You can go home again!
Between 1826 and 1923 Paterson NJ, at different times, was home to no less than six locomotive builders. Thousands of steam engines were built during that time and placed into service all over the globe. However, two of these were able to accomplish what the rest could not… they were able to return home again.
The most successful of Paterson builders was Rogers Locomotive Works which started production in 1832. The original building was destroyed by fire and replaced with a new one that still stands today on the corner on Spruce and Market streets and now houses the Paterson Museum. Rogers did well through the Civil War and the 1880's, building over 6,000 locomotives by the time they closed in 1904. The company was bought by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) and continued production until 1913.
ALCO-COOKE 2-6-0 #299
No. 299 photographed on a winter afternoon in December 2020.
This Mogul type (2-6-0) locomotive was built in 1907 at Alco’s Cooke Locomotive Works in Paterson, NJ, at a cost of $11,307 to work on the 5’ gauge railroad used in constructing the Panama Canal. Outshopped as a coal burner, at some point, it was converted to burn oil and the tender was adapted accordingly.
#299 has Stephenson valve gear and 19” x 24” cylinders. With a 21’ 3” engine wheelbase and 13’ 4” driver wheelbase, it weighs 138,400 lbs, 120,500 lbs on its 54” drivers. It has a 27.6 sq ft grate and 125 sq ft firebox. With a total heating surface of 1,560 sq ft, #229 operated at a boiler pressure of 180 psi delivering 24,548 lbs tractive effort.
After being removed from active service, #299 was refurbished and placed on display at the Balboa Railroad Station in Panama in 1955. In 1970, it was donated to the Great Falls Development Corporation, transported by ship to New Orleans, moved on heavy duty flat cars and placed on display at the Paterson Museum as an example of the many locomotives built over the years at the Alco-Cooke (formerly Rogers) Locomotive Works in the city
No. 299 in front of the shop where it was built in 1907
ALCO-COOKE 0-4-0 ST #1
ABS&F Co. No.1 in front of the Paterson Museum
The 0-4-0 saddle tank design is the simplest possible configuration of a steam locomotive. They were most often employed as shop switchers where overall length was a concern. Consequently, although early models came with a tender to carry coal, later models like this one were converted to oil and carried their fuel in the tank atop the boiler.
This little engine was built in 1910 at the Cooke Works of the American Locomotive Company in Paterson. Initially it was employed at the American Brake Shoe and Foundry Company in Mahwah NJ. It passed through various hands as an industrial engine up until 1964. Finally it was acquired by the Great Falls Development Corporation in 1978 from a small tourist railroad in Allentown PA. Today it sits next to #299 outside the Paterson Museum.
Rogers Locomotive Company in 1897. The building on the corner of Spruce and Market Streets (lower right) still stands today (see photos above).