Hi all, I was wondering if anyone on here has or would known where to find Brooks or Schenectady Locomotive Works records. I'm trying to find and confirm a 4-4-0 #131 locomotive that was built by either company for the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad. It was sold in 1881 to the Valley Railway Company of Ohio.

Thanks, Matt

Can't find anything for Cleveland & Pittsburgh in Brooks or Schenectady.

The Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad became part of the Pennsylvania RR system in 1871 through a 99 year lease agreement. The engine may have been built for the Pennsylvania and then assigned to the Cleveland and Pittsburg before being sold to the Valley Railroad.

Some additional info from Alvin Stauffer's Pennsy Power III book, page 44, describes the C&P as having engines constructed by Taunton, Baldwin, William Mason, and Winans. According to Stauffer, in 1867 the C&P began building its own power in its Cleveland shops, 4-4-0s and 0-4-0s. Based upon this, the engine you are seeking information on likely was not a product of either Brooks or Schnectady and may have been a home-built.

Thank you for the information. #131 in the picture I provided has similar features when I compared it to other locomotives built by Brooks/Schnectady. So it looks as if this locomotive wasn't built by either builder.

Matt

I mean not regarding the question regarding the particular locomotive, but back to the Brooks records... does the ALCO Historic Society have all those? Have any been digitized? I would love to find out more about my hometown ALCO Brooks 2-8-0 built in 1910; a few of the other engines used on the same railroad were also Brooks built and it would be neat to get more records on hand.

Not advertising for this person, but he has done a good job of getting a huge amount of locomotive builders data all together in one single location.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/STEAM-LOCOMOTI ... SwaSZaA3NQ

It is probably not worth the money to look up a single locomotive, but if you are working on identifying a collection of photos, or general railroad history in an area, it is well worth the $25.

Likely not a Mason, although the pilot-truck wheel spacing could be his, the 'cheese wheels' almost certainly wouldn't be. Note the 'Ohio-style' tender trucks, of a design that might be amenable to particular builders in a particular era. If it were a Baldwin product, wouldn't it have a circular builder's plate visible on the smokebox?

Who here is familiar with typical 'Taunton' spotting features?

I am wondering: might this be an 1850s engine rebuilt with more modern running gear?

Matt - Looks like a Jersey City Locomotive Works (or possibly earlier New York Locomotive due to differences in dome tops) product to me. See pic of A&GW 71 - https://www.historycentral.com/railroad ... stern.html. Same saddle design, crossheads, smokebox door (131 doesn't appear to have the outer half-round on the door ring though), riveted driver fenders, identical front handrail and bell brackets, cab windows, tender trucks and front tender steps. Looks like your 131 has replacement engine truck wheels (or maybe just a different OEM). The different headlight bracket is probably just a plain freight style. Does very much look like a originally-freight version of AGW71.

Wiki info on NJLW - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Locomotive_Works.

R.M. - Baldwin didn't always use the round smokebox plate. Some locos were outshopped with the very fancy triangular brass scrollwork plates between the drivers, particularly during the three-dome era. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/39329/3 ... 9329-h.htm - scroll down to the Division 1 pics (almost halfway down the page).