New York Central 2933 is

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 ...

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...

", (Mountain), type

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 ...

built in 1929 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 ...

for 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 ...

. The wheel arrangement is known as the Mountain type on other railroads, but the New York Central dubbed them "Mohawks" after the

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk f ...

, which the railroad followed. It pulled

freight trains Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) hauled ...

until being retired in 1955. Today, the locomotive is on display at the

National Museum of Transportation The National Museum of Transportation (NMOT) is a private, 42-acre transportation museum in the Kirkwood suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1944, it restores, preserves, and displays a wide variety of vehicles spanning 15 decades of Amer ...

Kirkwood, Missouri Kirkwood is an inner-ring western suburb of St. Louis located in St. Louis County, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 27,540. Founded in 1853, the city is named after James P. Kirkwood, builder of the Pacific Railroad th ...

. It is the second-largest New York Central steam locomotive still in existence and is one of two surviving New York Central ''Mohawks"; the other, No. 3001, is on display at the National New York Central Railroad Museum in

Elkhart, Indiana Elkhart ( ) is a city in Elkhart County, Indiana, United States. The city is located east of South Bend, Indiana, east of Chicago, Illinois, and north of Indianapolis, Indiana. Elkhart has the larger population of the two principal cities of th ...

History

It was originally built for the

Big Four Railroad The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known as the Big Four Railroad and commonly abbreviated CCC&StL, was a railroad company in the Midwestern United States. It operated in affiliation with the New York Central system. I ...

and was numbered 6233, it was renumbered 2933 in 1936 when the locomotive was transferred to the New York Central. New York Central No. 2933 is a member of class L-2d. It powered freight trains until retirement in 1955.

Preservation

The locomotive was reportedly used as a stationary steam boiler in the NYC shops before it was placed in storage. After a request penned by the Kirkwood, Missouri (St. Louis suburb) museum director in 1962, it was donated to the Museum of Transportation there. It had somehow previously escaped the order by then-NYC President Alfred E. Perlman to scrap all steam locomotives, which was accomplished by 1957. This made it the only large New York Central steam locomotive to be donated directly by the railroad. In May 2017, the museum completed a 10-year-long full cosmetic restoration of the engine.

Footnotes

References

* * {{cite book , title=New York Central: Steam-Locomotives and Trains from 1933 to 1943 , last=Durham , first=Robert K. , date=2000 , isbn=978-0-9644-4800-1 * Keefe, Kevin. 2017

New York Central Railroad locomotives 4-8-2 locomotives ALCO locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1929 Individual locomotives of the United States Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Preserved steam locomotives of Missouri

History

Preservation

See also

Footnotes

References