Home For "Best Friend" Southern Railway's replica of the wood-burning "Best Friend of Charleston" is back home, a few blocks from the spot where its famous ancestor began a historic run on Christmas Day in 1830.
A housewarming and homecoming for the replica of the "Best Friend" was held recently at the train's new enginehouse and display building in Charleston, S.C. The new structure is next to Aiken House, Southern's downtown office in that city.
An interested crowd watched as the reproduction of America's first steam locomotive built for regular service broke through a red ribbon and officially opened her new home.
The dedication ceremony for the new structure was attended by representatives from the city, the local chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, and Southern Railway. W. Graham Claytor, Jr., Southern's president, gave a brief history of the original "Best Friend" and presented Charleston Mayor J. Palmer Gaillard with a lithograph of the locomotive.
Other speakers included Mr. Gaillard, who welcomed the replica of the "Best Friend" to her new home, and G. Pinckney Darby, president of the local NRHS chapter.
The new home was designed by Charleston architect Frederick M. Ehni to blend in with the architecture of historic Aiken House, built between 1807 and 1811. Aiken House was the residence of William Aiken, first president (1828 - 31) of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company.
A plaque unveiled by Mr. Gaillard and Mr. Claytor tells about the Christmas trip of the "Best Friend" on the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company, now part of Southern.