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Rahway Valley Railroad #8 | |
| Type: | 2-8-0 Consolidation |
| Builder: | Pittsburgh Locomotive & Car Works |
| Construction #: | 2070 |
| Year Built: | 03/1900 |
| Drivers: | 50" |
| Cylinders: | 20" x 26" |
| Notes: | ex-Pittsburgh & Lake Erie RR #9319, nee #140
Sold to General Equipment Co., 09/15/1914 Purchased 1916 Scrapped 04/1929 |
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#8 was the first in a succession of
2-8-0 Consolidation type locomotives that found their way onto the
Rahway Valley Railroad. Constructed by the Pittsburgh Locomotive
& Car Works (later a part of the American Locomotive Company
[ALCO]) in March, 1900, the locomotive served the Pittsburgh &
Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE) as their #140 and later as their
#9319. The P&LE sold this engine to the
General Equipment Company on September 15, 1914 (Source: Frye).
General Equipment subsequently sold the locomotive to the Rahway
Valley Railroad in 1916. #8 must've seen a great deal of use during
the years of World War I, when the RV saw a great boost in activity.
That great deal of use the engine saw
during the war did take its toll. When the Lehigh Valley Railroad
contemplated purchasing the RV in the 1920's, a letter between the
LV people made mention of the engine, "The equipment includes two
engines, No. 8, a ten wheel switch, weighing about 140,000 lbs. and
No. 11, an eight wheel, light passenger type, weighing about 98,000
lbs. At present No. 11 is doing all the work and No. 8 is in the
shed in Kenilworth having broken a set of springs about the first of
April" (Source: Letter to E.E. Loomis dated 9/27/1923).
From what we can gather, #8 did not
see a great deal of service through the 1920's, seemingly serving as
a backup to #11. William S. Young stated that when the Clarks came
to the Rahway Valley Railroad in 1920 that the "RV only owned one
good locomotive" (Source: Short-line Man, William S. Young, April
1969), more than likely meaning
#11. With the arrival of two more
locomotives in 1928, #13 and 14, any purpose #8 still served was
quickly diminished. #8 was scrapped in April of 1929 (Source: Frye,
Bernhart, Taber). Something worth noting is that another New
Jersey short-line, the nearby Morristown & Erie Railroad based
out of Morristown, NJ, also owned a former P&LE locomotive
(ex-#9315, nee 135) of the same type and class. The M&E numbered
this engine as their #6. The M&E apparently had more success
with their #6 than the RV had with their #8, as #6 was on the
M&E from 1915 until it was scrapped in
1948.
Sources:
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