Huntingdon & Broad Top Mountain 2-8-0 "Consolidation" Locomotives in the USA

Class 20 (Locobase 11868)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 13, p. 207. Works numbers were 7942, 7945 in May 1886; 8514, 8519 in April 1887; 8941 in December; 9152 in March 1888; 9542-9543 in October; 10039 in June 1889; 10647, 10661 in February 1890; , 11412 in December; 11525 in January 1891; 11637 in February.

This was a big order for a 70-mile short line in Pennsylvania, so it's likely the locomotives were the face of the H&BTM for the next decade or so. 10 was sold in 1902 to the Winfield Railroad. 7 & 8 were sold in June 1910 to Philadelphia's H S Kerbaugh engineering company, 9 and 11 to the Juniata & Southern in July 1911, and 18 went to the Pittsburgh & Susquehanna in 1915.

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Class 22 (Locobase 12063)

Data from Price Howell, Comparative Statistics of the Australasian Railways, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, March 1899, pp. 94-95 and from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Vol 18, p. 148. Works numbers were 13177 and 13183 in January 1893.

Locobase is presented with a quandary. The dimensions shown in the Degolyer archive of Baldwin specs are identical to those given by Price Howell to describe the 18 Consolidations sold to the New South Wales Railway in 1891. Upon research into the earlier spec page, he finds that the numbers were indeed identical in every respect.

It's hard to tell whether these were extras, but it appears not to be so. The original order in Volume 16 is for the 18 engines that were delivered; 2 other compounds also deliverd to the NSWR are accounted for both in the specs and in Locobase 12064.

In any case, this North American pair of cousins had the Belpaire fireboxes found in the Oz engines. Both apparently remained on the H & BT for their entire careers.

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Class 26 (Locobase 12140)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Vol 19, p. 205. Works number was 14230 in February 1895.

This Consolidation had a few more boiler tubes than the1893 pair shown in Locobase 12063

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Class 28 (Locobase 11560)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 24, p. 295 and Volume 26, p. 23. Works numbers were 20694 in July 1902, 22713 in August 1903, and 34691-34692 in May 1910.

This western Pennsylvania coal road was based in Saxton and operated independently up until its abandonment in 1954. Its latest Consolidations were by far its biggest and most powerful design. Note that the latter two were ordered 7 years after the first pair.

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Class 33 (Locobase 14686)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 65, pp. 156; and Baldwin negative 7949 archived at [], last accessed 22 June 2019. Works numbers were 54696-54697 in March 1921.

Ten years after the H&BTM bought its last saturated-boiler Consolidation (Locobase 11560), it returned to Baldwin for two superheated counterparts. The cylinder dimensions and driver diameter remained unchanged and boiler pressure rose by only 10 psi (0.7 bar). The boiler was about the same size and had the same area for steaming, but now 18% of that area was made up of superheaters. Serving the hotter steam to the cylinders now entailed using 12" (305 mm) piston valves. The firebox now had 28 sq ft (2.6 sq m) area from three arch tubes contributing to direct heating surface area.

For an additional six tons of adhesive weight and seven tons overall, the resulting locomotive was considerably more powerful.

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Class 37 (Locobase 14688)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Vol 80, pp. 596+. See also The Rail City Museum website's "Huntingdon & Broad Top Mountain Railroad" at [] . Works numbers were 59945-59946 in April 1927.

The last Baldwins bought for the H&BTM were smaller than the long run of saturated and superheated Consolidations that had come before. Only 10 sq ft (0.9 sq m) of arch tubes contributed to the firebox heating surface and a smaller grate reduced the total area. The boiler was longer, but had fewer tubes and flues. Cylinder volume shrank by 18%. But the design retained the 10" (254 mm) piston valves found in the earlier engines.

The two engines served the H&BTM until it closed in 1954. The 37 was scrapped soon after the road closed.

The Rail City Museum website notes that the 38 carried out one more historic run, but not in Pennsylvania: "Locomotive #38 made railroad history on June 6, 1954 when it made the historic "Last Steam Passenger Run" on the New York Central's Watertown line from Syracuse, NY to Lacona, NY. It was the last steam passenger train on the Central as well as the last steam passenger train to depart the Central's Syracuse Station. The previous week (May 29, 1954) the train also made a historic 'last run' on the Central's "Old Auburn" road from Canandaigua to Syracuse. It was delayed three hours in reaching Syracuse due to the fanfare associated with trip."

38 found a new career on the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville in New York State. In 1974, the Knox & Kane of Marienville, Pa bought the engine for tourist operation. While stored out of service in the K&K's roundhouse, it was damaged by an arson fire in 2008. Auctioned off to the Everett Railroad of Duncansville, Pa (an active 23-mile-long common-carrier shortline), the locomotive is slated for restoration to service.