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Lightning striped EMD E7 No. 4024 keeps company with Niagara No. 6023
at Rensselaer, NY in the early 1950’s. (RB)

Niagara No. 6019 is making a light move southbound from LaSalle Street Station to
Englewood immediately below Roosevelt Road. April 19, 1954. (Szwajkart)

Niagara No. 6009, her blue oval prominent, is at Rensselaer in the 1950’s. (RB)

This image provides a detailed view of the PT5 tender on Niagara No. 6009. According to available
records, this Niagara kept its original tender, T-3154, until retirement in August, 1955. (RB)

Water overflow from a stand pipe has soaked the tender water deck of Niagara No. 6009, and this excess wa-
ter is draining through the two water deck drains that exited at the rear of the tender on the tender under-
side, and inside the track gauge. (RB)

Niagara No. 6020 arrives at Poughkeepsie, NY in this scene from 1952. (Krambles-Peterson Archive)

This three quarter wedge photo of Niagara No. 6023 shows some neglect at the end of steam on the east end
of the railroad. There is no date for this image but we know that this Niagara received a Class 2 overhaul at
Beech Grove, outshopped on April 30, 1953, so we suspect that this photo was taken prior to that date. (RB)

Niagara No. 6010 is spotted under Roosevelt Road, and is ready to move to Englewood for servicing after
delivering a train to the yard north of Roosevelt Road. Image taken October 9, 1954. (Szwajkart)

No. 6022 is ready to depart Englewood, IL with an eastbound train,
in this image taken November 21, 1953. (Szwajkart)

Niagara No. 6023, minus the smokebox mounted NYC oval, arrives at Englewood
in this image by Robert Caflish dated 1949. (Harold Edmonson Collection)

The way that the general public sees the railroad, Niagara No. 6010 teams up with
Super Hudson No. 5408 out of Chicago in this scene that dates from about 1950.
Cab windows are closed and the amount of steam suggests a late Fall or early
spring exposure. (Krambles-Peterson Archive)

Niagara No. 6023 is at Rennselaer in 1953. (RB)

Niagara No. 6025, with a slight haze at the stack indicating excellent
firing, approaches Olive, IN on a westbound run on August 12, 1950.
(Krambles-Peterson Archive)

Niagara No. 6016 was at the Englewood servicing facility on May 30, 1955. (Szwajkart)

The last Niagara in service, engine 6015 climbs Albany Hill with a M&E train in the
early 1950’s. The lack of smoke in the distance indicates that steam pushers were not
required with a Niagara on the point. (RB)

The personification of New York Central Super steam was the elephant ear and the PT tender. Elephant eared Mohawk
No. 3001 is parked behind Niagara No. 6015 at Greensburg Indiana on a summer evening in 1956. Retirement of
6015 was imminent, while the Mohawk would be retired in early 1957 but not scrapped. In 1959, it was purchased
by the Texas and Pacific Railroad for display. It is now located on NYC rails in Elkhart, IN. (TRG)

Niagara No. 6009, a Line East assigned engine, was at Englewood on August 23, 1953. (Szwajkart)

No. 6022 departs Englewood on an eastbound run on November 21, 1953. (Szwajkart)

Niagaras 6016 and 6020 are in line for service at Englewood on May 30, 1955. (Szwajkart)

Line West stalwart, Niagara 6015, is at Englewood and ready to run to Elkhart, in this view taken in 1951. During this
period, there were eight odd numbered Niagaras beginning with Niagara 6011 assigned to Line West for cycle mileage.
All Niagaras were cycled to Harmon for any required maintenance, and were given class repairs at Beech Grove, the
only shop on the railroad that could handle them. (Krambles-Peterson Archive)

Niagara No. 6013 departs Englewood for LaSalle Street on July 5, 1953. (Szwajkart)

No. 6010 is ready to depart for Englewood after delivering a train to the yard
north of Roosevelt Road. Date is October 9, 1954. (Szwajkart)

Niagara No. 6007 has a Mail and Express train in tow in this view taken in the
Albany area in the early 1950’s. (RB)

Niagara No. 6013 was on the floor at Beech Grove Shop in August, 1953 in the course of class repairs.
Evidently, that Niagara overhaul was never completed and the locomotive was demolished by the
New York Central at Beech Grove. It was officially retired on October 4, 1955. (TRG)

Minus a headlight, Niagara No. 6015 is at the end of a class overhaul at
Beech Grove Shop in August, 1953. (Thorin Marty/TRG)

Niagara No. 6015 is receiving a class 3 overhaul at Beech Grove Shop in Indianapolis, IN. The engine
was released on August 25, 1953, and was stored for almost two years at Airline Junction Roundhouse
in Toledo, OH. As a result of this flue time extension, No. 6015 was the last Niagara retired, lasting until
early July, 1956. It was officially retired on August 20, 1956. (Thorin Marty/TRG)

