The Orange was built in 1841, a 12 ton locomotive of the style that was called a 4- 4- 0.

The Orange was considered a work train. The cost of the Orange locomotive is unknown, but Norris was making his trains at a cost of $8000.00 and $3000.00 worth of Erie Railroad stock at that time.

The Orange was considered the “Mascot” of the Erie Railroad. She got her start by being shipped by canal and the Hudson River to Piermont, NY, in 1841. It was common for locomotives to be moved along the rivers and canals in the early years of railroad construction. She was delivered and used heavily for rail construction in that area.

            In 1842, the Orange was chosen for a race between Goshen and Piermont, New York, against the post-riders (mail carriers on horseback). Joe Meginnes was the Engineer that day. It was said that the Master Mechanic, named Brandt, would not ride that day with Meginnes because he was known for going faster than the locomotives could safely move. 

The outcome of the race was that the Orange delivered the mail first, of course. Joe Meginnes continued to run the Orange on the Piermont rails until around 1848, when the Orange was ordered to Binghamton, NY. Once again, she was on a barge from Piermont to Albany, NY, then on the Erie Canal to Binghamton for use in the railroad construction. She continued being a work horse locomotive and by December of 1851, she was on the Hornellsville and Attica, NY Railroad, hauling the iron for the track from Warsaw to Attica, NY.

            The Orange locomotive was beginning to show her age in 1853, but continued working in that area, until around 1862-1863 when she found her way to McKean County, PA, where the Orange began doing pioneer construction work for the Buffalo, Bradford, Pittsburgh Railroad, now known as the Bradford Branch of the Erie Railroad.