Nova Scotia Steel & Coal 2-4-0 "Porter" Locomotives in the USA

Class Senator McGregor (Locobase 12701)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 27, p. 14. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 9 January 2022 email noting the 12's name and correcting the saddle tank's capacity.) Works numbers were 23937, 23954 in March 1904.

These little saddle-tank engines (#12 bore the name John F Stairs) repeated the design originally delivered to the General Mining Association in 1894 and 1900 (Locobase 16572). The pair faced relatively modest demands. Two short curves lay on the level, bending at 430 ft radii. One long curve of 3,960 ft radius measured 2,500 ft long (762 m) and climbed at a gradient of 1%.

Control of the NSS&C fell into American hands in 1917, but energetic activity by British interests to control Dominion Coal (DOMCO) led in 1920 to the merger of the two companies to form British Empire Steel Corporation. Alas for the business, BESCO never made money and folded after less than a decade.

During the BESCO years, the 26 and 27 were both sold to Sydney interests. 26 went in 1924 to Sydney Mines Railway, while 27 joined #25 of the previous pair at the Old Sydney Collieries in 1927. The two companies merged in 1949.