New York Central RR Boxcabs keywords = boxcab locomotive motor New York Central Harlem River ALCo GE General Electric Erie oil electric engine rail road way
Updated: 17 Jan 2008, 13:40 ET
(Created 09 Jan 2003)
[Ref: This is boxcabny.html (URL http://home.att.net/~Berliner-Ultrasonics/boxcabny.html )]

S. Berliner, III's

NEW YORK CENTRAL
(and HARLEM RIVER)
RAILROAD BOXCAB
Locomotives

Consultant in Ultrasonic Processing
"changing materials with high-intensity sound"
Technical and Historical Writer, Oral Historian
Popularizer of Science and Technology
Rail, Auto, Air, Ordnance, and Model Enthusiast
Light-weight Linguist, Lay Minister, and Putative Philosopher

(Page separated out from Electric Boxcabs Continuation Page 3 on 09 Jan 03)

There are now more than fifty-five (55) BOXCAB pages;
see the main Boxcabs page and the Boxcabs INDEX.

This site has now been visited times since the counter was installed.

BOXCAB BIBLIOGRAPHY is at the end of Continuation Page 3.

PAGE INDEX (truncated to save space - see ):

On the main Electric Boxcabs page:
ELECTRIC BOXCABS

1893 GE #1 / MfrsRR #1

Piedmont & Northern #5103 [moved to the Electric Boxcab (Survivors) page 3 on 11 Jun 02].

ELECTRIC BOXGON!

On the Electric Boxcabs Continuation Page 1:
ELECTRIC BOXCABS - Part 2 (follows), with

GE #1/MfrsRR #1 History (continued),

St. Clair Tunnel Electric Boxcabs,

Mystery Canadian G.E. Electric Boxcab (no it's not!),

Chilean Boxcabs, and

Other Overseas Electric Boxcabs

On the Electric Boxcabs (Survivors) Continuation Page 2:

So. Bklyn #4.

L&PS #L1 and #L2.

Butte, Anaconda & Pacific.

On the Electric Boxcab (Survivors) Continuation Page 3:

Piedmont & Northern #5103

NYC S-Motors (moved there from the main Electric Boxcabs page and

continued on NYC page, with other NYC electric boxcabs).

On the New Haven Electric Boxcabs Page:

{unindexed, so far} New Haven Boxcabs

On this New York Central Boxcabs Page:

NYC S-Motors

(continued here from Electric Boxcabs Continuaton page 3)

and other NYC electric boxcabs.

NYC Steam Heat Trailers.

Boxcab(s) on the NYC West Side Line.

On the New York Central Boxcabs Continuation Page 1: (15 Sep 05)

NYC Steam Heat Trailers.

Still on Continuation Page 5:
ODD BOXCABS

AIR BOXCAB!

STEAM BOXCABS!
ODDER BOXCABS

NEW YORK CENTRAL BOXCABS

While most boxcabs were known for waterfront duty and light switching, the New York Central pioneered heavy road freight switching and this picture, from Boxcabs page 4, epitomizes such duty (1930 GE triple-power NYC #1542 running down 11th Avenue in Manhattan at 49th Street):

(17 Jan 08)

Thumbnail of 233+Kb 1930 GE Triple-Power NYC #1542 on 11th at 49th

[This is a thumbnail of a 233+Kb photo; click on the small picture for the full image.]
(original photo courtesy of Alex LaBianca) More about this picture and the AGEIR/GEIR NYC boxcabs on page 4.

NYC S-Motors (and other NYC electric boxcabs).

(moved from the main electric boxcab page and amplified 21 Aug 02 and 03 Jan 03 and then moved to this page on 09 Jan 03)

We haven't even scratched the surface of electric boxcabs!

Just the New Haven, alone (hint), could take the rest of my life to cover.

