Theodore N. Ely

Upon his retirement in 1911 after forty-three years with the Pennsylvania, the trade periodical Railway Age Gazette recounted Ely's career, his accomplishments and accolades.

Perhaps his most recognizable innovation, per Railway Age Gazette, was the relocation of the steam locomotive boiler and fire box.

The change, considered radical at the time, created a design which observers believed would run roughly and prove top-heavy and unstable.

Railway Age Gazette noted in 1911: "It was Mr. Ely that took the first step alone, against the protests of many by whom he was surrounded, that has led to the development of the large locomotives of today.

While builders and engineers considered that the end had come, that the locomotive had reached the limit of its power because of the restrictions current construction put upon the size of the firebox, Mr. Ely lifted his whole boiler into the air, set his foundation ring on top of the frames, widened his firebox and gave the machine a new lease of life.

His daughter Gertrude Sumner Ely was twice awarded the Croix de Guerre for bravery in World War I; another daughter, Katrina Brandes Ely, married Charles L. Tiffany II in 1901, and was president of the New York Collegiate Equal Franchise League.