NYC Niagara's

[cnwfan51]

Wouldnt the wieght of the drivers and tender prohibit them on the B&A ?   Larry

[Valleyline]

Are you sure steam was out by 1951? I was in the army then but I saw Adlai Stevenson's campaign train at Palmer, MA with a Mohawk. Considering that I was on active duty in the army from 1950 to May, 1952, and had not visited Palmer during that time, it would have to have been in 1952. 

[daveklepper]

Albany isn't the Boston and Albany, and the Niagra in Albany was probably in Harmon - Buffalo or Chicago service.   I am quite sure that a Niagra never visited Boston, Worcester, or Springfield, unless it was a very special movement.  J-2 Hudsons handled the through passenger trains, 4-6-4T tank engines handled the suburban trains with some Pacifics, and Birkshires and Mikados the freights.   Occasionally, one of the few Mowhaks with short tenders made it to Boston (once rode behind one).  Diesels took over the B&A by the end of 1951, well in advance of the rest of the NYC system, and the best of the B&A power with time on their flues went west to the rest of the NYC system. including the Big Four, the MC, and the West Shore.   I did once see a B&A Birkshire in Weehawken.

[selector]

There is one image of a Niagara on Fallen Flags that is purported to have been taken in Albany.

[jimrice4449]

Pending a definitive answer from somebody more conversent w/ NYC practice than I, I would doubt it.   The two big diferences between the NYC J-1 and J-3 Hudsons and the B&A J-2 engines were the 75" drivers (as opposed to 79") and the 8 wheel tenders required by the shorter B&A turntables, which would certainly apply to the Niagara's pedestal bed tenders.

[Duo]

Can anyone tell me if at any one point and time did the NYC Niagara's ever travel onto the Boston & Albany live for anything or any reason.

Thanks for your help everyone!