In 1826, the Mohwak & Hudson Railroad was founded to construct a rail line between Schenectady and Albany as a faster alternative to compete with the Erie Canal. For the route to be opened in 1831, a locomotive was manufactured at the West Point Foundry, which should take over the operation with passenger cars converted from horse carriages. As an affront to Governor DeWitt Clinton, who was always on the side of the canal, the locomotive was named after him.

In contrast to the Grasshoppers built at the same time, the “DeWitt Clinton” already had a horizontal boiler barrel, a steam dome and a smokebox with a chimney at the front end of the boiler. It also already had an attached tender for storing supplies.

With the coal from the Lackawanna area originally used in the first test runs, no sufficient range could be achieved, and so the coal was soon replaced by coke. Using the new fuel, the 16-mile distance was covered at an average of between 25 and 27 mph. Up to 18 passengers could be transported in each of the three cars.

The replica in the Henry Ford Museum

Dsdugan

The original locomotive was scrapped after only two years of service and replaced with newer models. Nevertheless, it laid the foundation for the fact that the canal lost importance from the 1860s. In 1893, the New York Central as the successor to the Mohawk & Hudson made a working replica, which was shown at the Chicago World's Fair that same year. It was in regular service into the 1950s and has since been in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Faced with competition from the Pennsylvania Railroad, the New York Central planned to build a promotional high-speed express locomotive that would also be displayed at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. With the approval of Cornelius Vanderbild II, William Buchanan developed the Class N, which was to be built in a single copy with the number 999, based on the Class I, which was already capable of speeds of around 80 mph. Although it was only a single example, it was intended to pull the “Empire State Express” between New York City and Buffalo.

Sectional drawing

Railway and Locomotive Engineering, December 1896

The magic number of 100 mph was set as the targeted top speed. The drivers were enlarged from the original 70 inches to 86 inches, which were the largest wheels on a 4-4-0 in history. The bogie and tender wheels were also enlarged to relieve the bearings at higher speeds. With the newly developed boiler, great importance was attached to a large firebox in order to increase the evaporation capacity through a direct heating surface. This was augmented by the “Water Table” developed by Buchanan, which lay in the firebox and was exposed to direct heat. Also, the boiler pressure was increased from 180 to 190 psi to partially compensate for the larger drivers.

Today's appearance with smaller wheels in the Chicago Museum

Sean Lab

Immediately after completion in April 1893, the initially secret test runs were undertaken with four six-axle passenger cars. The controversial value of 112.5 mph was reached during the record run on May 10th. Although this was achieved on a slight gradient of 0.3 percent, a calculated boiler output of more than 2,000 hp would have been necessary with this train weight, which the boiler of the 999 could only have achieved for a brief moment. Today, the value can no longer be reliably verified, since the speeds at that time could only be determined with a stopwatch. Most likely at least 100 mph was actually achieved, while some voices assume little more than 80 mph. 

After the world exhibition, the 999 was used in front of scheduled trains, whereby the low tractive effort was noticeable due to the large coupled wheels. The diameter was thus reduced first to 78 and in 1899 to 70 inches, bringing it in line with the other 4-4-0 locomotives of the New York Central. It also ended its service in front of the Empire State Express, whereupon it was used as class C-14 with a boiler pressure of only 180 psi in front of less important trains.

After initially being retired in 1924, it almost ended up being scrapped. Fortunately, since the identity of the locomotive, which was now listed as number 1086, was recognized, it was refurbished instead. It spent the time that followed with its old number again, but with the smaller wheels, at various exhibitions and special trips. In 1952 it was finally phased out, since it was now almost impossible to use a steam locomotive for advertising purposes. It was given to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago in 1962, where it can still be found today.

The Toledo & Ohio Central, a subsidiary of the New York Central, procured a total of 25 consolidations from the Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works in 1902 and 1903. With a driver diameter of just 54 inches, they were downright freight machines. Deliveries included 20 pieces in 1902 and another five pieces in 1903.

