Global InformationNew York Central Niagara information
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 Niagara #6015 in Indianapolis, Indiana, June 30, 1956, soon before retirement | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The New York Central Railroad's Niagara was a class of 27 4-8-4 steam locomotives built by the American Locomotive Company for the New York Central Railroad. Like many railroads that adopted different names for their 4-8-4s rather than “Northerns”, the New York Central named them “Niagaras”, after the Niagara River and Falls. It is considered as one of the most efficient 4-8-4 locomotives ever built.
The first Niagara was ordered in 1931: No. 800,[1] an experimental locomotive that had its boiler divided into three sections of different pressure. This was another failed experiment in high pressure steam locomotives.
By the 1940s, loads being hauled on the New York Central main line from New York to Chicago were as much as the famous J-class NYC Hudson 4-6-4's could handle. The Chief of Motive Power for the railroad, Paul W. Kiefer, decided to order some 4-8-4's which could sustain 6,000 horsepower (4,500 kW) on the run between the two cities, day after day without respite.
The American Locomotive Company (ALCO) proposed these locomotives, and although the design owes something to the Union Pacific 4-8-4's, of which Union Pacific 844 is the best-known, the design was actually quite new. Some steam experts have claimed the Niagara to be the ultimate locomotive[citation needed], as it had the speed of an FEF (the Union Pacific's nickname for their 'four eight fours' was FEF) and the power of Northerns with smaller driver wheels.
- ^ Gerbracht, Thomas R. "Know Thy Niagaras, p. 197". Retrieved 2024-05-18.