New York Central & Hudson River 4-2-4 Locomotives in the USA

Class Mohawk (Locobase 16336)

Data from New York Central-May & Edson supplied in August 2013 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange collection.

The Albany Shops rebuilt the first of these four "Pony" inspection locomotives in 1889; its name was Mohawk and numbered 252; it was renamed Ontario. The next engine, rebuilt locomotive #117 delivered as Mohawk in 1892, was originally produced at the Cooke Locomotive Works of Paterson, NJ in 1861. 253 was the Niagara, produced at Depew in 1896. Monitor, #251, was built new at Albany in 1897.

The diagram shows the outline of a 19th Century boiler from which the rear driving axle of two had been removed. In place of the separate tender, a short extension carried by two axles was joined to the engine with heavy bracing. A cabin with four windows on each side shrouded all of the boiler. The inspection party sat to either side of the boiler ahead of the firebox.

(Locobase has often wondered just how hot these quarters became. He found answers and described them in Locobases 5386, 16393, and 16396.)

See Locobase 15622 for the 1914 rebuilds of three of the class.

Class Niagara (Locobase 15622)

Data from NYC 8 - 1917 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

These were inspection engines first produced in the 1890s; their specs and description appear in Locobase 16336. Three of the class were rebuilt at West Albany (25 and 29) and Depew (27) in April-May 1914. The new boiler, pressed to 20 psi (1.38 bar) more, had slightly more heating surface area, but less firebox heating surface area.