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(erielack) Erie-NYSW decapod photos for modeling

Erie, NYSW Decapods

Dear List,
The Bachmann 2-10-0 Class J-2 Decapods are just now coming out in our local 
hobby shops.  Erie bought 75, and NYSW either bought or leased 16 of the Erie 
locomotives as described below.   I have tried to note my sources in full at 
first.  Further below is a list of hard-copy photos (George Elwood and others 
have them on-line) of Decapods in service on Erie or the NYSW.

Howard Haines

Brief
Some of the motive power for World War I leased by the United States Railroad 
Administration included 200 Decapod locomotives that had been started, but 
not shipped, to Russia because of the Russian Revolution.  Erie had leased 
some of these for $50 per day (Staufer 1970, ERIE POWER, page 109). The URSA 
sold 75 of these locomotives to the Erie Railroad in 1921, making up Class 
J-2 #2425 to #2499. They had 51,500 pounds of traction force for 175,000 
pounds of mass on the drivers. This would yield a top service speed of 40 to 
43 miles per hour.  With the middle drivers blind, they were designed to 
operate on a radius as sharp as 350 feet, and haul 2,205 tons at 8 to 10 
miles an hour up an 0.8 percent grade.  

All built in 1918
Baldwin #2425 to 2454
Richmond (ALCo) 2455, 2457, 2458, 2465 to 2472, and 2475 to 2477, 2482
Schenectady # 2456, 2459 to 2464, 2473, 2474, 2478 to 2481
Baldwin #2483 to 2499

The 1935 Erie locomotive roster shows 69 of 75 Decapods listed on the roster, 
and only 4 listed on the 1949 roster (Carleton, 1988, THE ERIE RAILROAD 
STORY, page 6).  Another page in Carleton's book indicated that ERIE quit 
running the Decapods in the early 1940s, and many were sold off during World 
War II to other railroads.

The  NYSW operated16 Erie Decapods until the1944 or so, and kept two and a 
K-1 Pacific on hand until 1948.  Those operated by NYSW include (from Krause 
and Crist, 1980, page 12):
#2433, 2443, 2451, 2461, 2475, 2476, 2492, and 2495 were purchased by NYSW 
from the Erie on 15 February 1943.   
#2435, 2445, and 2490 were purchased by the NYSW from Erie on 1 December 1944

#2452, 2454, 2472, 2481 and 2484 were leased, never purchased from Erie.
2454, 2472, 2481 and 2484 were returned to Erie and sold to the Seaboard Air 
Line (along with others) on 8 February 1943.

The last two Class J-2 Decapods #2435 and #2492 on the NYSW were sold for 
scrap in September 1948 (Krause and Crist, page 12), but it appears the last 
(#2492) was scrapped in November 1948 (photo page 129, and text page 157, 
paragraph 2, Lucas, W. A. THE NEW YORK SUSQUEHANNA AND WESTERN RAILROAD, 
Railroadians of America, April 1939, second edition 1980).  

Some of the above information is contradicted in the railroad press, (page 
110, Westing and Staufer, 1970, ERIE POWER), but both the Carleton 1970 (The 
Erie-Lackawanna Story) and Krause and Crist 1980 (Susquehanna) books agree on 
these two locomotives being the last NYSW locomotives.

The last steam locomotive operating on the Susquehanna was #2435, and it 
covered the last mixed train from Sussex, NY, as described in more detail in 
the photo references below. 

Below are listed photos for modeling reference with either Erie or 
Susquehanna labels.  I can't wait to see Paul's book in color when it comes 
out so I can discover how many of these really are color printed as black and 
white.

