I was finally able (after 25+ years) to identify the engine in the 1844
woodcut drawing of the Atlantic Avenue tunnel. This is the same
locomotive reportedly still buried in a filled in section of the tunnel
near Columbia Street.

Identifying the engine was previously difficult, because the book
“Steel Rails To The Sunrise” incorrectly identified the firm “Locks and
Canals” as an early locomotive builder.

Using Wikipedia, I found they were not in fact a steam engine
manufacturer. As the name implies, they were involved in building locks
and canals, near Lowell Mass., starting about 1800 or so, making it one
of the oldest corporations in the U.S. The firm still exists today as a
hydro electric plant in Lowell. “Proprietors of Locks and Canals” was a
company that dug out canals- not a locomotive builder at all. Exciting,
new historic revelations made possible by the Internet.

According to a Robert Stephenson website,
Locks and Canals bought two early steam engines from the British
locomotive pioneer Robert Stephenson, both in 1831. One locomotive was
Stephenson order # 17, a 2-2-0 wheel configuration named the
“Whistler”, and the other was Stephenson order # 8 an 0-4-0 called the
“Stephenson”. As per “Note # 3” on the same website, some engines were
subsequently re-sold, and renamed with modified wheel arrangements:

The Brooklyn and Jamaica RR (predecessor of the LIRR) bought one of
these British engines second hand from “Locks And Canals” in 1836. It
was taken out of regular service in 1848, because it was already
obsolete. When the Brooklyn & Jamaica/LIRR had it, it was called
the “Hicksville”, when Locks and Canals bought it from Stephenson, it
was either called the “Whistler” or the “Stephenson”. Its original
wheel arrangement was 2-2-0, or 0-4-0.

If it was the “Whistler” it must have had a trailing axle added, as in
the 1844 tunnel drawing its shown as 2-2-2, very easy conversion from a
2-2-0. By the same token, the “Stephenson” could have also been
converted from an 0-4-0 into a 2-2-2.