The New York Central had what I'd term an "Honorary Boxcab", their classic old S-motor, the S-2 immortalized by Lionel in tinplate. Sure, its got a visibility cab or something similar, but, without running boards or walkways, it's not such a base subject. Here are two views of 1906 NYC S-2 #113 taken at the (then) National Museum of Transport in St. Louis on 03 Jul 82:

(photos 03 Jul 82 by and © 1982/2000 - S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
[these were my own photos; I will have to find them again and rescan them}

Here's another shot, taken by Frank Hicks at the Museum of Transport on on 06 Jan 2002 and reproduced here by his special, written permission:

It was a third-rail loco (under-running, I believe, like the NH and unlike the PRR and LIRR); those mini-pantagraphs up topside were there to contact overhead third rail (NOT catenary wire) at huge gaps in fancy track turnout work under Grand Central. The over-running third-rail LIRR DD1s also had such*.

* - At this point, I slipped a cog and almost stripped the entire gear! I had stated that "the PRR DD1s were equipped with full pans for catenary, not third-rail shoes"; NOT so! All DD1s seem to have had third rail shoes. Realizing I'd goofed badly, I had gone through (Don) Woods on a snowy morning (Frosty, eh?), had a (Don) Ball, and perused several Al Stoufer books to no avail. There ARE no photos of DD1s with any pans at all, PRR or LIRR (at least, not in my books)! Many older pictures show a huge bell, almost half way back on top, that could easily be mistaken for a mini-pan but I was not at all satisfied; digging in my junk, I found my badly-damaged HO DD1 pair (for the DD3 of Berlinerwerke fame) and, lo and behold, I had remembered correctly - there they were, out towards the motorman's ends of the roofs. But those are only models; finally, in Stoufers Diagrams book, on page 71, there is the official PRR DD1 diagram showing the blasted mini-pans aligned over the inner end of the motor/fireman's side windows. Vindicated!

BUT, where did I ever get the idea that any DD1s had full pans? Easily resolved, it was the B1, BB2, and B3 electric boxcabs that had that, as shown on the diagrams (ibid - pp. 73, 74, and 75) - the B1 had a full pan, the BB2s had mini-pans, and the B3 a full pan. This was verified further in Al's original Pennsy Power volume, pp. 260-263, where it became quite obvious that I had my railroads reversed. The Pennsy B1 (built as BB2 #3914 and #3915 before being separated) had minis and it was the LIRR B3 (built as BB3 #328-A and #328-B before being separated) which had the full pans! Got it? Oh, yeah! Sorry 'bout that!

The Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois (between Chicago and Rockford) has 1906 NYC S-2 #115 (the last of her class, decorated as Penn Central #4715), which was in use out there for a while until it blew a traction motor; I never realized this and somehow managed to miss her when I was out there (curses; foiled again!) [#115 was fitted with a pantagraph for use with the IRM overhead power system].

Wilder yet, there is a THIRD surviving S-motor; the original S-motor, 1904 NYC S-1 #6000, was being stored in the Schenectady, New York, area by the Mohawk-Hudson Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, preserved as NYC #100! Here she is, as restored, apparently at Harmon, on an undated, bent Audio Visual Design postcard:

The back of the card says that she "won the electric-steam race at Hoffmans, N. Y. during tests after construction" and that she "can be seen on display at the Altamont Fair Grounds, Altamont, N.Y.".

(My thanks to Frank Hicks out at the IRM for sorting out the S-motors.)

Unfortunately, as of late Sep 07, NYC S-motor #6000-cum-100, in the sad company of T-motor T-3 #278, is rotting away on an abandoned industrial siding in a swampy area south of Albany: (02 Oct 07)

(J. Petsche photos ca. Sep 2007 - all rights reserved)
[Click on thumbnailed photos for larger images]

Here's a low view and the interior of #100: (03 Oct 07)

(J. Petsche photo ca. Sep 2007 - all rights reserved)
[Click on thumbnailed photo for larger image]

A group of RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) students is trying to stabilize the locos.

