Alco FA diesel locomotives
New York Central had the biggest fleet of Alco’s postwar freight carbody diesels, with 124 FA cab units and 73 FB boosters. Delivered in dashing “lightning stripes,” most got the simpler “cigar-band” scheme in the 1960s.
Photograph by Jim McClellan
4-6-2 steam locomotive 4742
Famous for its Hudsons, NYC had a formidable fleet of more than 600 Pacifics. No. 4742, seen on a Hudson Division commuter train in 1940, was one of 91 class K-3 engines built by Alco during 1918–23.
Photograph by Frank Quin
2-D-2 electric locomotive 1118
NYC’s class S third-rail electrics, dating from before the 1913 opening of Grand Central Terminal, were among the longest-lasting of any North American locomotives. The first was built in 1904; the last was retired in 1981.
John P. Ahrens
2-D-2 electric locomotive 1118
NYC’s class S third-rail electrics, dating from before the 1913 opening of Grand Central Terminal, were among the longest-lasting of any North American locomotives. The first was built in 1904; the last was retired in 1981.
John P. Ahrens
4-6-4 steam locomotive 5220
NYC was first to field the 4-6-4 wheel arrangement, in February 1927. The road amassed a fleet of 205 J-1s, 20 low-drivered J-2s for hilly subsidiary Boston & Albany, and 50 J-3 “super Hudsons.” They were the Central’s signature passenger engines.
Photograph by H.W. Pontin
4-6-4 steam locomotive 5451
The final 10 J-3 Hudsons of 1938 were streamlined to pull the 20th Century Limited, which had been given all new lightweight cars. From fin-nosed 4-6-4 to boat-tailed observation car, the train was the work of designer Henry Dreyfuss.
Classic Trains collection
E7 diesel locomotive 4000
E7 No. 4000, the first of New York Central’s eventual fleet of 112 E units (36 E7As, 14 E7Bs, and 62 E8As) stands at the road’s Englewood engine terminal in Chicago in 1946. NYC soon adopted a version of the lightning-stripe passenger livery that reversed the shades of gray worn by No. 4000.
L.V. Lucy
2-C+C-2 electric locomotive 238
Built in 1929 to haul passenger trains on NYC trackage in and out of Cleveland Union Terminal, 21 2-C+C-2 electric locomotives were sent east after the CUT electrification was shut down in 1953. The “P-motors” became the workhorses of the lines out of Grand Central Terminal, hauling all manner of trains, including the experimental diesel Xplorer in 1956.
Photograph by Roy Blanchard
2-8-4 steam locomotives 1426 and 1435
NYC’s Boston & Albany subsidiary was the first customer for Lima’s A-1 2-8-4 of 1925, buying 55 between 1926 and ’30 to haul freights over the Berkshire Hills. Here, Nos. 1426 and 1435 work east at Chatham, N.Y., in 1946.
Photograph by Ralph E. Hallock
4-8-2 steam locomotive 2889
Despite its entirely appropriate “Water Level Route” slogan, NYC had more 4-8-2 Mountain types — 600 — than any other road. The L-1 and L-2 classes of 1916–30, like No. 2889, were for freight, while the L-3 and L-4 engines (1940–44) were superb dual-service machines. NYC called them Mohawks, after the river it main line followed across New York State.
Photograph by Donald A. Somerville
4-8-4 steam locomotive 6017
NYC’s steam development peaked with the S-1 and S-2 4-8-4 Niagara heavy passenger engines, 27 of which were built in 1946–47. They were among the best of all steam designs.
Photograph by Frank Quin
GE U25B diesel locomotives
NYC signed up for 70 of General Electric’s landmark U25B road-switchers in 1964–65. Brand-new 2505 and three sisters roll an intermodal train east out of Collinwood, Ohio.
Photograph by J. David Ingles
All through January 2021, Classic Trains is celebrating the majestic and mystique of the New York Central.
Please enjoy this photo gallery of NYC locomotives selected from the David P. Morgan Library at Kalmbach Media.
Only from Classic Trains!