Niagara No. 6015 being overhauled at Beech Grove in August, 1953. Beech Grove
Shop no longer performed any steam locomotive overhauls after December, 1953.
The last locomotive to receive a class overhaul at Beech Grove was S-1A Niagara
No. 6000. It was released December 24, 1953. (Thorin Marty/TRG)

Cab end of Niagara No. 6015 at Beech Grove Shop in Indianapolis, IN
in August, 1953. (Thorin Marty/TRG)

Niagara No. 6007 was at Englewood on October 9, 1954. (Szwajkart)

Niagara 6016 at Englewood on May 30, 1955. (Szwajkart)

Niagara No. 6015 on the ready track at Greensburg, IN in the summer of 1956. (TRG)

Niagara No. 6015 is out of service at Indianapolis, IN in late summer, 1956. PT-5 tender
is derailed, either indicating a problem when the locomotive backed up, or an attempt by
someone who did not want the engine moved? (TRG)



Niagara 6008 is shown here, new at Alco, equipped with sand dome drip lips. (AHP)

Changes and Modifications

After the Niagaras entered service, there were additional pipe. (K-74200-B) The boiler detail seam drawing for loco-
changes made over a period of years as a result of this ser- motives 6003, 6007, and 6015 was “No Longer Used” after
vice experience. There was one major change to eliminate 6/5/52. A total of three Niagaras were shopped for Class
a deficiency in material selection, and that was the material 2 repairs in 1947, and seventeen additional engines had
used to manufacture the original rivetted boilers. their riveted boilers replaced in 1948. The Locomotive
Historical Record Cards do not contain Class 2 overhaul
Welded Boilers dates for locomotives 6017, 6019, 6021, 6023, or 6025.
The Edson papers contain a sheet that tabulates orders for
The production Niagaras, Class S-1B, entered pool service welded boilers for all Niagaras, so it is unclear whether all
when deliveries started in October 1945,along with twelve Niagaras received welded boilers or whether five Niagaras
newly purchased EMD E7 passenger diesels, consisting of never received them. There is a published reference that
eight cab units and four booster units. Based on photo- Alco made an arrangement with Combustion Engineering
graphs, these new diesels were primarily assigned to the Co. of Chattanooga,Tennessee to provide three additional
20TH Century Limited, so almost all of the remainder of welded boilers to the railroad in 1950. If that is correct, at
the Great Steel Fleet were hauled by Niagaras and Hudsons the end of Niagara operation there might have been two
until twenty additional EMD “E” units arrived in 1947. The locomotives with rivetted boilers. We also know that one
Niagaras were intensively used for two years, and the first of these two was 6015, and that it received the welded
major failures developed at the end of this period. boiler from poppet valve 5500 in August, 1953.

The Niagaras experienced trans crystalline cracking of the Boiler Support and Throat Sheet Repairs
boiler shells after two years of extensive operation. This
failure mode was supposedly traced to the type of water In the steam age, the railroad was required to document
treatment used by the railroad. In spite of this, Alco re- any changes made to a boiler by the issuance of a drawing
sponded with a change in the boiler material, from nickel specific to that locomotive. The listing of those drawings
steel to carbon steel, and began to supply all welded boiler shows that several Niagaras had the welded boiler support
shells beginning in late 1947, and extending through 1948. replaced by a “loose boiler support”. Niagaras 6001, 6008,
There was a claimed weight savings with the use of the 6013, 6020, and 6021 had this alteration between July 30,
original nickel steel boilers of 7,000 lb. Several other rail- 1951, and November 23, 1951. Those records also show
roads experienced problems with the use of nickel steel that 6007 had right and left throat sheets replaced on May
for boilers, including one order of large Northern type lo- 19, 1952. All of these repairs were made at Beech Grove.
comotives on the Santa Fe railroad. The Central made a
few minor design changes to the original rivetted boilers, Main Rod
and there were slight differences in the boilers applied at
one time to 6003, 6007, 6015, 6016, and 6017, but the Niag- The original Niagara had a set of tapered main rods. The
ara rivetted boiler was obsoleted and no longer used after production Niagaras,road numbers 6001-25 inclusive,used
July 2, 1948 (T-72611,T-72959). Drawing R-74786 identifies a main rod with a constant cross section. The tapered main
some differences between the “standard” boiler and the rod set from the original Niagara continued to be used on a
boilers of 6003, 6007, and 6015. The manhole inspection few of the production locomotives at various times, includ-
“dome” on the fireman’s side of engine 6016, for example, ing road numbers 6009 and 6012. The revised main rod
was moved six inches toward the cab. This might indicate drawing indicated that the tapered rod had to be applied
a change in the dry pipe length on this locomotive, since as a set. (N-72681,V-72710)
this dome gave direct access to the top of the slotted dry

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Niagara No. 6021 is at speed with train 159, the Chicago Express, and exhaling slightly superheated
steam in a classic wedge shot taken on March 10, 1946. The brick tower and separate right of way
in the background are indicators of Berea, OH. Note the original “as built” grab irons on the front of
the air compressor shield. For some unknown reason, these were later inverted with the bolts on the
underside. Date of that change was March, 1947. (NYCSHS)