KnowThyNiagaras

The fireman’s side view of Niagara No. 6010 at an unidentified location
shows the sand box cleanout port at the top of the boiler. (NYCSHS)

Niagara 6010 takes a drink from the pans at New Hamburg, NY while hauling sixteen cars,
in this fine 1950’s era scene. (AH/TRG)

The big splattered smokebox and air compressor screen attests to the speeds and mileage that No. 6010 is compiling
in this view at Harmon, New York dated September 21, 1946. The missing front tender overflow pipe makes a 1950-
52 date more probable. (TRG)

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This image of No. 6011 new at Alco shows the satin black finish of the boiler jacket, the lighter grey of the smokebox, and
the gloss lacquer of the cylinder and drivers. The somewhat lower location of the Worthington hot water pump compared
with Niagara No. 6000, and the vent tubes for the lower sandboxes, are also visible. Alco apparently did stripe wheel rims
on both sides of the locomotive, at least for the Central! (AHP)

This cropped view of the plates on Niagara No. 6011 reveals plate information useful to modelers. The locomotive serial number, and the
number submitted to the ICC for boiler identification, is 73789. The builders plate date is November, 1945. The ownership plate is partial-
ly obscured by the smoke deflector, but the Trust number is T-18309. (AHP)

No. 6011 is at Light Road, Portland, New York on September 6, 1949,
with a clean stack and thirteen cars. (DS/TRG)

This image of the fireman’s side of Niagara 6012 was taken at Rensselaer,
NY in the early 1950’s. Engine looks due for class repairs. (NYCSHS)

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Niagara 6012 at Chicago. The engine is as-built, in this scene dated May 24, 1947. (RF/JCS)

Camera shy Niagara No. 6013 was photographed at Harmon, NY. Photo is undated,
but Alco road switcher No. 8312 in the photo was delivered in March, 1952. (JW/TRG)

Niagara No. 6013 at Harmon, NY in 1953. Steam power would no longer be dispatched from
Harmon after August 7, 1953, when Niagara No. 6020 departed west. (TRG)

No. 6014 is at Harmon, NY on October 12, 1952. Date is confirmed by
Alco road switcher No. 8325, which was delivered May, 1952. (TRG)

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Niagara 6014 has been coaled up and watered, and is backing down to its train. No date is available but
estimated to be 1950. The tender is missing its front overflow pipe, but the engine has a twin sealed beam
headlight. The bell location remains behind the pilot. The eventual location of the bell would be on top of
the valve gear yoke. (NYCSHS)

Niagara No. 6014 at Harmon, NY on June 8, 1952. (TRG)

This is an earlier image of Niagara 6014 at Harmon on November 14, 1947. (JW/TRG)

Niagara No. 6015, a Line West engine, was in systemwide service when photographed near Tower “A” in Albany
in February, 1946. The locomotive was almost new, having been delivered in November, 1945. (RB)

No. 6015 was photographed at Chicago, IL on June 22, 1947. (RF/JCS)

West end assigned No. 6015 leaves Chicago in early 1952 with a passenger consist.
Stock cars in the background were a feature of Chicago area railroading. (JAN)

Still looking in good mechanical shape almost one year after an over-
haul, No. 6016 is at Harmon, NY on August 11, 1949. (JW/TRG)

Niagara No. 6016 takes a ten car M&E train over the Hudson
Division in this scene dated April 21, 1951. (NYCSHS)

No. 6016. Chicago, IL. April 6, 1946. (PS/TRG)

Nearly new No. 6016 with a mixed consist, including some lightweight
cars and one non air conditioned coach with open windows. (AH/TRG)

105

Niagara 6016 has Train 55, the ten car Advance Empire State Express,
well in hand at Canastota, NY, in the summer of 1953. (JT)

97

Oops! With 235 tons of Niagara on the ties, the rerailing crew at left ponders the situation. Engine has been reversed,
perhaps with the hope of backing away from the problem. Hand tools in the foreground will be of no use. (RB)

To the rescue! Car Dept. steam crane X-30, under the capable direction of its
wreck master, may be outmatched. Crane weight is 264,200 lb. Niagara in
service weight was 471,000 lb. (RB)

Line West assigned Niagara 6017 waits for a highball at Chicago, in this scene from the 1951-52 era. (TRG)

No. 6017 is at an unidentified location. Image is not dated, but the engine has all of the late
modifications including an overhauled tender, so a post 1951 date is likely. (AH/TRG)

109

Niagara 6018 was at Chicago on July 28, 1949. This engine had just received
class repairs at Beech Grove and was released on May 17, 1949. (F/JCS)

Another view of the engineer’s side of Niagara 6018, at Westfield, NY on
July 3, 1949. Notice the darker grey smokebox. (DS/TRG)

A review of this image of Niagara No. 6018 shows the extensive facilities required to operate and maintain a fleet of steam locomotives.
The image is from the transition era of steam to diesel at Rensselaer, NY.The Alco FA “A” and “B” set in the background were delivered in
October, 1951. J-1 Hudson No. 5283 also appears in this picture, one of three on the railroad with an Elesco vertical tube bundle. (RB)

