Class 144 (Locobase 11672)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines, 1888, as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Vol 14, 134. See also "The New Haven Big Locomotive," National Car & Locomotive Builder, Vol XIX, No. 12 (December 1888), p. 192. Works numbers were 9218, 9220, 9223, 9225, 9229, 9233 in May 1888.

After noting that Baldwin built this class, which appeared "very handsome, but ponderous", according to drawings and specs furnished by the New Haven, "so that the owners are to blame if the locomotives are not satisfactory," Angus Sinclair offered a scathing analysis of the design process that generated this sextet: "On looking over one of these engines carefully and critically we received the impression that the proportions were not the result of deliberate designing based on intelligent calculations, but that they were settled by ignorant guessing with some smaller machine as a model."

Sinclair continues, mincing no words:"The parts are all heavy and ponderous, most of them beyond the requirements of service, and it looked as if there was a blind purpose of making everything strong enough and then adding twenty-five per cent more material to make sure the piece would not break. The weight on the wheels is badly distributed, and the engines are badly overcylindered [sic] for the adhesive weight."

Even a positive quality, like the large boiler, is compromised: "[T]he abnormally short stroke gives too little opportunity for the expansion of steam in the cylinders, so that a large volume of steam would be required to do the work."

The writer drips scorn as he concludes: "A man who specifies a 16-inch port for a high speed locomotive with cylinders 20 inches diameter does not know anything about steam engineering, and the giving of a 6-inch valve travel to an engine with a 22-inch stroke is as great a blunder." (This last eruption seems a bit over-the-top and most indicative of underlying biases.)

The Baldwin specifications have some interesting notations about heating surface areas. Although most of the fields are uncorrected, there seems to have been a tradeoff at some point after the original entry in which the tube surface area shrank from 1,809 sq ft to 1,653 sq ft while the firebox's directing heating surface increased from 138 sq ft to 149 sq ft.

Locobase suspects that latter change is attributable to including the water tubes that were part of the firebox specification. The larger drop in tube surface, a strange change given Sinclair's comments, is likely attributable to a reduction in the number of tubes to be fitted or the diameter of each tube.

After 12 years in service, the New Haven in 1900 extended the class's relatively short stroke to 24", reduced cylinder diameter by an inch to 19, and increased driver diameter by an inch to 69". The result was a near wash in tractive effort, but the longer stroke had come to be preferred.

At that time, the class was dubbed B-4 and as such served the New Haven for another two decades before retiring in 1925-1927.

Class 4 (Locobase 12094)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 19, p. 57. Works numbers were 13857-13859 in November 1893.

Immediately after the seven Vauclain compound Consolidations shown in Locobase 12093 rolled off the line, these three Vauclain compound Eight-wheelers took their place. As was usually the case, the passenger engines disposed less cylinder volume.

Beginning in 1908, the CNE removed the compound arrangement and replaced the kit with simple-expansion cylinders; see Locobase 12095.

Class A-1 (Locobase 8111)

Data from NH 1962 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange and from "New York, New Haven & Hartford Passenger Engines", Locomotive Engineering, Volume IX [9], No. 8 (August 1896), pp. 667-668. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 26 February 2018 email supplying the link to the Locomotive Engineering report and for highlighting the tender's original coal and water capacities.) Schenectady supplied a batch of 20 (works numbers 4441-4460) in 1896 and Alco's Rhode Island works produced 15 more in 1903 (works numbers 28535-28549).

Alco supplied 50 Eight-wheeler locomotives to the New Haven around the turn of the 19th into the 20th Century. All generated about the same tractive effort, but of the 50, 35 ran on 73" drivers and worked a 24" stroke. These "highly efficient locomotives" (as described by LE) are profiled in this entry. The LE report noted a "peculiarity" about the valve motion. It was set with a 1/16" lead in full gear, forward and 1/4 lap, full gear, back. "As most people know", the writer confidently added,"this tends to hasten port opening at the beginning of the stroke, in forward motion."