The story of the S-motors, and especially #6000, is detailed magnificently by Alfred Barten in "Old Maude" ^* - the NYC S-motor story, "America's first high-speed electric locomotive".

{Odd; I wrote this up somewhere just recently - where?}

[* - not to be confused with the B&O's pioneering 1904 Mallet articulated 0-6+6-0 #2400 of the same name!]

I had hoped to have more on these fascinating juicers, and their successor T-motors, here some day. Well, the day has come, thanks to the great courtesy of the Denver Public Library, from their Western History/Genealogy Photograph Collection. Because of my concentration on boxcabs and their fabulous Otto Perry Collection with many NYC boxcabs, they have allowed me to reproduce ALL (or, at least, all I have found), of them here; all photos are credited to Otto C. Perry, himself:

We'll start with a Perry shot of S-motor #1101, at Harmon on 12 Aug 1932:

(this and the following Otto Perry photos courtesy of the Denver Public Library,
Western History Collection; reproduced here by specific written permission of the Denver Public Library,
Western History Collection - all rights reserved to the Denver Public Library.)
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1101, engine type ALCO-GE 2-D-2
Call Number OP-13518, from the Otto C. Perry Collection
{Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., August 12, 1932.
S-2, formerly #3201, previously #3401, later #3401, built 1906, most started in passenger service, survivors ended up as switchers}

Now, for the T-motors, bi-(or dual-)powered, tri-powered, and their sisters (I have not yet identified the different classes and models; I'm not THAT much of a NYC fan, as such)

{these appear in the same order as in the Denver collection;
I have made no attempt (yet) to categorize them and
there might even be a straight oil-electric hiding here
(although I doubt it)}:

Kevin Endriss looked up the data on these locomotives and I have appended it in brackets/virgules {-} under each Denver Library photo description.

NYC561
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection)
New York Central train, engine number 561, engine type ALCO-GE- IR 300hp B-B
Call Number OP-13508, from the Otto C. Perry Collection
Photographed: Chicago, Ill., August 10, 1939.
{DES-3 (Tri-Power), former #1561, built 1930, local freight and switching service}

NYC1547
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection)
New York Central train, engine number 1547, engine type Ge 300hp B-B
Call Number OP-13513, from the Otto C. Perry Collection
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., August 12, 1932.
{DES-3 (Tri-Power), later #547, built 1930, local freight and switching service}

NYC1202
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection)
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1202, engine type ALCO-GE C-C
Call Number OP-13528, from the Otto C. Perry Collection)
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., August 12, 1932.
{R-2 (first of class), later #302, built 1930,
most were geared for freight, a few for passenger service}

NYC1165(1)
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection)
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1165, engine type ALCO-GE B-B+B-B
(another view below)
Call Number OP-13523, from the Otto C. Perry Collection)
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., August 12, 1932.
{T-2B, later #265, built 1917, passenger service}

NYC1213
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1213, engine type ALCO-GE C-C
Call Number OP-13531, from the Otto C. Perry Collection)
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., August 12, 1932.
{R-2, later #312, built 1930, most geared for freight, a few for passenger service}

NYC1217
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1217, engine type ALCO-GE C-C
Call Number OP-13532, from the Otto C. Perry Collection
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., August 12, 1932.
{R-2, later #317, built 1930, most geared for freight, a few for passenger service}

NYC1176
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1176, engine type ALCO-GE B-B+B-B
Call Number OP-13525, from the Otto C. Perry Collection
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., August 12, 1932.
{T-3A, later #276, built 1926, passenger service}

NYC1208
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1208, engine type ALCO-GE C-C
Call Number OP-13530, from the Otto C. Perry Collection
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., August 12, 1932.
{R-2, later #308, built 1930, most geared for freight, a few for passenger service}

