Oneida and Western Railroad
The Oneida & Western Railroad, known as the Oneida & Western or O&W, was two different railroads.
The first was a short coal and goods hauling railroad that ran between Oneida and Jamestown, Tennessee. It was prosperous during the 1920s, hauling ...
No. 20 in 1916.
History
In 1926, 20 suffered freeze damage to its bridges when a hostler accidentally left it outside overnight, necessitating its return to Baldwin for repairs. While at Baldwin, 20's slide valve cylinders were replaced with piston valve cylinder
20 was sold to the
Rahway Valley Railroad
The Rahway Valley Railroad (RVRR) was a short-line railroad in the Northeastern United States which connected the Lehigh Valley Railroad in Roselle Park and the Central Railroad of New Jersey in Cranford with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western ...
in 1937 and renumbered to 15. It last ran in revenue service in November 28, 1953 before being replaced by #17 a
GE 70-ton switcher
The GE 70-ton switcher is a 4-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Electric between about 1942 and 1955. It is classified as a B-B type locomotive. The first series of "70 tonners" were a group of seven center-cab locomotives built for ...
. The President of the Railroad, George Clark, did not wish to see No. 15 scrapped however. It was placed in heated undercover storage pending further development for the next six years; at one point it was hoped the engine would be put on public display in
Kenilworth, New Jersey
Kenilworth is a borough in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 7,914,F. Nelson Blount in May 1959 and was received at
Wakefield, Massachusetts
Wakefield is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, incorporated in 1812 and located about north-northwest of Downtown Boston. Wakefield's population was 27,090 at the 2020 census. Wakefield offer ...
on June 5 that year. Blount chose to restore the locomotive and operate it at Steamtown, U.S.A. in 1962. It also travelled to
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
to be filmed in ''
The Cardinal
''The Cardinal'' is a 1963 American drama film produced independently, directed by Otto Preminger and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The screenplay was written by Robert Dozier, based on the novel of the same name (1950) by Henry Morton Robi ...
''. The locomotive later became
Green Mountain Railroad
The Green Mountain Railroad is a class III railroad operating in Vermont. GMRC operates on tracks that had been owned by the Rutland Railroad and Boston and Maine Railroad. The railroad operates on a rail line between North Walpole, New Hampsh ...
#15 following the formation of that railroad. It remained under the Green Mountain name until 1973 and was later reverted to Rahway Valley #15.
No. 15's last run was on August 12, 1973, when a boiler tube blew out, scalding Andy Barbera, who was operating as the locomotive engineer at the time. Since the services of the locomotive were not needed at the time, the repairs were not done and remained undone by the time the ''Steamtown Special History'' was written.
''The Steamtown Special History Study'' recommended that the engine be cosmetically and operationally restored, as it had served in the northeastern quarter of the United States and had been serviced, at least once, at the Lackawanna's Scranton shop.Chapell, Gordon. ''Steam Over Scranton: The Locomotives of Steamtown.'' Special History Study, American Steam Locomotives: Rahway Vally Railroad No. 15. ' National Park Service. 1991. Accessed July 14, 2010
As of 2022, the locomotive is still displayed and inoperable at Steamtown National Historic Site. There aren’t any plans to restore 15 to operation anytime soon.