Schenectady delivered the As with a tender carrying the amounts of water and coal shown in the specs as well as boiler set to 190 psi. The New Haven would later reset the boiler pressure to 200 psi (13.8 psi) and increase tender water capacity to 5,500 US gallons (20,818 litres) and 10 short tons (9.1 metric tons) of coal.

In the 1920s, the New Haven superheated all surviving members of both classes to very similar specifications, the only differences being those that had distinguished the two classes in their saturated-steam days. See Locobase 8113 for the A-1-a superheated variant.

Class A-1-a (Locobase 8113)

Data from NH 1962 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

Locobase 105 and 8114 shows the A-3 class of express Eight-wheelers as built and as superheated; Locobase 8111 tells about the very similar A-1s, which had smaller drivers. The A-1-a superheater upgrade that came in the 1920s took the same form as the A-3-a: 12" piston valves, Southern valve gear, the usual tube/flue tradeoff.

The result did not achieve prodigies of new efficiency, but drying the steam allowed a class that had good passenger-hauling credentials to contribute several more decades of service. The last of the A-1-as retired in 1949.

Class A-2 (Locobase 14732)

Data from NH 10 - 1903 - Classification of Locomotives supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also "Express Locomotive, New York New Haven & Hartford Railroad", Railroad Gazette, Volume 25 (23 June 1893), p. 447. Works numbers were 2897-2910 in April-August 1893.

At the same time the New Haven took delivery of two Batchellor cross-compounds from the Ocean State (Locobase ,14731) Superintendent of Motive Power John P Henney, Jr ordered fourteen more of these high-drivered express engines as simple-expansion engines. RG reported that they were giving "excellent satisfaction". They certainly looked the part as they spun their spidery drivers under a fat boiler with a short stack composing a stocky powerful look.

But the New Haven would soon move on to the Atlantic (4-4-2) for express work, which included bigger fireboxes and much bigger boilers. These engines were refitted in 1905 with 18" x 26" (457 x 660 mm) cylinders and 69" (1,753 mm) drivers, the combination yielding a starting tractive effort as 18,679 lb (8,473 kg or 83.09 kn). Now better suited to slower passenger service, they were placed in class C-15-a and renumbered in the 1560-1574 range.

The change gave the class two decades more of useful service. By 1924, most were based in Providence for work train and branch line service. All went to the scrapper in 1926-1927s.

Class A-2 - compound (Locobase 14731)

Data from James Dredge, A Record of the Transportation Exhibits at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1894), pp. 261+. works numbers were 2879, 2911 in April 1893.

Rhode Island delivered fourteen simple-expansion Eight-wheelers in 1893 (Locobase 14732) and these two cross-compounds. The latter used Batchellor's version of an intercepting valve, which he placed in the saddle of the low-pressure cylinder on the left side of the smoke box. The valve admitted steam to both cylinders for starting, but closed automatically after one revolution to commit the LP cylinder to compound working. Simple expansion could be attained at any time opening the exhaust valve located in the cab.

The design simply didn't live up to the claims by compounding advocates, or, at least, the operators of these engines didn't find the advantages to be worth contending with its differences from the others in the class.

Both were simpled by 1904. See Locobase 14732 for the results

Class A-3 (Locobase 105)

Data from NH 1962 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. (Many thanks to Chris Hohl for his 22 September 2017 email reporting unlikely boiler pressure values for 177 entries. A Locobase macro caused the error .)

This set of high-stepping, express Eight-wheelers were identical to the A-1s (Locobase 8111) in tractive effort, but the higher drivers led the designers to increase the piston stroke by 2", which neatly redressed the deficit in tractive effort caused by the tall wheels.

A-3s came in two batches. The 5 in 1900 had Schenectady works #5457-5461. Two years later, when the New Haven went back for 10 more, Schenectady had merged with several other builders as the American Locomotive Company (Alco). As all of the building series had been merged as well, the new engines sported works #25590-25599.

