Give Me an S, Give Me a T

Arguably the most significant - but almost certainly the most expensive - traction preservation project of recent years has been the Danbury Railway Museum's effort to save the two New York Central mainline electric locomotives marooned in Glenmont, New York. As shown in the above photo posted on Facebook by DRM today, they have conquered some truly remarkable hurdles and managed to save the two locomotives.

The two pieces of equipment in question are both very historically significant. The older of the two, New York Central 100, was the first "S-motor" ever built, emerging from Alco/GE in 1904. It was the prototype for one of the most successful of the early heavy electric locomotive designs and when it was retired in 1964, the cash-strapped NYC still found the wherewithal to preserve it. Unfortunately, it was given over to the nascent American Museum of Electricity in Niskayuna, near Schenectady, but the group ended up failing before it really got off the ground. Sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s the locomotive was transferred to the Mohawk & Hudson Chapter NRHS. It is one of three S-motors preserved.

The other piece is New York Central 278, the only surviving "T-motor" from the line. This boxcab, built in 1926 by GE, is a good showcase of the progress that had been made in the 20+ years since the S-motors were built. It remained in service into the late 1970s, and upon retirement ended up the the M&H Chapter mentioned above. Unfortunately for both locomotives, this group seemed to largely founder by the late 1980s, which is around when they shoved their collection - including 100, 278, and a few other pieces of non-electric equipment - into a siding on the grounds of a power plant in Glenmont. There the equipment sat moldering for some 35 years or so, as the NRHS chapter essentially dissolved and rail access to the siding was irretrievably cut.

Within the last year, the power plant site became the focus of a huge redevelopment effort, and the equipment had to go - intact or not. The other pieces of railroad equipment were cut up on-site, but DRM mounted a huge fundraising campaign to get the locomotives disassembled and moved. In the image above, L-R is half of 278's running gear; 100's running gear; 100's body; 278's body; and the other half of 278's running gear. What a project!

Until now the two locomotives have remained on the PNAERC roster listed under M&H Chapter ownership, since I make a practice of only changing ownership when a car is moved and not when it's sold on paper. But now that the locomotives have been extracted (even if they haven't yet quite made it all the way to Danbury), I've changed them to DRM ownership.

This acquisition elevates DRM into the same league as the Illinois Railway Museum and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in having a large and diverse collection of mainline electric equipment. They'll now have 10 pieces, including two very historic locomotives, a unique third rail-powered wrecker, and seven MU cars built between 1954 and 1975. Kudos to DRM for this notable achievement.