Bangor & Portland / Boston & Providence 4-4-0 "American" Locomotives in the USA

Class 8 (Locobase 9948)

Data from "Bangor & Portland Locomotive", Locomotive Engineering, Vol XI, No5 (May 1898), p. 217. Works number 2386. For B & P information, see [], last accessed 8 Feb 2009.

"While there is nothing remarkable about this engine," said our correspondent, "it is thoroughly modern - a heavy engine for that road - indicating they are alive to the advantage of heavy motive power."

Alive, perhaps, but not flush - this was the only locomotive in the class for this Pennsylvania railway (Locobase's surprise at this railway not being located in Maine can be imagined.) Chartered in 1880, the B&P began construction and soon absorbed the Bangor & Bath. Its principal destination from Portland was Nazareth, 17 miles away, but on a circuitous route. Soon a 4.6-mile branch from Nazareth Junction across the Delaware to Martins Creek Station in New Jersey to connect with the Pennsylvania.

So configured, the B & P was bought by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western on 1 July 1903 and was renamed the Bangor & Portland Division.

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Class Attleborough (Locobase 9540)

Data from table entitled "Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

The last of the engines on George Griggs' 1856 list was this smaller Eight-wheeler that may have been built as a replacement for an earlier locomotive.

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Class Blackstone (Locobase 9528)

Data from table entitled"Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

Griggs gradually enlarged his Eight-wheeler by adding more tubes and lengthening each one. Blackstone entered service in April 1847.

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Class Bristol (Locobase 9526)

Data from table entitled"Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

Griggs' third Roxbury-built machine was delivered a month after Suffolk in June 1846 and combined the larger boiler of the second engine with the shallower firebox.

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Class Canton (Locobase 9534)

Data from table entitled "Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

This was the next model in Griggs' basic Eight-wheeler design and appeared May 1849. Not much had changed in the six months since he delivered the Rhode Island (Locobase 9532), but it was about to - see Locobase 9535.

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Class Iron Horse (Locobase 9531)

Data from table entitled"Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

Griggs clearly was designing different engines for specific service. This next Roxbury engine, delivered in September 1848, reverted to a smaller grate and cylinder volume, but lengthened its boiler by a foot. Rhode Island (Locobase 9532) was identical except for cylinder volume and driver diameter.

Iron Horse was later sold to the Providence, Warren & Bristol.

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Class Mansfield (Locobase 9539)

Data from table entitled"Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

Another of the very few foreigners on Griggs' 1856 list, this Massachusetts engine was quite a bit bigger than any of the homebuilts (and most Taunton locomotives of the time) and showed very many of the characteristics typical of an American Eight-wheeler of the time.

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Class Massachusetts (Locobase 9527)

Data from table entitled"Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

Griggs' third Roxbury-built machine was delivered a month after Suffolk in June 1846 and combined the larger boiler of the second engine with the shallower firebox.

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Class Narragansett (Locobase 9530)

Data from table entitled"Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

Virtually identical to the Taghconic that had appeared a month earlier, the Narraganset was the most powerful Griggs engine so far. Its larger cylinder volume raised the yet-to-be-calculated tractive effort.

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Class Neponset (Locobase 9535)

Data from table entitled"Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

This was the only Griggs engine that would have the 2"-diameter boiler tube that would be a standard size later on in the Century. Its delivery in June 1849 provided a passenger engine with a slightly larger boiler.

Locobase 14565 describes the Neponset's transformation into a 17" x 24" locomotive in 1885.

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Class Norfolk (Locobase 9524)

Data from table entitled "Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

George Griggs' first home-built locomotives set the pattern for the next several B & P engines. Norfolk, Suffolk (Locobase 9525), and Bristol (Locobase 9526) were virtually identical but are shown to illustrate the tentative nature of Griggs' first efforts. Norfolk was completed first in May 1845 and had the smallest drivers and the fewest tubes.

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Class Providence (Locobase 9533)

Data from table entitled"Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

One of the few "foreign" engines to appear on Griggs' 1856 motive power was this slightly smaller locomotive from another Massachusetts builder delivered in February 1849. Its firebox was a bit bigger in relation to its tube surface area, but the other dimensions were not significantly different.

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Class Rhode Island (Locobase 9532)

Data from table entitled "Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

Rhode Island shared virtually all of the major dimensions with Iron Horse, which also entered service in Septermber 1848. Its stroke was 2" longer and it stood on taller drivers, suggesting a more resolutely passenger-service orientation.

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Class Suffolk (Locobase 9525)

Data from table entitled "Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

Griggs' second B & P machine added a few tubes to the boiler and deepened the firebox, but was otherwise similar to the Norfolk although it was delivered a year later in May 1846.

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Class Taghconic (Locobase 9529)

Data from table entitled "Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

The Eight-wheeler design was beginning to take its most recognized form, but it was still small.. Grate area still came in below 10 sq ft and the total heating surface was less than 700 sq ft. Output at the B & P's Roxbury shop was about to jump with this first of the 1848 locomotives.

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Class W R Lee (Locobase 9537)

Data from table entitled "Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

More than three years younger than the next-oldest mainline B&P locomotive, this locomotive achieved a considerable size increase when it came on the road in September 1853. Cylinder volume had increased as had grate area and tube surface area.

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Class Washington (Locobase 9538)

Data from table entitled"Motive Power Boston & Providence Railroad Company-November 1856" in Railway and Locomotive Engineering, Volume 12, No 10 (October 1899), page 443, prepared by George S Griggs, then Superintendent of Motive Power at the B&P's Roxbury, Mass Machine Shop. NB: Boiler pressure is an estimate.

September 1854 was only two years before Griggs published the table from which the Locobase entries have been taken. By this time, he had adopted the standard Eight-wheeler layout, although the dimensions were still a bit small. New York, which followed in December 1854 may have been an identical design except for the smaller drivers (60") and tubes that measured 2 ft (610 mm) longer.

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