And that (grinning happily) is why you are the expert and I am not.

And note the hole in the backhead for the throttle rod. I suppose it is possible it was a locomotive boiler recycled for another purpose perhaps which could explain the odd flanged pipe. I also notice the absence of any frame parts, etc in the photos, but the locomotive characteristics are pretty unmistakable. It seems small, perhaps like a boiler from the old Elevated Railway systems...... crown bars and single row unwelted lap seas, so either old or very small or both.

I was actually thinking it was a contractor's engine - an 0-4-0T, possibly porter and gauged for 24 or 36 inches. Perhaps it was employed by a company in the dam construction, became unservicable, was relegated to stationary use, fell off a cliff while being moved...

The "Dams" on the Canadian side are both about 2 miles from this site. The "intakes" for the Canadian hydroelectric dam is right up near the Horseshoe Falls and the "dam" itself is the Sir Adam Beck Power Station, about 2 miles downstream from this location. Massive underground tunnels connect the two.

Only solution is we need a whole contingent of Sherpa's to go down that trail, cut up the boiler with battery powered reciprocating saws, carefully numbering the pieces and then pack it back out of the gorge and reassemble it for further inspection. (and of course future restoration).

Do not assume that the presence of a casting labeled Westinghouse in the vicinity of the boiler is related to the provenance of the boiler. All kinds of stuff washes up on the shore of the Niagara River (and the Great Lakes), could be from anywhere. Could just be that the Westinghouse casting got tumbled around during high water and got stuck behind the boiler itself. Unless they are bolted together I would assume they are not necessarily related.

My residence is on the South Shore of Lake Ontario about 70 miles East of the Niagara River. A few years back we had high water and wind from the NE. Mother Nature gifted me a full sized railroad tie in the riprap boulders that protect my shoreline. While I was figuring our how to lift it out from it's wedged position between the boulders we got another wind (and high wave) event and Mother Nature STOLE my prize away from me before I could even haul it up to dry land.

Strange stuff shows up on the shorelines and then disappears again. Those rapids in the Lower Niagara River could easily tumble a hollow cast iron cylinder around and deposit it anywhere along the shoreline. Heck that brake cylinder could have slowly floated downstream from the Ashtabula Horror until it finally got thrown up on shore in the Lower Niagara River...

Cheers, Kevin.

Check the FLIMSIES section for the article about Donald the Kiwi 0-4-0 restoration (which isn't a restoration but a new locomotive built in a different configuration using a lot of repaired old parts) which shares the odd flanged pipe..... so, perhaps a more British adaption for small industrial lokies? BTW, anybody got an idea what the up and down engine on Donald's front left side is all about?

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A Huey or Sikorsky Skycrane could lift it out and drop it off at Strasburg. You guys need another project.

Here is a youtube video/ collection of stills of Donald the 2ft engine being rebuilt (turn down the volume): https://youtu.be/n3uCekdrWW8 The boiler on the banks of the river might actually need less work to return to service than Donald did.

I agree with Kelly, repurposed loco boiler, maybe from a narrow gauge RR used in the construction of the "dams" (actually a number of projects over many decades). Stripped of loco frame, wheels, smokebox, etc.

Then, when no longer useful shoved over the edge of the nearby gorge....

Now, if we could just get Dudley Do-Right to issue an appropriate ticket for littering to Snidley Whiplash....

Cheers, Kevin

I pulled this screen cap from the second YouTube video posted. That appears to be a cylinder at the left of the image, and possibly some framework. I don’t see anything to indicate stationary or locomotive, though.

I think that's the air brake cylinder, Hugh...... hard to tell exactly with the terrible resolution.

I'm amazed and pleasantly surprised to know that not all the abandoned iron has been documented - perhaps other interesting things will make themselves known.

Those white "rods" are probably wild grape vines covered in ice. That stuff is the Northern version of Kudzu. It puts out "tendrils" every few inches to try and find something to "hang on to". See the little "curly Q's" along the stem every couple of inches. It puts those out to find something else to grab on to. Nasty stuff, I spend days every year ripping it out of our bushes.

I'm still going with loco boiler repurposed for industrial use and then "discarded" into the gorge, a convenient dumping ground "back in the day". The brake cylinder might just be another piece of trash that ended up in the same location, delivered by the river or by someone throwing stuff out the easy way.

Cheers, Kevin.

The brake cylinder was bolted to a wood frame, and was still attached to the wood when it went into the gorge. You can tell by the length of the six bolts rusted into the mounting flange, much too long for attachment to steel, and the fact that they rusted solid into the flange before the wood rotted away. So, unless this was a wood frame Climax, in which case it wouldn't need a keyhole firebox, the cylinder is unrelated to the boiler.

Regarding the Kiwi 0-4-2, the columns on top of the dome are balanced safety valves, hence the spring in the middle which holds down both. The little steam donkey engine at the front may be a water pump. The loco has air brake pipes but they are not connected, so I don't see any need for an air brake to be operating.

British design safety valves are usually non ferrous, and I've never seen a picture of anything like the flanged steel pipe mounted on the dome cover on the wreck. Looks like a stationary boiler take off to me.