Class N (Locobase 7582)

Data from reproduction of 1913 Alco Bulletin 1016 on Richard Leonard's http://www.railarchive.net/alcopacifics/index.html (accessed 16 June 2006).

This septet of Pacifics was not used in passenger service, but rather as fast freight engines. So when the DL & W ran short of heavy switchers in the last 1920s, it took the boilers of this class and put them on a new frame with an 0-8-0 layout. The tube and flue distribution remained the same after conversion to the C-9 class, but all were shortened by more than 4 feet. Also, the engines now put 258,000 lb on the drivers, a hefty increase.

Class N-1/N-2/N-2a/N-4 (Locobase 144)

Fourteen built between 1912-1914 with wide fireboxes for burning anthracite (this was Phoebe Snow's Road of Anthracite, after all).

Retired in 1940-1948.

Data from set of DL&W locomotive diagrams at http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/dlw-127.html (29 October 2003),which shows three classes all delivered in 1913-1914 (works 51348-51354, 53143-53145, 53158-53164, 54636-54639). All had five 3"-diameter arch tubes contributing 36 sq ft of the firebox heating surface and all had 14" piston valves. But the last 4 somehow gained 17 sq ft of heating surface on the same number and length of tubes. But not to worry ....

Class N-12 (Locobase 3752)

Data from DL&W locomotive diagrams at http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/dlw-127.html (29 October 2003).

The last of the Lackawanna's freight Pacifics (Brooks works #65398-65407) and a short-lived bunch at that. Within 5 years, some were already being converted to heavy 0-8-0 switchers.

In 1943, the Boston & Maine bought 4 of the class, designating them P-5a and numbering them 3696-3699. In that livery, they carried on until 1951-1952, when most B & M steam was retired.

Class N-5 (Locobase 3094)

See DL&W locomotive diagrams at http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/dlw-127.html (29 October 2003).

An early version of Lima Super Power -- note the large superheat ratio, combustion chamber, relatively short tubes; . Unlike the Alco engines of a year earlier, however, these engines were later converted to 0-8-0 switchers -- largely because their job as fast freight power was soon taken over by the large stud of 2-8-2s the Lackawanna acquired over the next 10 years.

The last two were Schenectady-built in 1916.

Railway Age 9 October 1914 (Vol. 57, No. 15) shows a different set of heating surfaces. Evaporative heating surface was given 3558 sq ft, of which 279 was in the firebox (and 21 of that was arch tubes). Superheat is given as "about 1,000" sq ft, a lot larger than the diagrams show.

Class N-5a (Locobase 5735)

Data from DL&W locomotive diagrams at http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/dlw-127.html (29 October 2003) which shows this engine to have been an oddball. Compared to the other 13 locomotives in this Lima-built class (Locobase 3094), this engine had a much larger grate.

Like the others, however, it too was converted into an 0-8-0 heavy switcher

Class N-6 (Locobase 6293)

See Railway Mechanical Engineer for January 1916 for details on this class. According to RME, the class was intended for service on the mainline between Scranton and Hoboken. This line had a ruling grade of 78 ft to the mile (ca. 1.4%) over a 16-mile stretch and curves with radii of 5 and 6 deg. "The new engines," said the report, " are hauling trains of 9 steel cars, weighing 600 tons under the above conditions [30 mph on the ruling grade]." Superheater area was originally calculated at 760 sq ft, but later diagrams show 808 sq ft.

Equipped with the anthracite-burning Wootten boiler and 14" piston valves, these locomotives had allowed the elimination of helper service on all trains in the Mountain division of 10 cars or less. One of the five was delivered with a Riegel firebox in which 38 watertubes connected each water leg with the crown. Later Delaware, Lackawanna & Pacific locomotives would have taller drivers, but none would be heavier.

The last of this class retired in 1953.

Class N-7 (Locobase 5736)

See DL&W locomotive diagrams at http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/dlw-127.html (29 October 2003) for this follow-on class to the Lima freight Pacifics of 1914 (Locobase 5735).

1172-1178 were delivered in 1916, 1179-1183 in 1922 (works #63606-63610). The latter group -- N-11 -- had only 2 arch tubes instead of 4, dropping this component's contribution to firebox heating surface from 21 to 14.6 sq ft.

All were converted into 0-8-0 heavy switchers in the late 1920s.

Class N-8/N-9/N-10/N-12 (Locobase 3306)

One of the locomotives to which James Partington, Estimating Engineer for Alco, compared his company's #50000 in a 5 November 1921 Railway Age article. In that article, he chose not to identify any of these rivals.

After a long search, Locobase finally found a set of DL&W locomotive diagrams at http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/el/loco/dlw-127.html (29 October 2003) and successfully matched this entry (with minor differences in heating surfaces) to one of Partington's examples.

The Lackawanna took delivery of several batches, all virtually identical but numbered in inverse order. The first 5 1126-1130 came to the railroad in 1917. There followed 1120-1125 in 1920, 1115-1119 in 1922, and 1136-1140 in 1923. The principal difference from the first batch (N-8) and the later three was a slightly larger area of arch tubes (37 sq ft vs 30 sq ft) in the firebox in the earliest quintet.

These were the last Pacifics built new for the DL&W and together with the N-1s of a slightly earlier vintage constituted the 4-6-2s on the line. Some were shrouded in streamlining frills that consisted of a convex smokebox cover, and a deep, winged valence.

The last were retired in 1952.