"Sandusky" included features designed by Thomas Rogers that had not been seen in locomotive construction to date. It was also the first locomotive to use cast iron driving wheels, and the wheels included built-in counterweights to reduce the amount of wear on the track caused by the weight of the driving rod and wheel all coming down at once during the wheels' rotations. Before "Sandusky"'s construction, driving wheels were typically built with wooden spokes, much like wagon wheels. Some accounts also state that "Sandusky" was the first locomotive to feature a whistle, but this has since been proven false.