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North American Steam Locomotive Builders and Their Insignia By Harold Davies
North American Steam Locomotive Builders and Their Insignia By Harold Davies
Hard Cover
Copyright 2005
266 Pages
Table Of Contents
Introduction
Acknowledgmentsvi
1. The Big Three1
Baldwin - The Name to Beat
American Locomotive Company - The Great Merger
Lima - Last But Not Least
2. The Pre-Alco Companies - Necessity Beckons37
3. Contenders - Hopefuls, Early and Late75
4 The Canadian Builders - Harsh Realities107
5. The Industrials - User Friendly Locomotives125
6. Honorable Mention - Good Times and Bad153
7. The Railroad Companies - In-House Building, Corporate Pride193
8. Builders Plates221
Historical Overview
Materials and Manufacturing
Gallery of Builder's Plates and Number Plates
INTRODUCTION
Few will deny that the steam locomotive has a place in our hearts. The smell of hot oil, the squealing of brakes, the blasts of a locomotive working uphill, these are real enough. Yet, surprisingly, the men and the companies that created these sights, sounds and smells are not well known. True, Baldwin, Alco and Lima are remembered, but beyond them and a few industrials, the scene thins out noticeably. Yet, by the beginning of the twentieth century more than one hundred and twenty North American companies and many railroad shops had built locomotives. In Canada, while Canadian Locomotive and Montreal are well known, who now remembers the small builders that so briefly graced their growing industry?
The opportunity to present a systematic review of the builder's plates and insignia brings a need to introduce the constructors and summarize their fascinating histories. We are dependent on a few comprehensive books presenting the individual builders, on definitive articles in historical society publications, and on promotional material issued by the companies in catalogs or industrial surveys. We owe a great debt to John H. White for the publication in 1982 of his personal notes in American Locomotive Builders and for his summaries of the industry in The History of the American Locomotive, its development 1830 - 1890. It is appropriate also to remember the excellent work by the late Fritz Lehmann in putting together the stories of the smaller Canadian firms. Much remains to be done and we are at this time without either a book or a substantial article on any of the pre-Alco firms except Richmond and Schenectady, or of Alco's Canadian subsidiary, Montreal. Among industrials, the builders of geared locomotives are well covered, but the makers of more prosaic types, such as Davenport and Vulcan, are not.
On the preservation scene, the two volume The Steam Locomotive Directory of North America by J. David Conrad is highly recommended. The book covers the USA, Canada and Mexico. While many of the engines have moved since its publication in 1988, the accurate construction data, ownership information, and tabulated summaries are most valuable for detective work. In the field the reader will find that most of the museum exhibits are properly identified, but in tourist operations and public displays, construction information often is ignored.
Beyond the bibliography noted, the record is dependent on railroad rosters, government surveys, newspaper
accounts and local promotional guides, usually incomplete and at times, contradictory. All of this is the grist for the historian to whom we are truly indebted. The statement that "no history is definitive," reminds us that snippets of information, and at times highly significant information, continue to be unearthed. We may wish that the firms had left detailed records of their affairs, yet the unreasonableness of that thought is easy to see. Those were not the days of public accountability. The successful owners were too busy making money, while the failing concerns thought only of avoiding a sheriff's sale.
Industry Overview
The industrial world of the nineteenth century was dominated by strong men who had the skill to contribute, the authority to make immediate commitments and the will to survive. With the exception of Baldwin, where a true partnership was in place, the management of locomotive building was rarely one of checks and balances. The "Owner - Foreman" relationship was usual, with the owner concerned with business and sales and the foreman in charge of engineering and the shop floor. In many cases the foreman was a junior partner. In this book we are not able to explore these relationships adequately but the reader will sense the importance of key shop floor personalities and the impact that each one had on the success or failure of the business. In his area of responsibility he had the last word, only the owner could overrule it and that happened rarely. None of the trappings of modern business were in place, regulations were few, there were no committees to appease, no design review boards and no failure analyses. These men were proud of their accomplishments. Most business owners valued those with engineering talents and were happy to give the name of a superintendent or a master mechanic a place of prominence on the construction plate.
Although the first railroad engines came from Britain, American locomotive manufacturing did not follow the English approach where the major railways quickly took to themselves the building of main line power and used commercial builders only when needs outstripped their in-house capacity. American locomotive building in the nineteenth century can be conveniently considered in three phases, it being understood that the transitions are not sharply defined. In the first phase in the 1830s, locomotives were imported from Britain, the most successful being the Planet class 0-4-0s from the Robert Stephenson Co. of Newcastle upon Tyne. A number of American mechanics assembled these engines as they arrived and others had opportunities to examine them and take part in service trials. From this effort a handful of native locomotive builders arose,
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