In 1912 the Larkin Soap Company completed their Terminal Warehouse on Exchange Street, east of downtown Buffalo, NY. The building contained 4 tracks that held 10 cars each. There was a yard feeding those tracks in the block immediately to the east of the building. Around the same time they purchased an 0-4-0T steam locomotive to shuffle cars in and out of the building to place them for loading (and unloading). I have attached 2 photos - one showing the locomotive coming out of the building and another that is a close-up of the locomotive.

Does anyone know or have any information on this locomotive - builder, etc. or know where I might go to research the builder. I have done some looking and didn't turn up anything. I am not familiar with details that might indicate a builder but I thought someone might recognize something.

Thanks - David Duncan

I'm thinking Vulcan.......

David -

The number plate on the 0-4-0T's smokebox door (1574 or possibly 1374) might well be the builder's serial number. Maybe someone has a list of Vulcan or Porter or ? construction numbers.

Les

I was gonna guess Vulcan. The domes don't look right for Porter, nor does the smokebox door. She COULD be Davenport, but we probably won't know for sure until Dave Conrad sorts this out.

I’m goi g to add to the Vulcan chorus here. That smoke box door looks decidedly Vulcan. In fact that locomotive looks very similar to a number of surviving Vulcans of similar vintage. Little River 1 and the runner at Georgia Museum of Agriculture come to mind. I’d go further and say it was probably in the 15-20 ton weight range too…

Vulcan 1893 4/1912 0-4-0T Std 14x20 37” 80000#
Larkin Co , Buffalo, N Y
Clapp, Riley & Hall Equipment Co
W F Hall Printing Co
Material Services Corp, Lockport, Ill

Thank you John! That is exactly the information I was looking for. Now I am curious - is there a database or archive of Vulcan locomotives? What about drawings and builder's photos? I know the Hagley Library has a large collection.

Again - thank you so much for solving that mystery!

David Duncan

Hagley has the builder’s photos and I believe the RR Museum of PA has the drawings. I believe you can search both online.

For what it's worth, most of the Larkin Soap plant, including this building, is still around; the administration building was torn down back around 1950.

https://buffaloah.com/h/larkin/osgood/osg4.html

Of course it's all been repurposed, and now has those hideous single glass sheet windows that just don't look right in an older structure like this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larkin_Terminal_Warehouse

https://www.google.com/maps/place/726+E ... ?entry=ttu

Based on Mr. Duncan's comments, it looks like the yard that fed this structure is now, what else, a parking lot.

It would be interesting to find an older map showing the track layout. Given how large this facility was, with multiple buildings, there would have been some considerable trackage there. I'm pretty certain the little 0-4-0T had more to do than just shove cars in and out of one warehouse.

Could always go to the Historic Aerials site... https://www.historicaerials.com/locatio ... 97/1966/17

Thanks for that link!! It'll come in handy for looking up other things.

At the same time, it hurts to see how much was there--and now isn't.

And it looks like it was in relatively recent times, too, judging from the big highways visible in the photos.

For maps, here is a link to the Library of Congress' Sanborn fire maps for Buffalo. They will show some trackage, but only where they are adjacent to buildings.

https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn ... o+new+york

Not as much as you think. The 1927 aerials appear to show just two tracks either running along the north side or entering the building from the east end. The two parking lots to the east of the existing building held two smaller buildings and the track leads that passed under Smith St and connected to the Erie just shy of the Seneca St bridge.

Across Exchange Street from Larkin there were two team tracks between the street and the Erie. South of the team tracks were two inclined leads to the D&H tipple, the two passenger mains and Hitzel & Barnum's Coal Yard and chute. The current parking lot bounded by Exchange Street, Van Rensselaer Street and Larken (formerly Heacock) Street was the large D&H coal chutes/dealership (next to Exchange), then the Erie mains and a small three track yard. South of the yard was the J.W.H. Ball Coal Yard. Much of this existed from at least 1889 through the 1920s. The Larking property occupies the site of an old tannery and more than two dozen homes and a few small store fronts.

Also of interest in the area, 204 Larkin St is the site of the LS&MS engine facility - roundhouse, machine shop and other support buildings (gone after the NYCS consolidation).