Railroad Forums 

  • DL&W Semi-Streamlined Steam Loco?

  • Discussion relating to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, the Erie, and the resulting 1960 merger creating the Erie Lackawanna. Visit the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society at http://www.erielackhs.org/.
Discussion relating to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, the Erie, and the resulting 1960 merger creating the Erie Lackawanna. Visit the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society at http://www.erielackhs.org/.

Moderator: blockline4180

 #1057588  by Alek9997
 
Hello

I was curious if anyone could tell me about a certain DL&W Steam locomotive I have seen a photo of in a book about the DL&W. To be more specific, it is a book about the Utica Division in NY State.

Before I saw the photo, I had no idea that DL&W had any sort of a streamlined steam locomotive. The photo is not perfectly clear and taken from a distance, but I am pretty sure it's a 4-6-2 locomotive. It has large wing-shaped panels on the side and some more decorative fixtures here and there.

My questions are...What class of DL&W locomotive was this? How many had the streamlining? When was the streamlining installed, and when was it taken off? Which trains on the DL&W system used these engines?

Any info is appreciated!

Alek S
 #1057643  by Cactus Jack
 
I am pretty sure the engine in the photo is the 1136 which came to Utica rather more frequently than the others:

1115, 1117, 1123

Four total and 1123 was painted up green, silver & madarin by the Elmira Roundhouse

Others were black & silver

Plenty of info about them on the net - see George Elwood's Fallen Flags website or google the engine numbers. They were 79" drivered Pacifics.

There is even an entire book about them by Jeremy Segrue "The Merchants' Engines" I think was the title by Erie Lackawanna Historical Socity.

Most lost their frills about 1940 -41 and all gone by the mid-forties and back to regualr engines.

Link below shows 1123 on a fan trip at Norwich that came up the O&W and back on the DL&W from downstate. The O&W power swapped at Norwich. Photo was taken on the River Track which was the interchange south of Hale Street.

http://www.ebpm.com/rr/bigpix/fan_rrsteam070.html
 #1057649  by scottychaos
 
Image

Image


DL&W had a total of Six "Semi-Streamlined" or "Streamstyled" locomotives.
the term "streamstyled" is often used to denote "semi-streamlined" or "somewhat less than full streamlining"..

4-6-2 Pacifics 1115, 1117, 1123, 1136.

4-6-0 Ten Wheeler No. 1011

4-4-0 No. 988

The 6 locomotives above all had similar "wings" streamlining..
There was also one Hudson, which was very semi-streamlined..just a side sheetmetal stripe..
personally I wouldn't consider the Hudson "streamstyled" at all..but she is often included in the list:
4-6-4 Hudson No. 1151 (renumbered to number 1939 in the year 1939, then renumbered to 1940 in the year 1940, for the '39 and '40 Worlds Fair)

The four Pacifics are the most well known, with their black & chrome (stainless steel) "wings"..
1123 is famous for being colorized!
the green and red coloring was not "official"..The story goes she was snuck into the Elmira roundhose, and painted by the roundhouse crew!
without management knowledge or consent!
She then appeared on a railfan excursion, and was an instant hit! So management decided to "let it go"..
1123 was the only one so colorized..the other three pacifics remained in their Black & Stainless Steel colors.

The four (already on the roster) Pacifics were chosen for the streamstyling treatment in 1936, the work was done in-house at Scranton..
1117 was the first to emerge from the shop, in September 1936..the rest followed over the winter of 1936/1937.

The four locomotives could be found system-wide..

The shrouding was removed gradually in the early 40's, and was gone by 1943.
The locomotives ran out the rest of their careers without the shrounds, being retired and scrapped by the late 40's..

Book about the DL&W streamlined engines:
"The Merchants Engines" by Jeremiah J. Segrue, published by the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society.

Scot
 #1057693  by Alek9997
 
Cactus Jack & ScottyChaos

Thanks for the quick replis! This is EXACTLY what I was looking for!

"The Merchant's Engines" sounds interesting...I'll have to check it out.

Cactus Jack - I took a look at RR-FallenFlags.net and found a photo (From your collection actually) of the #1136 at a coal trestle in Utica.

ScottyChaos - Here is some more info I found. According to the caption of another photo of the #1136, it was scrapped on site after being severely damaged in a deadly accident at Slateford Junction in which the engine overturned, killing both the engine crew. This was in May of 1948 so obviously the streamlining was long gone.

Alek S
 #1057756  by Cactus Jack
 
I forgot about the ten hundred and the 988. The 988 ran the Utica and I think I have a photo of it at Norwich in her party dress.

The 1136 looked about like the rest of the high drivered 1100's by the time she met her fate. Claim was she was a bad ride and maybe had issues and was a hoo-doo engine. Speculation about speed and over turning speed and what happened at the time.

Here is the ICC Accident Report Link:

http://ntl1.specialcollection.net/scrip ... _railroads
 #1057923  by Alek9997
 
Thanks for all the info.

Sorry if my original topic question seemed a bit uneducated but I had no idea that the streamlined engine I saw in the old photo in the book was an 1100-series Pacific. For a while, I wasn't even sure if it was a DL&W engine! The semi-streamlining almost looks like something that the Canadian Pacific or Canadian National used on some of their steam power.

I don't really know much about the DL&W 1100's anyway but I seem to recall seeing a movie at the theater at Steamtown which featured CP #2317 cosmetically altered to resemble one of the Lackawanna Pacifics - without the streamlining of course. I think the movie also had CN #3254 altered to resemble one of the DL&W 1200's 2-8-2s. Neat stuff.

Alek S