Rahway Valley No. 15

Oneida & Western

The Oneida & Western Railroad was incorporated on September 18, 1913 to build from Oneida, Tennessee to Albany, Kentucky. Intended to spur the development of coal and lumber properties, the O&W disappointed its supporters and became a short line stretching only twenty-five miles from Oneida to Jamestown, Tennessee. At Oneida, the railroad connected with the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific Railway

On March 24, 1916, the O&W ordered No. 20, a 2-8-0 "Consolidation"-type, locomotive from the Baldwin Locomotive Works. The locomotive was churned out by the Eddystone plant in June 1916. Aside from its fine proportions, No. 20 reportedly became the favorite locomotive of her regular O & W engineer. Despite a narrow firebox, the engine performed well in the hands of crews who knew how to handle her.

Built with fairly common Walschaert valve motion and standard slide valves, the engine retained that character only for her first ten years. About 1926, a neglectful hostler allowed the engine to freeze one cold night and the expanding ice broke the bridges. The company apparently shipped the locomotive to Baldwin's Eddystone Shops for repair, and for reasons unknown, Baldwin fitted the locomotive with new piston valves, employing outside admission to avoid altering the valve gear. It was a common practice to retain the old-style admission on locomotives refitted with universal valve chests, but it was an unusual feature on an engine just given new cylinders. Furthermore, the use of outside steam pipes that branched above the valve chests made No. 20 a unique locomotive. It was apparently at this same time that Baldwin applied a Franklin Type B Ragonnet power reverse mechanism and a mechanical lubricator, as well as a standard steel pilot in place of the hardwood pilot and electric headlight and markers in place of the oil (kerosene) headlight and marker lights.

The locomotive returned to its duties on the O&W. By 1937, however, the little engine had performed faithfully for twenty-one years and O&W management (by then the railroad had entered bankruptcy and was operating under a trustee) considered the locomotive somewhat tired and small for their needs and began thinking of buying larger motive power. Thus No. 20 became surplus, and the frugal company put her up for sale through the Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Company.

George A. Clark sent Carl Nees to Oneida, Tennessee so he could look the locomotive over. In order to give No. 20 a proper evaluation, the visiting master mechanic was given a ride of the whole O&W - up steep grades and over rickety trestles. They were climbing a 3 or 4% hill with a good sized string of cars - a dozen or so - and the engine was working like mad. Nees got down off the left-hand seat box, glanced at the steam gauge above the sloping back head, and peered into the firebox. He couldn't see much of a fire; in fact, the grates were almost uncovered. Yet, despite the long and narrow dimensions of a "cussed" type firebox, the 70-ton Consolidation he was riding had built up a good head of steam and was handling an ample load with obvious effort but seemingly with ease. That was Nees's first encounter with O&W No. 20 - then with twenty-one years of Tennessee mountain service already behind it - and it sold him. The master mechanic returned to Oneida, a second time, in July 1937, with a check in hand for $8,159. The locomotive's usual O&W engineer was just sick about parting with it.

In due time, the unusual little Baldwin was shipped north and became Nees’s charge as the RV’s No. 15. A month later, the locomotive entered service. No. 15 arrived on the RV with many gadgets. There were yards and yards of decorative piping, steam heat piping for passenger cars, and hand sanders. All of these appurtenances were removed. The locomotive also had unusually long window aprons. The locomotive wore marker lamps, affixed to it on the O&W, but the RV never utilized them.

Everybody agreed that No. 15 was a well fitted engine. However, when matched against Nos. 13 and 14, it came off third in performance. The crews preferred the older deckless locomotives which were more powerful, being able to haul more cars up the grade, and had semi-wide fireboxes. Their closed cabs were warmer in winter and, for a long time, No. 15 was used sparingly in the cold months. Not everyone could stoke the locomotive’s fire successfully, its design called for a clean but light fire, with a light heel, something never achieved without care. Even so, the handsome Consolidation remained Nees’s pet and the favorite of observers. The locomotive’s charms were even audible, with a clean exhaust and a melodious whistle on which Engineer Frank Froat could sound either muted, low tones or higher, louder notes of urgency. The admirers of that whistle were many and Nees, a man not given to over-sentiment, always liked to tell how beautifully its notes echoed among the mountains of Tennessee. The need to use two engines at one time seldom arose during No. 15’s career with the RV. With traffic on the upswing, though, it was more important than ever to have a spare locomotive on hand when one of the three regulars was away for shopping.

Nees made a number of modifications to No. 15, including a big toolbox on the pilot, the side steps on the pilot, and a grab iron all the way across the front pilot. The little, inadequate metal foot boards were removed in favor of larger, wooden foot boards.

