New York & Manhattan Beach 0-4-0 "Switcher" Locomotives in the USA

Class Sea Breeze (Locobase 16253)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 8, p. 150. See also Robert Kopolovicz, "Manhattan Beach Railway", last accessed 26 January 2017 at [] . Works number was 4105 in June 1877.

Cancellation of the original order from the North Pacific Coast narrow-gauge railway led to the delivery of this little tank instead to the NY&MB excursion railroad. The narrow-gauge NY&MB ran from the ferry that joined Manhattan Island and Brooklyn, New York at 34th Street and Bay Ridge. Heading first southeast, then south, then west, and finally due south again, the railway ended on the eastern end of Coney Island in the Atlantic Ocean. Operating only in the summer and powered primarily by Mason Bogie engines, the NY&MB converted to standard gauge and lost its independence.

Its time on that line was short because of the line's conversion to standard gauge. So it was sold in 1880 to the South Florida Railroad as their #3 named "Kissimmee". Records conflict on its fate with Al Weber's detailed locomotive-by-locomotive account showing it off the SFRR's roster in 1888.

NB: The direct heating surface was calculated by assuming a cubic firebox and adding up the calculated square areas of the front tubesheet, the two sides, and the crown sheet. It is an estimate, but one that gains credibility with several other Baldwin designs with exactly the same firebox (e.g. Locobase 12024) for which the area is known.