I got a call a few minutes ago from Loco Lawyer wanting to know if I was OK. I actually forgot it was Friday. So I am very late. This week I finished my Polar Express freight set.
Scott Smith
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Scott,
I also was concerned about you today. Have a good weekend.
Two locomotives – Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal #15 and New York Central #1244 – ran on my 12’-by-8’ layout this week.
BEDT #15 is an 0-6-0T switcher (Lionel 2032020) – and the smallest steam engine model in my collection. Lionel lists its length as 8.5 inches. Its small size and unusual design seem like a good subject for weekend photos.
Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal was a waterfront railroad that handled freight cars floated on barges across New York harbor from New Jersey to Brooklyn. The railroad had 11 miles of track at its peak and ran steam locomotives until 1963. It operated until 1983, when it was acquired by the New York Cross Harbor Railroad.
A drawing on page 32 of Model Railroader Cyclopedia – Volume 1 – Steam Locomotives, by Linn H. Westcott, shows a 1910 Alco 0-6-0T industrial steam switcher that appears to be the prototype for Lionel’s model. It gives a length of about 32 feet (8 inches in 1:48 O scale) over coupler faces with 44-inch driving-wheel diameter.
New York Central #1244 is a 4-6-0 ten wheeler (Lionel 2431660) and a recent acquisition. Lionel has been making versions of this NYC prototype since at least 2002 and they did a great job on this one. It’s the 5th Lionel ten-wheeler in my collection.
#1244 was built by Alco in November 1907 and began service on the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad as Class F-2e #2118. It was reclassified to NYC Class F-12e and renumbered #831 when superheated in February 1916. Weight was 208,000 pounds with 31,900 pounds tractive effort at steam pressure 200 pounds-per-square-inch on 69-inch driving wheels. It was renumbered to #1244 in 1948 and retired in February 1952.
The engines ran on the O-54 and O-36 loops of my 12’-by-8’ layout that also has an O-72 circuit. As shown on the videos, the O-36 loop with BEDT #15 passes through a narrow rock cut and across a truss bridge. The O-54 loop with NYC #1244 crosses a two-span girder bridge. BEDT #15 is pulling a freight train with two NYC wood cabooses and NYC #1244 is trailed by two wood-sided coaches – some of my favorite railroad cars – all by MTH.
MELGAR
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