On the New York Central railroad, there were hundreds of Mohawks and hundreds of Hudsons, but only ever twenty-seven of the mighty Niagara, the epitome of the American steam locomotive in express passenger service.
Others had built locomotives of the 4-8-4 wheel arrangement before - Alco built the first in 1927 for the Northern Pacific, hence the common term Northern for this type - indeed, the NYC had acquired an experimental high-pressure 4-8-4 in 1931. Maybe by learning from those other locomotives, the Niagara improved upon them.
Indeed, the Niagara's only flaw was to be built too late. Designed by the New York Central's superintendent of motive power, Paul Kiefer, his team, and the American Locomotive Company (Alco), the prototype Niagara was unveiled in March 1945, numbered #6000 after the design goal of 6000 horsepower. Twenty-five production Niagaras followed later that year and into 1946, distinguishable from #6000 by the slanted rear edges of their distinctive "Elephant Ear" smoke deflectors. In June 1946, the last Niagara was built, this twenty-seventh locomotive being built with Franklin oscillating poppet valves, the same equipment as fitted to the rival Pennsylvania Railroad's T-1.
Visually, the Niagara was a fine-looking locomotive indeed. With its smooth, clean lines, straight running board and big smoke deflectors, it looked somewhat European in line, but its sheer size and power and sophistication spoke of the finest in American built locomotives. Only handrails and the throttle linkage broke the clean, smooth line of the boiler casing. The NYC's restricted loading gauge made for a smooth, flat
boiler top, domeless and with a stack so short as to be almost not there. The big smoke deflectors (also known as smoke lifters) were a feature of much later New York Central power, but while on other locomotives they looked ungainly, here they added grace and a look of power and eagerness.
From an engineering standpoint, the Niagara was also a thing of beauty. With roller bearings on all axles, as well as on side and main rod bearings, the locomotives were exceptionally free rolling. They were fitted with every modern gadget; self adjusting wedges eliminated the need for constant maintenance where the axleboxes moved in the frames, the NYC's valve pilot eliminated guesswork in setting the correct cutoff for the speed and load. Special tandem side rods absorbed the tremendous thrust.
The PT class tender alone was something special. Special overflow vents allowed the Niagaras to scoop water from track pans at 80mph. The force of the inrushing water at that speed would have burst previous locomotive tenders. The ability to scoop water without slowing, and the large number of track pans on the System, enabled the tender to carry relatively little water, and a huge load of coal, 46 tons.
In the end, though, the greatness of the Niagara hardly mattered - the diesel locomotive was coming. Despite test results showing that the Niagara equalled or beat an equivalent diesel unit in every possible respect - performance, costs, availability, you name it - the writing was on the wall. While ultra-modern steam power like the Niagara could compete at high-speed passenger service, the diesel had the edge in every other task. Keeping the vast infrastructure required for a steam locomotive fleet just for twenty-seven locomotives would have been uneconomic.
Besides, in passenger service, the reality hardly mattered - the image did. In 1945, having the newest and most advanced steam power sounded good -- five years later, steam was old-fashioned technology. Who'd want to be running steam locomotives on the crack expresses when other roads had gone to sleek, ultra-modern diesels?
The Niagaras' story ended almost before it began, and none survive today; of all the extinct locomotive types, the New York Central's Niagaras and Hudsons are probably the most missed.