca-toy-catalogs/hubley-manufacturing-company-the-lancaster-iron-toys-1906/

https://atca-club.org/atca-toy-catalogs/hubley-manufacturing-company-catalog-of-iron-and-steel-toys-1909/

https://atca-club.org/atca-toy-catalogs/hubley-manufacturing-company-catalogue-2-hubley-cast-iron-toys-that-sell-1929/

https://www.lancasterhistory.org/finding-aids/hubley-manufacturing-company-catalogs-and-newsletters-1922-1965/