Class A-1 (Locobase 8111)

Data from NH 1962 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Alco supplied 50 Eight-wheeler locomotives to the New Haven around the turn of the 19th into the 20th Century. All generated about the same tractive effort, but of the 50, 35 ran on 73" drivers and worked a 24" stroke. They are profiled in this entry. Schenectady supplied a batch of 20 (works #4441-4460) in 1896 and Alco's Rhode Island works produced 15 more in 1903 (works #28535-28549).

In the 1920s, the New Haven superheated all surviving members of both classes to very similar specifications, the only differences being those that had distinguished the two classes in their saturated-steam days. See Locobase 8113 for the A-1-a superheated variant.

Class A-1-a (Locobase 8113)

Data from NH 1962 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Locobase 105 and 8114 shows the A-3 class of express Eight-wheelers as built and as superheated; Locobase 8111 tells about the very similar A-1s, which had smaller drivers. The A-1-a superheater upgrade that came in the 1920s took the same form as the A-3-a: 12" piston valves, Southern valve gear, the usual tube/flue tradeoff.

The result did not achieve prodigies of new efficiency, but drying the steam allowed a class that had good passenger-hauling credentials to contribute several more decades of service. The last of the A-1-as retired in 1949.

Class A-3 (Locobase 105)

Data from NH 1962 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

This set of high-stepping, express Eight-wheelers were identical to the A-1s (Locobase 8111) in tractive effort, but the higher drivers led the designers to increase the piston stroke by 2", which neatly redressed the deficit in tractive effort caused by the tall wheels.

A-3s came in two batches. The 5 in 1900 had Schenectady works #5457-5461. Two years later, when the New Haven went back for 10 more, Schenectady had merged with several other builders as the American Locomotive Company (Alco). As all of the building series had been merged as well, the new engines sported works #25590-25599.

Many were rebuilt in the 1920s with steel cabs, piston valves, Southern valve gear, new frames, and superheaters - see Locobase 8114.

(Note: the official name for the New Haven was the New York, New Haven, and Hartford and the acronym that appeared on its tenders was NY, NH & H.)

Class A-3-a (Locobase 8114)

Data from NH 1962 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Locobase 105 shows this class of express Eight-wheelers as built. In the 1920s, the New Haven rebuilt the class with superheaters. Although the trade-off of tubes for flues went about as usual (approximately 1/2 of the small tubes deleted in favor of the superheater flues), other changes were less common. These included operating the 12" piston valves with Southern valve gear and shortening both tubes and flues by 6". There were slight variations in the number of tubes -- some had 158, others 159 -- but all had 3 arch tubes that contributed 15 sq ft to the firebox heating surface.

Although more efficient as a result of the rebuild, the need for high-stepping Americans diminished rapidly and other classes could fill other passenger roles more easily. So the A-3s were withdrawn throughout the 1930s with the last one departing in 1940.