Many were rebuilt in the 1920s with steel cabs, piston valves, Southern valve gear, new frames, and superheaters - see Locobase 8114.

(Note: the official name for the New Haven was the New York, New Haven, and Hartford and the acronym that appeared on its tenders was NY, NH & H.)

Class A-3-a (Locobase 8114)

Data from NH 1962 Steam Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

Locobase 105 shows this class of express Eight-wheelers as built. In the 1920s, the New Haven rebuilt the class with superheaters. Although the trade-off of tubes for flues went about as usual (approximately 1/2 of the small tubes deleted in favor of the superheater flues), other changes were less common. These included operating the 12" piston valves with Southern valve gear and shortening both tubes and flues by 6". There were slight variations in the number of tubes -- some had 158, others 159 -- but all had 3 arch tubes that contributed 15 sq ft to the firebox heating surface.

Although more efficient as a result of the rebuild, the need for high-stepping Americans diminished rapidly and other classes could fill other passenger roles more easily. So the A-3s were withdrawn throughout the 1930s with the last one departing in 1940.

Class Connecticut (Locobase 13514)

Data from "New Express Engine," Railroad Gazette, Volume XIX (11 February 1887), p. 99.

The article from which this entry was developed concerned itself with celebrating the J W Miller, a larger, faster Eight-wheeler that succeeded it (Locobase 13515). It wasn't as if the railroad had not made good use of the Connecticut on the 62.5-mile Providence-Groton Ferry Landing run in 1886. It ran a total of 32,328 miles in 256 days.

Unlike the JW Miller, the Connecticut burned bituminous (soft) coal. The grate area is not supplied, but, based on the usual deep design favored for bituminous coal in that period, Locobase estimates that it measured between 18-19.5 sq ft.

Class J W Miller / C-2 (Locobase 13515)

Data from "New Express Engine," Railroad Gazette, Volume XIX (11 February 1887), p. 99.

Although later providers of express power would adopt much larger-diameter drivers, this Ocean-State product represented rare ambition in 1887. Indeed, after its first runs on the NYP & B, the Providence [RI] Journal proclaimed it "...the fastest and most powerful passenger locomotive in America." Its role was to haul the Shore Line express the 62 1/4 miles from Providence to Groton Ferry Landing in Connecticut, where passengers would grab the night boat to New York City. Existing trains were allotted 77 minutes in the schedule, but the J W Miller was to haul 8 cars, "four of them Pullmans", the same distance in 62.5 minutes. Only one stop at the Mystic Drawbridge marred the otherwise unfettered trip.

Delivering the power was a relatively large grate and firebox, a size occasioned by the use of anthracite fuel. Interestingly, its boiler tubes were greater in number, but shorter than those of the Connecticut.

Two years later, Locomotive Engineers Monthly of January 1890 published a story on proper counterbalancing of drivers in which several "crack" trains were identified. Accompanying the description of the Shore Line Express was a comment that Locobase believes reflected considerable disappointment: "This is the celebrated 'New England Greyhound,' the 'J. W. Miller,' from which we expected and were promised so much." (p. 48).

The Miller's career extended well into the New Haven era, which began in 1892 with that railroad's lease of the NYP & B and its 1893 absorption. Fitted for a brief time with a trailing truck, the 1697 remained in service until 1924.

Class P-2 - 1893 (Locobase 12095)

Data from CNE 1915 Locomotive Classification book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanely from his extensive collection.

Locobase 12094 describes the Vauclain compound Eight-wheelers that were delivered to the Philadelphia, Reading & New England in 1893. Fifteen years after their arrival, the CNE removed the compound cylinders (in 1908, 1911, and 1909, respectively), thus taking their place in the long line of North American railroads that firmly rejected compounding.

Little else about the locomotives was changed. Really only suitable for light local traffic, the class operated on the CNE for ten more years before being retired in 1925-1926 (in reverse order of their numbers).