Niagara 6018 departs Harmon, NY with The Knickerbocker in this
early and well known view of Niagara operation. (JWS)

Niagara No. 6019 is shown at Chicago on December 20, 1945, having been delivered that same month. (TRG)
113

No. 6019 was in Chicago with train No. 59 on April 20, 1946. (TRG)

Niagaras were Niagara 6019 at
maintained, but HarmonNY in
not overhauled, 1946. Hostler is
at Harmon, NY. wondering why
Niagara No. 6019 anyone would
was at Harmon on photograph a
October 27, 1946. steam locomotive.
(TRG) (TRG)

Niagara 6019 in its
final form departs
Chicago on June 25,
1950. (RF/JCS)

115

Line West assigned No. 6019 is at Englewood in 1953, awaiting its next assignment. (HE)

Niagara No. 6020 easily handles a mostly heavyweight sixteen car Advance Commodore Vanderbilt,
Train 67, in this Hudson Division photo probably taken in the winter of 1946-47. (JW/TRG)

Niagara 6020 is at Peekskill, NY with a westbound No. 25, the 20TH Century Limited, in this 1946 scene. (AH/TRG)

Niagara No. 6020 is at Rensselaer, NY on July 15, 1952. (TRG)
118

Niagara 6020 passes WX Tower near Portage Road in Westfield, NY with
a fifteen car M&E train on the evening of July 3, 1949. (DS/TRG)

Niagara No. 6020 is on Train No. 52 departing Buffalo in this August, 1953 scene.
Steam east of Buffalo would be all gone by the end of September. (JT/NYCSHS)

The first of the last five production Niagaras and delivered in January,
1946, No. 6021 is at Chicago on May 11, 1947. (RF/TRG)

Niagara No. 6021 shows her fireman’s side in this exposure made at Chicago in 1951.
This Niagara was known as the “fastest Niagara”, probably as a result of performance
on the sixty-eight mile tangent between Toledo and Elkhart. (BK/JCS)

Niagara No. 6021 was used systemwide for about two years after entering service, and is at Oscawana, NY
on November 6, 1946 with a westbound Pacemaker. (TRG)

123

With more wheels than a small boy can count and the largest moving object that the denizens of Westfield
New York will ever see, 445 ton Niagara #6022 announces its arrival by lifting two of four pops. The date
is 9/23/49. Steam will last another four years on this part of the NYC mainline. (DS)

No. 6022 is at Harmon, NY on August 17, 1946. (C/JCS)

Niagara No. 6022 is at Chicago on November 11, 1949. Engine is as-built with aluminum smoke deflectors,
which would not hold paint. A future change will be the substitution of steel for aluminum. (TRG)

High utilization and
cold temperatures have
accentuated steam
leaks at the super-
heater header and at
the dry pipe inspection
manhole of Niaga-
ra No. 6022, photo-
graphed at Westfield,
NY on February 12,
1950. (DS/TRG)

Annual snowfall totals
are high in the New York
Central service area, as
shown by the miserable
conditions at Wayneport,
NY, with Mohawk No. 3048
and Niagara No. 6022.
Date of this photograph is
not available. (NYCSHS)

127

Niagara No. 6023 passes XC Tower, the PRR crossing, at Erie, PA. with Train No. 3, the Chicago Express,
in October, 1949. The Erie depot is less than one mile ahead. (PP/TRG)

Test Niagara No. 6023 departs Chicago in July, 1948. (MN/JCS)

Minus the New York Central smokebox oval, Niagara No. 6023 is under catenary at Linndale, OH in the late 1940’s. (TRG)

Niagara 6023 accompanies another Niagara at the Chicago coal dock. Image is undated,
but the Lima PT-4 tender T-3077 was applied to No. 6023 in April, 1953. (NYCSHS)

130

Niagara No. 6024 leads Train No. 15, the Ohio State Limited, at Oscawana, NY on September 1, 1947. (TRG)
131

An image worth repeating, Niagara 6024 leads Train No. 28, the New England States,
out of Chicago in July, 1948. (JT/NYCSHS)

Fireman’s side of Niagara 6022 was photographed at Chicago on August 22, 1948.The engine
is mostly as-built with the exception of the relocation of the turbogenerator to the underside
of the running boards between the third and fourth driving wheel. (RF/JCS)

Niagara 6024 and a second unidentified Niagara are at Rensselaer. It looks like
No. 6024 will be first out, after the hostler fills the tank. (RB)

The last of the S-1B’s, Niagara 6025 is at Westfield, NY on October 23, 1949. The hogger
has found something in the area of the crosshead not to his liking. (DS/TRG)

The last of the S-1B’s, Niagara 6025 is at Westfield, NY on October 23, 1949. The hogger
has found something in the area of the crosshead not to his liking. (DS/TRG)

The last piston valve Niagara takes a sixteen car Train No. 1, the all coach
Pacemaker, westbound at Oscawana, NY on September 20, 1947. (TRG)

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