Does someone know when the last NYC 4-6-4's and 4-8-4's bit the dust? Is there a roster of their scrappings anywhere? I believe the carnage occurred in truly record time and they were all gone before 1960. The most recent photo I probably ever saw of now-scrapped NYC steam was 2-8-2 1327 in a deadline in Hairisville (?) IL in 6-59.

Thanks for any help! Bill Yoder

I'm pretty sure they were all gone before 1960. In an off topic mode, I am trying to find out WHERE J-1e 5315, destroyed at Little Falls, NY in April, 1940, was scrapped. Albany? Syracuse? On site?

Hi All

Acording too the book,,Memories of NYC Steam by Arnold Haas,,the last

Steam too be scrapped was CCC& St.L 2-8-2 # 1977 ,,in 1959..Pat

Found a page here that says the last Hudson in steam was in 1956:
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/r ... 10,1130627

and while trying to google the last run of a Niagara, I came across a promising webpage called "The last of the Niagaras"..
skimming the story however, I became more and more disturbed..
wait, hold on..did he actually rape the locomotive? or did he want the locomotive to rape him?? allllllrighty then..
thanks god I didnt actually read the whole thing!
I just skimmed bits of it..I dont want to know any more..
there are some very disturbed railfans out there.
read at your own risk:
http://transform.to/~mwbard/otherh/thel ... garas.html

ok then..backing quickly out of that twisted story, and hoping it doesnt give me nightmares! returning to reality, this page:
http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/railroads/alcocovers/

says the last Niagara also ran in 1956!

So it looks like the last Niagara and Hudson was scrapped between 1956 and 1959.

Scot

This is kind of an interesting tidbit. As I recall, Buffalo Creek & Gauley 2-8-0 #13 ran for a while on a former New York Central branchline in the Middlebury/Shipshewanna area of northeastern Indiana where the engine carried a NYC headlight with the numberplate 1977. This area of Indiana is in Amish country. Does anyone see a parallel? As I have heard the story, the owner of the Consolidation and the cars used, neglected to pay Penn Central his rental fee and PC pulled up the line! Talk about a missed opportunity!

The BC&G engine eventually went to Logansport where it ran during the Iron Horse Festival a couple of days a year. The Consol eventually ended up on the Ohio Central where it was restored to service and ran in OHIO Amish territory for a while. Wonder whatever happened to the NYC #1977 headlight/numberplate? And does anyone have a photo of BC&G wearing that stuff from NYC 1977?

Finally, I believe that a 2-8-2 made the last steam run for New York Central. Was it the 1977 by any chance? Anyone know for sure?

Les

Perhaps this will help

http://madisonrails.railfan.net/lewman3 ... tired.html

nose around that site

The bell and builders plate from 1977 now belong to the owner of the Ohio Central Railroad, who subsequently also owns Buffalo Creek and Gauley #13. Not sure where the headlight went, but the builder's plate originally belonged to Carl Franz before he gave it as a gift. Franz had received it from the New York Central by completely legal and indeed, damn near friendly, means.

Thanks very much, Onder, for the information on Niagara retirement dates! But I was asking above all about scrapping dates on Niagaras and Hudsons. Doesn`t some NYC historical society have a roster listing of scrappings?

Adrian Buyse claimed in the “Live Steam” issue of 2-73 that 5452 was the last Hudson scrapped – and that in 1956. That is hard to believe, for a few Hudsons were still running in early 1956. A small clue I have on the Niagaras: Porter`s “American Rail Pictorial” has a photo of 6003 being scrapped in Gary, IN along with a C&O 2-6-6-6- in 7-57.

But FYI: “Trains” issue of 7-57 states that NYC’s last steam run was 2-8-2 1977 into Cincinnati`s Riverside Yard on 5-3-57. This probably isn’t true, for I have read reports of NYC 0-8-0s and 2-8-0s on the International Bridge at Niagara Falls as late as early 1958. But 5-3-57 could be the “official” last run.

Bill Yoder

I may be totally wrong but I seem to remember NYC had
a Hudson cleaned up for show and that was the last
one to be cut up. Hudson that is.
Also sort of remember reading a NYTimes editorial
in about May of 57 on the demise of steam.
"The men who mastered steam were in turn
mastered by it" or similar.

Dear Les:
Indeed, there was a reason that ex-BC&G No. 13 was lettered and numbered NYC No. 1977: Bob Spaugh (the man who spent years figuring out how to bring the NYC Mohawk No. 3001 back to NYC territory from exile in Texas), (he also financed the project) is a NYC fan, owned the locomotive and renumbered it. I worked on and moved locomotives for him several times. I recall him telling me that he changed the number to 1977 because that was the year the locomotive arrived in Elkhart, IN, but being an NYC fan, he might have known that 1977 was the last NYC loco in service. I'll ask him, he still lives in Elkhart.
On the subject of the arbitrary renumbering of ex-BC&G No. 13, the former operator of that locomotive numbered it 622. Why? It was their post office box number!
J.David

Several April Fool's ago, somebody posted a beautiful color shot of a lone NYC Hudson sitting in a scrapyard, stripped and ready for the torch. I saved it, but sadly, it was many hard drives ago. I've never seen it posted again.

WEll, in response, how about this shot from RRPicturesArchive.net from this weekend?

NYC 0-6-0 6894, long at Hagerstown, Md., now at Whitewater Valley in Indiana along with a Milwaukee-painted SD10 and a former NYC tower?

That was my April Fools Day joke on parkengines.railfan.net back in 2000. Here's the link to that pic and story...

http://parkengines.railfan.net/fools.html

It actually started out as a black-and-white shot of the engine in service, the rust, missing parts, and background (actually it's the siding in Galt where the GTW 0-8-0's sat for many years) were all PhotoShop additions.

Boy, Richard, do I remember that. I was getting ecstatic reading of this find, then realized the date. What a crash letdown. Then a year or so later we met each other on a Northwest steam excursion.

You're a credit to the Adobe company, Richard!