No. 15 was sent to the DL&W shops at Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1940. The original single-pane cab windows were replaced. The spoked pilot wheels were replaced with solid ones. The grab iron on the fireman's side of the smokebox was modified. Previously the grab iron swooped underneath the marker light. This was changed to have the grab iron stop behind the marker light and an additional, shorter, grab iron was installed underneath the marker light. The old sun visors on the cab were removed, and new ones with rain gutters were installed higher up. The sans-serif lettering was replaced by a serif Lackawanna stencil. The locomotive returned to the RV and it was discovered that the cap on its boiler drain was loose. The DL&W had left it that way. If it hadn't been discovered, No. 15 may have been fired up, the drain let go and emptied the boiler, causing an inevitable explosion.

In October 1945, No. 15 was sent to the CNJ's shops at Elizabethport for an overhaul. The locomotive was re-lettered with a CNJ shop stencil, evidently the same style No. 13 received during its 1944 shopping, and its number plate received the red field.

The locomotive was overhauled again in March 1950 at Elizabethport. The locomotive received a slightly fatter serif stencil and a much larger number on the cab. The number disappeared off the sand dome.

No. 15 was in service when the railroad's first diesel-electric locomotive, No. 16, arrived from General Electric on January 29, 1951. No. 15 picked it up from the DL&W interchange in Summit. No. 15 served as a relief engine whenever the diesel needed repair. The RV fired it up for the last time for four days in 1953 when the diesel was down for repairs, and the crew dumped the last fire on No. 15 on November 28, 1953. On February 2, 1954, the RV took delivery of a second diesel-electric locomotive, No. 17, and the era of steam motive power ended on the railroad.

George A. Clark, who knew a good engine when he saw one, was reluctant as anybody to see No. 15 go for scrap. Pending developments, the engine remained well protected inside the engine house.

F. Nelson Blount, president of the Edavilla Railroad, had contracted to operate a railroad at the new Pleasure Island Park in Wakefield, Massachusetts and purchased No. 15 for exhibit there. The RV shipped the locomotive on June 5, 1959 via the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the Delaware & Hudson, and the Boston & Maine.

No. 15 refused to remain an idle exhibit engine, and Blount was not destined to remain involved at Pleasure Island. He moved his collection to Keene and then North Walpole, New Hampshire and finally across the river to Riverside, a meadow north of Bellow Falls, Vermont. While at North Walpole, he had No. 15 overhauled and put back into service on his Monadnock, Steamtown and Northern Railroad, a tourist excursion line. When forced to move from Boston & Maine trackage at North Walpole across the river to Rutland Railroad trackage near Bellows Falls, he renamed the excursion line simply Monadnock Northern. There, No. 15 served so reliably and for so long that it came to be called the "faithful fifteen." During the winter of 1962-1963, the locomotive even ran up to Boston to play a role in a motion picture entitled "The Cardinal."

No. 15 operated regularly from the beginning of the 1962 season until its flue time expired early in 1967. After Blount's death, in 1968, the Steamtown Foundation obtained a flue time extension from the Federal Railroad Administration and the locomotive returned to service lettered for the Green Mountain Railroad, but after only a handful of runs, broke a piston and limped into storage. In January 1973, the Steamtown Foundation obtained another flue extension, machined and installed a new piston and piston rod, and modified the appearance of the locomotive by removing the front number plate and lowering the headlight to a position in the center of the smokebox door. Steamtown leased the locomotive for a run to Boston to carry a wealthy couple from their wedding to a reception a couple of towns away. After returning to Bellows Falls, Steamtown fired up the locomotive again as part of the "Friends of Steamtown" Day on August 12, 1973. While heading Steamtown's first triple-headed excursion with a couple of Canadian Pacific 4-6-2's, the locomotive blew a flue out just north of Riverside, badly scalding veteran engineer Andy Barbera. Inspection of the boiler indicated that reflueing and installation of a new front flue sheet should be completed before the locomotive operated again and since the Steamtown Foundation did not need the services of No. 15 at that time, the work was not done. Just a day or two before the August 1973 excursion, the Steamtown mechanical force had placed a round number plate just below the headlight. Briefly lettered Steamtown R.R.," the locomotive received from Steamtown volunteers during the early 1980s a new paint job and lettering that spelled out "Rahway Valley."

The Steamtown Foundation ran its last excursion in Vermont in October 1983 and thereafter moved its collection, including No. 15, to Scranton, Pennsylvania. In 1995, Steamtown was acquired by the National Park Service. No. 15 remains out of service and on display at the museum site in Scranton. The locomotive's appearance has been altered back to one more befitting of its time on the RV.