NYC1207
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1207, engine type ALCO-GE C-C
Call Number OP-13529, from the Otto C. Perry Collection
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., August 12, 1932.
{R-2, later #307, built 1930, most geared for freight, a few for passenger service.}

NYC1174
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1174, engine type ALCO-GE B-B+B-B
Call Number OP-13524, from the Otto C. Perry Collection
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., August 12, 1932.
{T-3A, later #274, built 1926, passenger service}

NYC1154
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1154, engine type ALCO-GE B-B+B-B
Call Number OP-13520, from the Otto C. Perry Collection
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., October 17, 1930.
{T-1B, former #3254, later #254, built 1913, passenger service}

NYC1152
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1152, engine type ALCO-GE B-B+B-B
Call Number OP-13519, from the Otto C. Perry Collection
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., October 17, 1930.
{T-1B, former #3252, later #252, built 1913, passenger service}

NYC1200
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1200, engine type ALCO-GE B-B+B-B
Call Number OP-13527, from the Otto C. Perry Collection
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., October 17, 1930.
{R, semi-permanently coupled pair (with 1201), built 1926 for freight service,
followed by R-1, R-2 classes, which were single units.
The R units were converted to hump trailers in 1945}

NYC1182
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1182, engine type ALCO-GE B-B+B-B
Call Number OP-13526, from the Otto C. Perry Collection
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., October 17, 1930.
{T-3A (last one), later #282, built 1926, passenger service}

NYC1165
(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
New York Central locomotive, engine number 1165, engine type ALCO-GE B-B+B-B
(another view above)
Call Number OP-13522, from the Otto C. Perry Collection
Photographed: Harmon, N.Y., November 2, 1927.
{T-2B, later #265, built 1917, passenger service}

All data in brackets/virgules {-} under each Denver Library photo is courtesy of Kevin Endriss; what a fantastic effort on our behalf!

Kevin adds that "All NYC electrics operated off a 600 Volt DC system. Nearly all (except for P-motors and T-2Bs) were built by Alco-GE. Several of the R-2 units were sold to the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend in the 1950s."

"The Tri-Power units were built by Alco-GE with Ingersoll-Rand 300 HP inline 6 cylinder engine. They could also run off third rail, batteries, overhead, or various combinations. "

P-motors "were built for the Cleveland Union Terminal operation and moved to New York in their later years."

Thanks again, Kevin. Ex-NYC P-motors on the CUT appear on Don Ross's fantastic NYC Electrics (and CUT) page (new URL Jan 07), so here's one as a teaser (with a whole slew of P-motors): (17 Jan 08)

Don described this unattributed shot as "NYC 227, Class P-2b, Alco, January, 1930, #67693, General Electric #10738" "built as Cleveland Union Terminal 1064, Class P-1a, and renumbered by them to 214 in August, 1936. In 1955, General Electric rebuilt it as NYC 227, Class P-2b".

(17 Jan 08)

Whil(e)(st) we're at it, here's an old shot from Wayne Koch of NYC triple-power DES-3 #1542 running at Harmon Yard in 1933: (17 Jan 08)

To save you clicking away, here's a blow-up:

NYC STEAM HEAT TRAILERS

[Moved from Boxcabs page 2 on 03 Jan 03:]

Our late, great boxcabs guru, John Campbell, asked "What can you tell me about the attached image of New York Central Box Cab #H-4... ???" Answer - nothing. This one was a new one on me and really odd; it looked to be a 40/50-tonner or so and the "H" could well stand for Harmon, but the "4"? That implies three others! So I passed it along to you folks out there; what could YOU tell us about this oddity?

All I could see is that it is the "#2" end of the "A" side. How about that tri-power jobbie lurking in the background?

Whoa! No end windows? That's no loco; betcha it's a train heat car!

"I got steam heat - - - - !"

