New York, Ontario, & Western 2-6-0 "Mogul" Locomotives in the USA

Class I (Locobase 9002)

Data from NYO&W 1 - 1943 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also William D. Edson's roster in Railway & Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin 175 for builder's numbers.

He shows that the I class came from two builders. Cooke supplied ten as a single batch (works numbers 28586-28595 in December 1903 and January 1904) and Baldwin finished the class with five in April 1907 (works numbers 30636-30640).

Six were later rebuilt as 4-6-0s; see Locobase 9004. the others (36-44) continued in service until virtually the entire class was scrapped in February-March 1937. 42 later operated on the Unadilla Valley as their 43 (later 7) until it was scrapped in April 1956.

Class U (Locobase 4120)

This anthracite-burning camelback Mogul was a conversion by Mr. George W West of the NYO&W and built by Cooke. Railroad Gazette (26 July 1901) notes it was intended for heavy passenger train operation in the summer and milk-train service over the winter. At the time of the article's publication, RG said that the railroad had yet to see if the summer demand required such a design.

According to the roster published in Railway & Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin 175 by William D. Edson, Cooke & Dickson each supplied a locomotive (143/works #2645 & 144/works #1218) in 1901. These were renumbered 149 & 148 in 1903 (and 249 & 248 in 1905). Also in 1903, Cooke delivered 146-147 (renumbered 246-247 in 1905). 143-145 came in 1904 -- they were renumbered 243-245 in 1905. The class was finished off with 10 more engines in 1905 -- 240-242, 250-256.

Apparently the design was something of a hit, even though the first two (143 & 144) suffered a terrible accident on August 3, 1902. Ronald J. Stanulevich's vivid article -- Called Home to Glory: The Disaster at Chiloway Switch -- is published on [] (viewed 23 Feb 2004). He explains that both were hauling milk trains, a premium service on the railroad that made it the number 1 milk supplier to New York City at the time. Milk Train 12 (#143) had freight cars spliced into the train in an effort to clear overcrowded classification yards. When the engineer inexplicably barged into a section without waiting to meet Milk train #11, the freight cars' lack of air brakes and faulty bypass setups meant the two collided head-on in a "cornfield meet" at a combined 40 mph. Four men were killed in the accident.

Both locomotives were rebuilt, according to Stanulevich. #144 kept her 2-6-0 arrangement, but #143 was rebuilt as U-1 class 4-6-0 #249; see Locobase 9007.

All survived into the 1930s with several seeing out World War II.

Class U - superheated (Locobase 9006)

Data from NYO&W 1 - 1943 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

Described in its saturated-boiler state in Locobase 4120, this set of camelback Moguls later received superheaters and Baker radial valve gear. Locobase isn't sure when or how many were treated to this overhaul, so the date and count are estimates.

Class V - superheated (Locobase 9008)

Data from NYO&W 1 - 1943 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See William D. Edson's roster in Railway & Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin 175 for builder's numbers. Works numbers were 45420-45423 in June 1908. Price Pancoast Coal Company originally took delivery of the next engine in line - 45424 - as their 100, but later sold it to the NYO&W as 285. Production continued with another six (45660-45665 in October), 45841-45844 in January 1909.

Obviously the NYO & W was pleased with the Mogul configuration for its camelbacks and it went back to Alco-Cooke in 1908-1909 for fifteen more. Many of these were later superheated and all but one served into the 1940s.