Class F-1/H-30, H-30a (Locobase 14263)

Data from "Manufacturers and Supplies," The Railway Age, Vol 26,, No (30 December 1898), p. 958; and NYC&HR 9-1905 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in August 2013 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 10 April 2015 email stating that the HP cylinder diameter should be 22" and for querying the road numbers.) Works numbers were 4922-4926 in January 1899 and 5393-5398 in January 1900.

The order included the following "special equipment" (components whose manuafacturers help flesh out the web of suppliers both supporting and dependent on steam locomotive production in the US):

The boiler and firebox were made of carbon steel. American balanced valves, American Steel Castings driving-wheel centers, Ashton safety valves, Detroit and Seibert lubricators, Hancock composite injectors, Keasbey & Mattison magnesia boiler covering, Leach sanding apparatus, "Magnus" journal bearings, Midvale tires, Star Brass company's steam gauges, Sterlingworth brake beams, Trojan couplers, United States metallic packing, and Westinghouse-American brakes

Sources report that the operating department did not like this cross-compound Twelve-wheeler design.

The class received new numbers when the B&A's locomotives were brought into the New York Central's overall numbering scheme in 1900. By 1905, the shops had converted the class to simple expansion; see Locobase 15833.

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Class H (Locobase 5288)

The data comes from a reproduction of the New York Central's 1902 Locomotive guide found on [] (visited December 2002). Works numbers were 2422-2424 in March 1888; 2859 in April; 3216-3217 in October 1890; 3218-3220 in November; 3605 in November 1891; 3606, 3608 in January 1892; and -3607, 3609 in February.

This class of Twelve-wheelers is virtually identical to the 2-8-0s built for the NYC&HR in the same year. Perhaps the designers went for the bogie rather than the truck to improve the locomotive's stability at speed. Otherwise, there's almost no difference between the two designs.

Staufer (New York Central's Early Power, 1967), p 145, says that Beech Creek's purchase of this series of 4-8-0s is hard to figure except that the arrangement had come into a brief vogue at the time. Besides the Boston & Albany H-30 cross-compounds (Locobase 14263), these were the only Twelve Wheelers the NYC system ever operated, and they were gone by 1915. (See Locobase 5289 for an HA with a different boiler, 5290-5291 were later orders with larger boilers.).

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Class H-1 (Locobase 5290)

The data comes from a reproduction of the New York Central's 1902 Locomotive guide found on [] (visited December 2002). Works numbers were 3999-4002 in January 1893, 4029-4030 in February, and 4186-4191 in December.

Twelve-wheelers derived from the H class of 1889, but with taller drivers and longer firetubes. See Locobase 5288 for fuller explanation of this arrangement's appearance on the NYC.

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Class H-3 (Locobase 5291)

The data from a reproduction of the New York Central's 1902 Locomotive guide found on [] (visited December 2002). (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 17 April 2017 email pointing the difference in the tender capacities of the later locomotives.) Works numbers were 4532-4534 in February 1897, 4698 in January 1898, 4699-4702 in February.

Twelve-wheelers combining design elements of the HA and the H-1 class. Chris Hohl points out that 67-71 trailed tenders holding 10 tons (9.3 metric tons) of coal and 4,000 US gallons (15,140 litres) of water; loaded weight came to 90,000 lb (40,823 kg) .

See Locobase 5288 for fuller explanation of this arrangement's appearance on the NYC.

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Class H-30, H-30a/R-30, R-30a (Locobase 15833)

Data from NYC&HR 9-1905 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in August 2013 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 10 April 2015 email offering his road-number correction.)

As noted in Locobase 14263, these Twelve-wheelers didn't remain cross-compounds for very long. The conversion to simple expansion include dropping the boiler pressure. Shortly thereafter, the class was renumbered again to 3632-3642. In 1912, they took 2574-2584 and, after the B&A resumed numbering its engines in a separate sequence, 800-810.

Unloved by their crews, many H-30s were reclassified as R-30 and R-31 switchers in 1913 before being scrapped in 1916 (7), 1918 (2) and 1921 (807 and 810).

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Class HA (Locobase 5289)

The data comes from a reproduction of the New York Central's 1902 Locomotive guide found on [] (visited December 2002). Works number was 2859 in 1889.

One of a class of early Twelve-wheelers, this locomotive later showed increased boiler dimensions of the H class, probably after receiving a new boiler. See Locobase 5288 for fuller explanation of this wheel arrangement's appearance on the NYC.