The locos had a boiler that tapers towards the front and a Belpaire firebox. The leading axle was connected to the first driving axle by means of a compensating lever, as were the three rear coupled axles to each other. The second coupled axle was designed without wheel flanges in order to be able to run through curves better.

Most of the New York Central class H-5 Mikados came from the rebuilds of a total of 482 G-5 class Consolidations. Not only were locomotives rebuilt directly by the New York Central, but also by its subsidiaries Boston & Albany and Big Four. The firebox remained largely unchanged and the boiler barrel was lengthened. While the cylinders were enlarged, the boiler pressure was reduced by 20 psi. The combination of these measures allowed to increase speed. Overall, the adhesive weight also increased. After the G-5 had already been built in different versions, there were also many differences within the H-5 class. In addition to the rebuilt locomotives, 179 were newly built.

The New York Central operated a number of major express trains from New York City, which ran at high speeds mostly in the lowlands and enjoyed increasing popularity. These were primarily the “20th Century Limited” to Chicago and the “Empire State Express” to Detroit. Since the existing Pacific locomotives had reached their limits in the mid-1920s, the task was to develop a new locomotive with a larger boiler. This should also be able to pull 16 or 18 cars instead of the previous twelve. Since there were hardly any inclines on the affected routes, three coupled axles were sufficient.

J-1b No. 5231 in September 1947 in Chicago

collection Taylor Rush

With the “Superpower” locomotives with the wheel arrangement 2-8-4 (Berkshire), it had already been confirmed that a significantly larger firebox could be installed with a second trailing axle, which enabled a significantly higher boiler output. So the Pacific was expanded with the second trailing axle and thus the first steam locomotive in North America with the wheel arrangement 4-6-4 was created. Although the Milwaukee Road had already developed a comparable locomotive shortly before and wanted to name the wheel arrangement as “Baltic”, the designs were actually implemented later. Thus, the New York Central was able to designate the new wheel arrangement and named it “Hudson”, after the river they were supposed to travel along.

J-3a No. 5442 around 1950

Dennis Dupier / collection Taylor Rush

For starting, all Hudsons from the first series received a booster on the second axle of the rear bogie. Despite this, they were said to have performed relatively poorly at low speeds, but developed well over 4,000 hp at high speeds. Officially, they were designed for a top speed of 110 mph. However, according to unofficial information, they are said to have reached speeds of at least 123 mph when driving in delays. The standard performance for the J-1 was 1,270 short tons at an average speed of 55 mph. 

Works photo of the J-1a

Railway and Locomotive Engineering, February 1928

There were 205 examples of the J-1 in five series, which were designated as J-1a to J-1e. A total of 60 examples of these went to other Big Four affiliates. This were 30 for the Michigan Central and 30 for the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis. From 1928 the J-2 was built in parallel, which went directly back to an order from Boston & Albany and was built 20 times just for them. It had slightly smaller coupling wheels and a Coffin type feedwater heater. 

In 1934, the last J-1e built received an Art Deco streamlined fairing designed by Carl F. Kantola. The aim was to emulate the diesel-powered streamlined trains that were just emerging at the time. Ten of 50 examples of the J-3a built from 1937 received factory streamlined fairing designed by Henry Dreyfuss. The J-3a otherwise differed from the J-1 by having a smaller superheater and a boiler pressure of 275 psi. However, this was later reduced to 265 psi. 

The J-3a in particular was characterized by the fact that it was extremely low-maintenance and could cover long distances non-stop. The interval between two major repairs was between 185,000 and 200,000 miles, which corresponded to around two years of service. Additionally, it used seven-axle tenders with a laden weight of more than 400.000 pounds, which could cover long distances before having to refill water and coal. The last Hudsons served until 1957, when New York Central's conversion to diesel traction was complete. Thus they lived even longer than the even more powerful Niagaras built after them. Unfortunately, they met the same fate as many other US steam locomotives, so that despite their historical significance, they were all scrapped.

