• April 1950 - Class K-5b 4920

  • Discussion relating to the NYC and subsidiaries, up to 1968. Visit the NYCS Historical Society for more information.
Discussion relating to the NYC and subsidiaries, up to 1968. Visit the NYCS Historical Society for more information.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

  by Roger Hensley
 
April 1950 - Class K-5b 4920 at Lafayette IN on April 8, 1950. Built by Alco in 1926 as Michigan Central 8360, it was retired in June of 1952.
Harry Zillmer Photo, M. D. McCarter collection.

Image
  by Allen Hazen
 
Thank you!
…Built one year before the J-1 Hudson prototype (probably less than a year, since the J-1 was, I think, delivered in February 1927), but very different in appearance. Clearly New York Central (look at the area just in front of the cab: the sheet metal covering fixtures is very similar to that on Hudsons), but… Having only one pump (and so one pump shield) on the pilot deck makes it look lopsided, and the mounting of the Elesco feed water heater, umm, sticks out. In addition to looking for a bigger firebox (necessitating the 4-wheel trailing truck), someone in the New York Central hierarchy must have said "Clean up the aesthetics!" between the K-5 and the J-1.
  by rlsteam
 
I wonder about the attributed 1950 date, since the NYC replaced the Roman lettering with Gothic around 1940.