Rahway Valley #15

Baldwin Locomotive Works delivered this 2-8-0 Consolidation-type locomotive to the Oneida & Western Railroad in 1916. In 1937, after twenty-one years of grueling Tennessee mountain service, the Oneida & Western Railroad sold it to the Rahway Valley Railroad for use on its New Jersey short line. During its active career on the Rahway Valley, Number 15 hauled freight between the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad at Summit, New Jersey, and the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey at New Orange. In 1953, with its diesel engine down for repairs, the Rahway Valley fired up and worked Number 15 for the last time. Shortly afterward, the company took delivery of a second diesel, and the era of steam on the Rahway Valley ended. In 1959, Steam Locomotive magazine recalled the handsome Consolidation as the master mechanic's pet and a favorite of most observers, praising its clean exhaust, melodious whistle, and the skill of Engineer Frank Froat, whose notes had echoed among the mountains of Tennessee.

Scranton, Pennsylvania · United States