After the K-2 class Pacifics, which did not have a superheater from the factory, the New York Central had a larger number of superheated K-3 built between 1911 and 1925. Their task was to pull the heaviest express trains. Numerous series from the K-3a to the K-3r were produced, with the latter being built for the Big Four. The different series were almost identical in the basic dimensions, but there were differences in the boiler. Some of the locomotives had a booster on the trailing axle. 

The K-5 class designated the heaviest Pacifics of the New York Central System. Built primarily for the subsidiaries, they were divided into the K-5 and K-5a subclasses. Numbers 4915 and 4917 were fitted with streamlining in 1936 designed by Henry Dreyfuss and called the “upside down bathtub”. These two pulled important express trains like the “Mercury” and became subclass K-5b.

After the 185 “Mohawks” of the L-1 class, the New York Central developed the more powerful L-2 class. It was also intended purely for freight service, but had a larger boiler, a feedwater heater and a booster on the trailing axle. The driver diameter remained at 69 inches or 1,753 mm and allowed a maximum permitted speed of 60 mph or 97 km/h.

Production began in 1925 at ALCO in Schenectady with 100 locomotives of the subclass L-2a. Further subclasses up to the L-2d all also came from Schenectady and brought the number to a total of 300 by 1930. They differed in the boiler dimensions, wheelbases and the feedwater heater used, which could be of the Elasco, Worthington or Coffin types.

In 1939, two L-2d were converted as prototypes for the L-3 for mixed service. These were intended to achieve higher speeds without requiring larger drivers. Thanks to roller bearings on the axles, cylinders with a smaller diameter and a higher boiler pressure, they could be approved for speeds of 80 mph. 

The third of NYC's four classes of 4-8-2s, called “Mohawks” there, was the L-3. In contrast to its predecessors, it was not only intended to pull freight trains, but also passenger trains. An L-2d had already been modified accordingly for testing. The driver diameter was left at 69 inches and the decision was made not to use a second trailing axle in view of the existing infrastructure.

The differences between the L-3 and the L-2 included higher boiler pressure, smaller cylinders and several improvements to the running gear. In the case of the running gear, this included improving the counterbalancing, designing many rotating parts in lightweight construction and mounting the axles in roller bearings. The L-3b and c subclasses were equipped with a booster on the trailing axle. 

Of a total of 65 locomotives, 35 were actually built for mixed traffic and 30 only for freight traffic, which only had plain bearings on the driving axles. The large six-axle tenders had an exceptionally large coal capacity of 43 short tons. The water capacity, on the other hand, was relatively moderate at 15,500 gallons, but the New York Central had water troughs for refilling while running. In this way, large distances could be covered without stopping.

With the driver diameter of 69 inches, speeds of more than 80 mph could be achieved. However, the wheelbase was chosen in such a way that wheels of up to 72 inches could also be fitted. This was only applied to number 3000, which served as a prototype for the L-4.

After the first class U-1 switching locomotives with a 0-8-0 wheel arrangement, which were only built in small numbers, New York Central procured a larger number of class U-2 locomotives. These were slightly lighter than their predecessors and only had a cylinder diameter of 23.5 instead of 25 inches with the same wheel diameter. 

From 1916 a total of twelve series were created, which differed slightly primarily in the boiler dimensions and were given the letters from a to l. The first series of the U-2a was delivered by ALCO-Brooks and the last series of the U-2l by ALCO-Schenectady. The remaining series came mainly from Lima, only the U-2d came from ALCO-Pittsburgh. The U-2i to U-2l were only delivered to subsidiaries of New York Central, more specifically to Chicago River & Indiana and Boston & Albany.

U-2h No. 7337

Although the last series of U-2s had not been built for the subsidiaries until 1923 and 1924, New York Central procured new class U-3 switchers as early as 1918, which corresponded to the standard USRA 0-8-0 design. Despite this, the U-2 class engines survived into the 1950s.