ROW B&O Docksider. The plug in back of the cab connects to a sound unit in a boxcar. The switch in front of the stack is for SMOKE UNIT / OFF - ON.
These locomotives were also called "Little Joes." B&O POWER, by Lawrence W. Sagle and Al Staufer, provides specifics, as follows: "Class C-16 (Tank), 0-4-0, 19" x 24" cyl., 48" drivers,120000 lbs. wt., 28800 lbs. t. p. [tractive power]. These were oil burners. Nos. 96 to 99 were built by Baldwin in 1912.
Nos. 96 and 99 were changed to coal-burning, saddle-tank locomotives in 1912, with coal boxes replacing the oil tanks at the back. Small, slope-back tenders were added in 1926, with new cabs, entirely changing the appearance of these two locomotives. They were reclassified as C-16a. The weight became 109100#, tractive power 27600# and the steam pressure 180#. They were used in Philadelphia until retired; No. 99 in 1944 and No. 96 in 1945.
Nos. 97 and 98 worked at Mt. Clare, Baltimore, by day, and along Pratt street at night. Their numbers were changed to 897 and 898 in 1950. They were scrapped in 1951.
These were the famous "Little Joes," the Dockside Switchers. They served the industrial sidings and the piers along Pratt street, succeeding old numbers 31 and 316. No. 31 was the first to be equipped with a large cab enclosing the entire locomotive. The horses had become accustomed to the small street cars of those days, and it is possible that the B. & O. successfully hood-winked the equines. A colorful feature of the Pratt street line was the horseman who always rode a half-block ahead of the locomotive, blowing a horn to warn all that he iron horse was approaching. He also acted as a traffic policeman at street corners. Having held up the cross traffic until the locomotive had passed, he would gallop ahead to the next corner, all the while blowing loudly. The urchins of Southwest Baltimore would often plague him by calling him "Paul Revere." A city ordinance compelled the B. & O. to provide this outrider for the locomotives on city streets, and it was not until World War I that the practice was discontinued. Trucks and automobiles do not frighten as easily as horses.
The C-16 locomotives were very modern, with Walschaert valve gears, piston valves, and Ragonnet power reverses. They have been replaced by two small 400 h.p., steeple-cab, G. E. diesel locomotives. (p. 91)