Well, how about seven others, eh? Thanks again to the great courtesy of the Denver Public Library and its Western History/Genealogy Photograph Collection, noted above, from their Otto Perry Collection, they have allowed me to reproduce this Perry photo here, showing both #H-2 and #H-7 at Harmon Yard on 12 Aug 1932:

(Otto Perry photo courtesy of the Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
Call number OP-13647, from the Otto C. Perry Collection.

That appears to be the "#1" end of the "B" side of H-2.

[The nice thing about the Perry photos is that they all have great provenance (except, naturally, this last one!).]

Kevin Endriss confirms (06 Jan 03) that "H-4 is indeed a Heat Trailer (built from some sort of old electric boxcab). Same story for the H-2 and H-7. Some of these heat trailers lasted into PC days as I found one in Sunnyside in the mid-70's." Thanks, Kevin! Who has more info.on these gems?

Well, Kevin did; he wrote that these are heater cars, built at Harmon to run with R-2 units (which had no boilers) in passenger service (series H-1 through H-8)" Kevin was sure that he had read that these were converted from boxcabs but both his references say "Built at Harmon". Yes, but does that mean built from shapes and sheet or from old boxcabs?

John McCluskey says they were built to work with electric passenger motors {locos, that is} that were not equipped with steam boilers. (17 Mar 05)

Kevin sent this photo of XH-6 which he took in Sunnyside Yard in Jun 75 (I tried to "pop" it up a bit but the contrast was simply too great to show any underbody detail):

Kevin was curious and now so am I; were all these units scrapped? Anyone know?

Kevin also said that the NYC four-B-truckers went to a mid-west trolley line (the Illinois Terminal?). No, it was the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend the South Shore Line (a.k.a. South Shore Railroad), the last of the U. S. interurban lines running (thanks, Frank Hicks). Don Ross has some good shots of these locos on his Rail Spot page and Dave's Electric Railroads is simply incredible (both for these and for box motors and other RR equipment), as is Clint Chamberlin's North East Rails site.

(CSS&SB 701 photo 1 courtesy of Don Ross
[Thumbnail images, click on pictures for larger images]

(CSS&SB 701 photo 2 courtesy of Don Ross)

(CSS&SB 703 photo 1 courtesy of Don Ross

(CSS&SB 703 photo 2 courtesy of Don Ross

(CSS&SB 707 photo courtesy of Don Ross
[Thumbnail images, click on pictures for larger images]

[Oops! I'd mistakenly listed the CSS&SB as the CSS&StP;
there's a BIG difference (some 300 miles big)!]

I'd removed it, but that odd trolley-carbodied Illinois Terminal four-B-trucker IS a box motor so I've put it back, for comparison:

Boxcab(s) on the NYC West Side Line

Here, from Tom Fletcher's absolutely fantastic new york architecture images and notes...... site (the The High Line page), with his kind permision, are a NYC ad for the "West Side Line" as they called it then, the West Side Elevated Freight Line ("The High Line", today) looking south (north?) and a NYC boxcab (a tri-power?) peeking out from under one of the many big buildings through which the line passed:

I blew up and artifically lightened the boxcab photo and, lo and behold, there may well be a second boxcab behind the first and those are definitely NOT freight cars at all behind the loco; they are quite clearly clerestory-roofed passenger cars, a very long string of them!

Bet that's the opening day and a train full of dignitaries and guests!

There are now more than fifty-five (55) BOXCAB pages;
see the main Boxcabs page and the Boxcabs INDEX.

THUMBS UP!

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S. Berliner, III

To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.

To tour the Boxcabs pages in sequence, the arrows take you from the previous page, to the Boxcabs index, to the first boxcabs page, and on to continuation pages 3 and up, then 100-tonner LIRR #401 and her sisters, survivor boxcabs (with map) and survivor notes, survivor CNJ #1000 (the very first), Ingersoll-Rand boxcabs (with instruction manual), other (non-ALCo/GE/I-R) boxcabs, Baldwin-Westinghouse boxcabs, odd boxcabs, and finally model boxcabs.