19th Century Locomotive Builder Renditions & Ads
With the ongoing research into the Cincinnati Northern locomotive roster, I’ve checked builder photos and renditions for a number of locos. With these checks, some of the pic collection websites have decided one of my preferences is of builder photos and renditions (imagine that!). So…I finally decided to put a collection of 19th century locomotive renditions together.
This first rendition is of PRR # 95, “Iron City”, 0-8-0, built in 1854 by Baldwin. That’s pretty early for an 0-8-0. Note that Baldwin canted the cylinders on this loco. They also used arched windows on the cab.
Here’s an American, 4-4-0, built by Baldwin in 1871 for the Lehigh Valley’s Pennsylvania & New York Canal & Railroad Co. I’m not sure what the third dome is for.
Roger’s was an important early locomotive builder – built UP # 119, which was part of the Golden Spike ceremony.
Lancaster built CP RR # 31, an American, for the Western Pacific in 1864.
After a few recognizable loco builders, we get to some which I don’t recall hearing of in the past. The “Columbia” was built for the Hudson River RR by Lowell Machine Shop in 1852 with 84” drivers. This loco does not appear to have sanding equipment.
The “Troy” was built as a passenger train locomotive for the Rensselaer & Saratoga RR, by the Union Works. Like the large drivered loco above, this does not appear to have sanding equipment. Additionally, this loco appears to have a steam dome untraditionally towards the middle of the boiler, and a smaller possibly steam collection pipe in the traditional spot just in front of the cab.
Erie RR #199 was rebuilt by Wilmarth in 1854. (Not sure when it was originally built.) While the boiler and appliances look very traditional, the cab has decorative arched windows.
Back to more recognizable builders – Here’s a Rogers American from the 1870’s. Again, a very traditional style, but with arched windows
I don’t have a builder for this loco – a PRR American. (It could have been built in the PRR shops – I’m not sure when they started building a lot of their steamers.)
The Virginia & Truckee (VT) was one of the early RR’s that served the ever changing mining industry of Nevada. Headquartered in Virginia City, it was in it’s heyday in the second half of the 19th century when different mining rushes occurred throughout the west. It struggled through the 20th century all the way up to 1950 when it was abandoned. The RR was restarted in 1970 as a privately owned heritage RR.
I constantly run into
interesting locos built for the VT. # 25 & 26 were built by Baldwin in 1905 & 1907 respectively. Note the generator in front of the cab. Based on the tender, these may have been oil burners
I believe the “Columbus” and “Dayton” were built by the Central Pacific shops in 1873.
Note that the “Dayton” was a snow plow loco. It also appears that the “Dayton” might have been an oil burner. It was later sold to Paramount in 1938.
The “Reno” was another Baldwin built in 1872, and probably an oil burner.
The “Ophir” was built by Danforth in 1872.
This appears to be more of an advertisement by Rogers Locomotive Works. Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works was founded in 1832.
These appear to be a couple of builder plates for locos built for the Boston – Providence RR. The B&P was a forerunner of the New Haven providing it with a direct line between the two cities. The CH Warren appears to have two sand domes, while the Arnold Green is void of sanding equipment.
The CH Warren appears to have two sand domes, while the Arnold Green is void of sanding equipment.
This is an ad for National Locomotive Works. Word is that most of what they sold were narrow gauge locos for the western slopes of the Rockies. National is one of the lesser known builders, operating in the 1870’s. Their competition in the narrow gauge market was Baldwin and Porter Bell (predecessor of HK Porter).
This ad is for Hinkley and Williams Works located in Boston. Hinkley started as Boston Machine Works, and then Boston Locomotive Works. It became Hinkley and Williams Locomotive Works in 1864.
Schenectady was a well-known loco manufacturer founded in 1848. After the merger into American Locomotive Company (ALCO), Schenectady was the headquarters for ALCO.
Here’s1894 Schenectady advertisement.
Still in 1894, this advertisement was for Manchester Loco Works. I’m not sure of the founding date, but the first locomotive rolled out in 1855.
Here’s an ad for Rhode Island Locomotive Works (1865 – 1901). Rhode Island and six other locomotive manufacturers merged in 1901 to form the American Locomotive Company (ALCO).
Another 1894 advertisement is for Cooke Locomotive and Machine Company. Cooke was founded in 1852, and was another of the predecessors of ALCO.
One more Rogers ad…
…and a 1897 advertisement for Rogers.
This is a fascinating add by Rogers claiming IC RR #969 averaged 256 miles a day for 3 years without it’s journals being repacked. I believe these were simple friction bearings with grease drenched packing in the journal – so pretty amazing. Rogers was eventually bought by ALCO in 1905 (not part of the original merger).
Richmond Locomotive and Machine Works was founded in 1865. This ad was marked as from 1888 – so I’m not sure if it was Tanner that was founded in ’65 and renamed in ’88 (?).
Dickson Mfg Co was founded when the engineering company, Dickson & Company acquired Cliff Works, a locomotive builder, in 1862. This ad is from the 1870s
Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works was another fairly well known loco builder, founded in 1865 by Andrew Carnegie.
Here we see one of the early ALCO ads a few years after the merger in 1901. This ad, however was post 1905 since it shows Rogers as part of the group. You can see the list of the original 7 loco builders involved in the merger along with Rogers.
…another ALCO ad with the list of the (8) merged companies (after 1905
Baldwin was still a major player after the merger and competed directly with ALCO
…another Baldwin ad
Edgewater Steel was founded in 1916 as a locomotive wheel rolling company. I had to throw this ad in because of the interesting specialization. It later moved to aerospace and military applications, rolling items like titanium rings. It remained in business until 200
Missing are some loco renditions and ads from Lima – a major competitor of Baldwin and ALCO on steamers. Additionally, some of the geared loco builders and specialized loco builders like Climax and Porter were left out. There are also many more 19th century steam loco builders not mentioned. And, there’s a lot more of these renditions and ads out there.
Thx,
Kevin
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