Erie #2435, Ted Gray photo in Carleton 1988, page 55. Center headlight.
NYSW #2435 at Excellsior Mills leads the last mixed train (with 
mail-baggage-coach) from Sussex, NJ, 22 March 1941, Robert F. Collins photo, 
Krause and Crist, page 48, centered headlight.
NYSW #2435 at Oak Ridge Reservoir on the last mixed train (with Stillwell 
#639 mail-baggage-coach) from Sussex, NJ, 22 March 1941, Robert F. Collins 
photo, Krause and Crist, page 57, centered headlight.
NYSW #2435 broadside just above Oak Ridge station with Stillwell 
mail-baggage-coach #639 1934-1956) from Sussex, NJ, 22 March 1941, C. George 
Krumm photo, Krause and Crist, page 48, centered headlight.
NYSW #2435  at Gingerbread Castle, Hamburg, N. J. with Stillwell 
mail-baggage-coach #639 1934-1956) 11 January 1941, C. George Krumm photo, 
Krause and Crist, page 63, centered headlight.
NYSW #2435 leaves Sussex with last mixed train (Stillwell mail-baggage-coach 
#639 1934-1956), 22 March 1941, Howard E. Johnston photo, Krause and Crist, 
page 64.
NYSW #2443 leaving Edgewater with hoppers, summer, 1939, Harold. H. Carstens 
photo in Krause, J. and E. Crist, 1980, page 24, center headlight.
NYSW #2443 above Charlotteburg station, early 1940, Krause, J. and E. Crist, 
1980, page 2, center headlight.
NYSW #2443  at Bloomingdale, by John Speers, 26 October 1940, Lucas 1980 page 
121.
Erie #2443, north of Sussex, N. J., 31 March 1940, Robert F. Collins photo, 
Staufer page 117, center headlight.
Erie #2443, North Hawthorne, NJ with 36 cars on NYSW, 6 July 1940, Robert F. 
Collins photo, Carleton, Paul, 1988, THE ERIE STORY, page 58.
Erie #2445, at Wortendyke on NYSW, 3 March 1939, Staufer p 114 (center 
headlight) and J. R. Quinn Collection photo, Crist 1993, page 141.
NYSW #2445, Fred T. Pregger photo, Staufer page 118, center headlight
Erie #2450 switching milk at Mansfield, Penn. station, center headlight, 9 
October 1936, Howard Ameling Collection, Crist, Edward J., 1993, ERIE 
MEMORIES, page 78.
Erie #2450, (sold to Alabama, Tennessee, and Northern RR, Staufer p 113) 
NYSW #2451 with stock cars at Granton Jct, C. George Krumm photo, Krause and 
Crist, page 18, center headlight. 
NYSW #2451 caboose hop, spring 1940, at Granton Jct, C. George Krumm photo, 
Krause and Crist, page 18, center headlight. 
Erie #2452 in early 1920s, Ted Gray photo in Carleton 1988, page 55, center 
headlight.
NYSW #2452 at NYO&W backshops, Middletown, N. Y., summer 1940, Robert F. 
Collins  photo, Krause and Crist, page 70.
NYSW #2452 being moved int NYO&W shops at Middletown, N. Y., 1940, Stephen D. 
Maguire photo, Krause and Crist, page 70.
Erie #2452, W/B with 40 cars at Passaic Jct, 27 April 1940, center headlight, 
Robert F. Collins photo, Staufer 1970, ERIE POWER, p 120-121;  Carleton 1988, 
THE ERIE RAILROAD STORY, page 57; and Crist 1993, ERIE MEMORIES, page 141.
NYSW #2454, W/B at Pompton Jct on Susquehanna, 7 July 1934, Smithsonian 
Institute, Staufer page 118.
Erie #2461 and #2490 at Little Ferry (NYSW), 25 November, 1937, Staufer, page 
117. 
NYSW #2461 sold to NYSW, February 1943, Staufer, page 112.
NYSW #2461 with #5012 and #953 at North Hawthorne, 25 October 1943, Robert F. 
Collins photo in Carleton, 1988 ERIE RAILROAD STORY, page 57 (high headlight).
Erie #2467, Staufer page 112,
Erie #2468, as-built, Youngston, Ohio, John P. Locke photo, Staufer page 111. 
Erie #2472, clean, hauling a passenger train (?past Edgewater tower?), C. W. 
Jerstrom photo, Staufer page 119.
Erie #2472 on the first "Farewell to WB&E" at Columbia, N. J., 12 June 1938, 
F. Rodney Dirkes photo, Crist 1993 ERIE MEMORIES, page 142.
NYSW #2473, Robert F. Collins photo, Krause and Crist, 1980, page 12, 
centered headlight.
NYSW #2475 fresh from shops on O&W with a coal drag between Stockholm and 
Beaver Lake, September 1940, C. George Krumm photo Krause and Crist page 58, 
centered headlight.
NYSW #2475 L&HR diamond, Sparta Jct, 1942-45, Vincent Emmanuel photo, Krause 
and Crist, page 75.
Erie #2478, Pennsylvania Coal Company, Pittston, Penn. John Long Erie 
Railroad, Staufer, page 123.
NYSW #2481, Staufer page 113 (on Susquehanna, center headlight)
NYSW #2481, Robert F. Collins photo, Krause and Crist, 1980, page 12, 
centered headlight.
Erie #2484 and two sisters, Carleton, 1988, Erie Railroad Story, page 54.
Erie #2490 (center headlight) follows #2461 (high headlight) at Little Ferry, 
N. J., (NYSW), 25 November 1937, Staufer, page 117.
NYSW #2490 with 16 cars from bridge at Stillwater, N. J., station, November 
1942, Robert F, Collins photo, Krause and Crist, page 77.
Erie #2492, Staufer page 112, Calvin T. Banse photo.
Erie #2492 with flanger and #2499 on 4 December 1938 "Farewell to WB&E", Ted 
Gray photo in Carleton, 1988, page 55.
Erie #2492, at North Hawthorne, NJ, 6 July 1940, on NYSW, Robert F. Collins 
photo, Staufer page 115.
NYSW #2492, John Systsma on Little Ferry to Hainesburg coal train, Staufer 
page 114, center headlight.
NYSW #2492, John Zuidema Collection, November 1948, Staufer page 129 (center 
headlight). 
Erie #2495, sold to Seaboard Air Line March 1943, Smithsonian Photo, Staufer 
page 118, center headlight.
NYSW #2495 broadside, East Main St Station, Middletown, N. Y., winter 1941, 
Stephen D. Maguire photo, Krause and Crist, page 71.
Erie #2499 follows #2492 on final WB&E run, Staufer p 116.
Erie #2499 follows #2492 on 4 December 1938 farewell to WB&E, Carleton, 1988, 
page 55.


Howard Haines
ELHS #1447

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