Long Island 0-4-4 "Forney" Locomotives in the USA

Class 105 (Locobase 11753)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Vol 9, p. 103. See also [], last accessed 7 November 2010 and F J Camulla, "The New York Elevated Railroads," Industries and Iron, Volume 1 (24 December 1886), p. 662-663. Baldwin works numbers were 4649, 4652-4653, 4655-4657 in May 1879.

These Forneys had worked the elevated section of the LIRR from Brooklyn's Flatbush terminal and eventually served the line as far out as Rockaway.

(Chapter 19 of James Blaine Walker's Fifty Years of Rapid Transit (New York: Press of The Law Printing Company, 1918) -- [], last accessed 7 November 2010 -- has the juicy details of political maneuverings in 1879-1884 that included the jailing of all of the Brooklyn aldermen after they defied a mayoral veto of their award of the contract to the Kings County Elevated Railroad Company.)

After 25 years of service, the lines were electrified and the Forneys were sold in 1903-1904 to locomotive rebuilder/reseller Birmingham Rail & Locomotive. BR&L found new homes for the entire class in lumbering, a kind of railroading that suited the low axle loadings and starting-traction power of the 0-4-4T arrangement.

105 Loxley Lumber Company (Appilachicola, Fla)

106 W D Reeves Lumber Company (Helena, Ark)

107 Sheffield Coal & Iron (Sheffield, Ala)

108, 109 W C Wood Lumber Company (Collins, Miss)

110 Lyndon Lumber Company (Wingate, Miss)

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Class 150 (Locobase 16402)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 18, p. 5. See also "Compound Locomotives on the Long Island Railroad", Railroad Gazette, Volume 24, (5 August 1892 and 19 August 1892), pp. 585 and 622. Works numbers were 12700-12703, 12707-12709, 12718-12720 in May 1892.

These were reported to be duplicates of the 45 Chicago & South Side Vauclain compound Forney-type elevated railway described in detail in Locobase 6459. Significantly more cylinder volume was gained by adding 4" (102 mm) to the stroke. A still more substantial driver-diameter increase of 7" (178 mm) allowed for faster running.

Reporting that the class was in service, the RG noted that these were"light engines, intended for the lightest kind of suburban traffic" in which they proved "exceedingly good." As an example, RG cited a run in which one of the locomotives hauled "a train of 10 cars [about 210 tons] from Manhattan Beach to Brooklyn, making one stop at East New York." A 1.24% grade was part of the profile.

A report two weeks later stated that the class had "given no trouble, except that they do not steam as freely as they might." RG added that it was "though that this defect will be overcome very soon" and that tests comparing the compounds to similar simple-expansion engines revealed a 17 1/2% average fuel economy for the compound.

Following the pattern of most Forney-type locomotives, most of this class enjoyed second careers working for small railroads or industrial operations. The list includes Barber Asphalt Paving Co, Sandusky Portland Cement, Carthage & Copenhagen, Newark & Marion, Tioga & Southeastern, Spitcaufsky & Wagner Construction (2), and

A O Smith Co.