The

Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...

's 1151 class comprised five

4-6-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels and four trailing wheels. In France where the type was first used, it is known as t ...

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s built by the

American Locomotive Company The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

(ALCO) in 1937. They were the last steam locomotives ordered by the railroad. They were ordered to improve service on the Lackawanna's express passenger trains west of

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

, towards

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. Apart from a six-mile helper district just west of Scranton and Dansville Hill between Groveland and Perkinsville, New York, this was flat, high-speed running. The railroad's existing

4-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, eight powered and coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This type of steam locomotive is commonly known as t ...

"Mountain" types were proving increasingly inadequate for this service as train lengths increased and because of the drag of air-conditioning equipment. However, the railroad's existing

4-8-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type w ...

"Pocono" types, used east of Scranton, were bigger and more powerful than this service required and such use would be wasteful. Therefore, the DL&W ordered five powerful Hudsons dedicated for this service. Being the only DL&W locomotives dedicated to flat-land service, they had

driving wheel On a steam locomotive, a driving wheel is a powered wheel which is driven by the locomotive's pistons (or turbine, in the case of a steam turbine locomotive). On a conventional, non-articulated locomotive, the driving wheels are all coupled ...

s of , which were the largest used on the system. They were not equipped with

booster engine A booster engine for steam locomotives is a small two-cylinder steam engine back-gear-connected to the trailing truck axle on the locomotive or the lead truck on the tender. A rocking idler gear permits it to be put into operation by the driver ...

s – unusual for a 4-6-4 – instead relying on their starting

tractive effort As used in mechanical engineering, the term tractive force can either refer to the total traction a vehicle exerts on a surface, or the amount of the total traction that is parallel to the direction of motion. In railway engineering, the term tr ...

of . While not quite equal to the Mountain types they replaced, their available power at speed was far greater. They were built alongside the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

's J-3a Hudsons at ALCO's plant in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

, which differed in being less powerful and booster-equipped, as well as being equipped with tenders with water scoops for

track pan Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

s. The two classes had somewhat close total weights and axle loading and bore a superficial resemblance to one another. To keep all the Lackawanna's six-drivered passenger power together in the 11xx number series, the new locomotives were numbered 1151–1155, taking the place of several Pacifics that had been recently converted into

0-8-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and no trailing wheels. Locomotives of this type are also referre ...

switcher A switcher, shunter, yard pilot, switch engine, yard goat, or shifter is a small railroad locomotive used for manoeuvring railroad cars inside a rail yard in a process known as ''switching'' (US) or ''shunting'' (UK). Switchers are not inten ...

s. The five locomotives only lasted ten years in their original intended assignments, since the Lackawanna dieselized its express passenger trains in

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

. The Hudsons were relegated to lesser assignments such as commuter trains, and began to be seen on the eastern end of the railroad. One assignment was the early morning ''Merchants Express'' (Train 26) from Scranton to

Hoboken, New Jersey Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...

, returning in the late afternoon hauling the ''Scrantonian'' (Train 11). Another was the ''

Interstate Express The ''Interstate Express'' was a long-distance passenger train operating between Syracuse, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, jointly operated by the Reading Railroad, the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Delaware, Lackawanna and West ...

'' (Train 1301), received from the

Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly calle ...

/ Jersey Central at Taylor Junction, near Scranton, and hauled to

Binghamton, New York Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

. They also saw service between Binghamton and Syracuse on the Syracuse Branch. Even in this service, they did not last long. All five were withdrawn from service in 1951–1953 and subsequently scrapped; none of the railroad's later steam locomotives survived the cutter's torch.

References

* * {{cite journal , title = From Buffalo Limiteds to Hoboken Commuters , author = Pennypacker, Bert , journal = Classic Trains , date=Summer 2005 , volume = 6 , issue = 2 , pages = 46–49

1151 Year 1151 ( MCLI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events * September 7 – Geoffrey of Anjou dies, and is succeeded by his son Henry, aged 18. * After the Battle of Ghazni ...

ALCO locomotives 4-6-4 locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1937 Steam locomotives of the United States Scrapped locomotives Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Passenger locomotives