Circa 1950 - Class G-43 2-8-0

The Class G-43 2-8-0s were built by Brooks Locomotive Co., Dunkirk, NY in 1902-1903. They weighed 280,00 pounds and had a tonnage rating of 1,400 tons on Cassadaga hill. They were kept in service on the Valley Branch three years beyond Dieselization due to weight restrictions on some of the bridges, finally being retired in 1949, when a couple bridges were strengthened. The 1102 was held over one more year to handle some officials on an inspection tour, and then to handle the Vision Test car, because it was steam heat-equipped for passenger cars. I am sending the pix with captions.

The New York Central was one of the railroads most enthusiastic about the application of Baker valve gear, so this engine certainly stands out! What did it have: Stephenson gear?
Given the build date, I assume it was originally built without superheating. Was it at some stage in its lengthy career updated in that regard?
(Thank you, b.t.w., for posting these photos: usually I don't have any comment to make, but silence should not be interpreted as betokening a lack of gratitude!)

I'm sorry, I just don't have those answers for you except to say that the loco probably did not have superheating.

I'm fairly confident about the Stephenson valve gear: I think it was the most common inside valve gear, and one of Stauffer's books has a photo of a New York Central 2-8-0 (not, however, a G-43) with similarly inward-canted piston valves, and the caption notes that it has Stephenson gear.
George Ellwood's Fallen Flags rail-image site has the New York Central's 1946 locomotive diagram book. In 1946, the Central still had twelve G-43 (in, I think, three different subclasses) on the roster. The diagram doesn't specify the type of valve gear, but does say the G-43 had superheaters: lost certainly a modification after delivery.
Thanks again for the photo!

Very good!

Interesting that this locomotive has only one sand line coming to the lead driver. Must have been big trouble when it had to operate in reverse on wet rail and/or with big tonnage.

Does anyone positively know the first NYC #? 1111 was the later system number. I have the NYCL/LSMS power book from 1907 (updated through WW1) but do not have the actual number conversions to the 5700-5800 series. If the renumbering was all a matter of adding a 5 to the number so that 1111 was the 5854, it was not superheated before the end of the war. Only one G-43d was superheated by then - the 5833 shows superheated at Elkhart on 12-30-16.

Of the G-43s, only three G-43as were superheated (5770,5775,5785 Dec/Jan 1916/17 at Elkhart), one G-43c (5815 4/17/14 at Collinwood), the 5833, and all of G-43e (5855-5869 August-December of 1916 at Collinwood). Also of note from the book - as a rule nearly all engines built before 1903 did not receive superheating (at least not before the end of WW1) with the exception of the J-40s (2-6-2s). Many of the J-40s were superheated and nearly all received Walschaerts or Baker-Pilliod gear around 1909/1910.

Also, the book shows G43 engine weight of 180,000 lbs and tender weight of 124,000 lbs loaded (13 tons/6000 gals) as built.

#1111 was 5854 in the 1938 remembering, started out as LS&MS 854. Info from "Steam Locomotives of the New York Central Lines".

Dave Mackay