Albert S. Campbell's 12" gauge 1902 4-4-0

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Glenn Brooks
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Albert S. Campbell's 12" gauge 1902 4-4-0

Post by Glenn Brooks »

I acquired this antique coal fired 4-4-0 model of the NYC 928 - class "I'' prototype for the famous NYC 999, 'Empire State Express' -as a 'barn find' last winter, from the prior owner in Pennsylvania. My purpose in looking for an older locomotive was to take on a restoration project that I could spend time on during retirement -and eventually build and operate a second engine using the dimensions and design of the original to create a small pike around my house.

At the time, neither the prior owner or myself knew who built the locomotive, what the history of the locomotive was, or when it was built. So after shipping it home, this winter I launched into sort of a virtual archaeological "dig" of the Internet and verified the loco is Albert S. Campbell's long lost (1902) 12 5/8'' gauge personal steam engine.
The Loco on its new stand
The Loco on its new stand
loco front angle view-25%.jpg
The NYC &HRV RR had a preference for these distinctive three window cabs
The NYC &HRV RR had a preference for these distinctive three window cabs
in the photo's above, I have blocked the engine up off the stand, so I can start work to free up the drivers, clean off a bit of rust, and disassemble/clean/repaint the leading truck and undercarriage. also pulled one steam cylinder cover to find out what the cylinders look like after 100 years - they are amazingly clean and rust free. The value guide is a bit sticky though; needs to be taken apart and lubed.

Below is a view of the firebox end. Notice the riveted boiler and nifty wood handles on the blow down valves. I should do something to preserve the round carved handles and keep them in use - maybe epoxy saturation and 7 coats of varnish... I hope to run the engine on air pretty soon, to check timing and valve settings etc before tearing down the plumbing to get inside the boiler and throttle assembly.
working end of the boiler
working end of the boiler

As the locomotive had no tender or accompanying rolling stock, my restoration plan is to:

1) free up and renew all the machine surfaces - the engine itself is frozen up from sitting for decades.
2) place the boiler back in service - repair or replace as needed
2) give it a flashy new livery - new paint (or powder coat) judicious splash of teak trim around the cab, some fine gold lettering etc...
3) build a tender and some rolling stock - currently thinking about a couple of 3" scale 60cm (24" ga) WW 1 class D trench railway flat cars, a 4 wheel 'Jimmy' for ROW work, and a drop center Pinchot wagon.
4) document the history of the engine - find out who built it and what where it has been.

I've actually accomplished #4. The prior owner knew very little about the history or background of the engine, except that his father bought it from an "elderly lady on Long Island" one day in 1986, when he was just a young boy. I have since verified that the engine was actually built by Albert S. Campbell in 1902. It was his personal locomotive and was one of two, in this gauge, that he designed and built after examining several passenger carrying 12 5/8'' Cagney's (possibly the miniature train operating at Steeplechase Park on Coney Island) in the late 1890's. Mr. Campbell made the initial castings for two 12 5/8' gauge locomotives in 1902. One sold one set to Mathias Hertig who built the sister engine in 1904. The other he kept for himself and built in his workshop at his home in Freeport, Long Island, storing it there until his death in 1959. The engine was then passed down to his son, Albert Jr, then to granddaughter Alice, (still in Freeport, long Island) who kept it until her retirement in 1986, when the family sold it to the father of the fellow from whom I purchased it last November.

Remarkably, the locomotive has never been operated on the ground. It has been in storage for 113 years, first in Mr. Campbell's workshop for 57 years, then in a heated garage in Pennsylvania, where I purchased it last winter. So it is a century old and mechanically new. The inside of the boiler shows no signs of scale or deterioration. The wheels and brass in the journal boxes have no wear! I've also located and spoken with Mr. Campbell's now retired great grandson. This gentleman confirmed a photo of the engine appears to be his great grandfathers locomotive, and that his brother actually sold the engine in 1986- when their mother retired and moved from Freeport to Iowa to stay with him. The loco had been stored in the family residence on Archer Street, in Freeport, Long Island, since Albert built it. The gentleman also stated that as a teenager in the 1950's, he visited his great grandfather every weekend, as they both lived in Freeport, and would occasionally fire up the loco in his grandfather's shop - but never ran it on the ground - as "it was just to big to move around".

When I bought it, the prior owner only knew that the locomotive was a coal fired, 12 5/8" gauge, 4-4-0 American, with a 14" riveted boiler and that it looked like it was fairly old. The prior owner's father had also passed away in 1996, so any knowledge of where or how his Dad found the engine was long lost - except that he believed his dad had bought it home from Long Island, or possibly up-state New York. The engine had no tender, and came with a small box of spare parts that supposedly came off a second locomotive that was scraped by another owner and 'went away' some years ago. The parts turned out to be a partial set of Al Campbell's Russian Iron castings for a 3 3/16' gauge'' or possibly 4 3/4' gauge locomotive that Mr. Campbell used to sell to live steamers in the period 1896-1915.

Initially, my only lead regarding the engine's history, was the prior owner's comment that an on-line RR modeler's forum poster emailed him to say the engine looked like an Albert Campbell design. With that in mind, I learned that Albert S. Campbell was a railroad machinist by trade. He lived in New York from the 1880's till his death in 1959. He was one of the early live steam pioneers, who produced and sold 100 casting sets of 3 3/16", 4 3/4'" and 6 1/2'' gauge engine castings and 25 completed locomotives to steam enthusiasts, starting in 1896. And as it turns out, Al Campbell was also a long standing friend and corespondent with Cap. Frederick Shaw, author of the 1959 book, "Little Railways of the World". Indeed, Captain Shaw dedicated his book to Mr. Campbell, and included a short bio on page 241. The photo of Mr. Campbell's small gauge 4-4-0 included in the book, is taken from Mr. Campbell's circa 1900 advertising flier.

I spent most of last winter trying to find some definitive link tying the locomotive to the original, at the time, unknown builder, but without much success. I found a small number of surviving 12" gauge 4-4-0 locomotives in the U.S. - it was a very popular design following the NYC's locomotive #999 famous 104.2 mph world speed record run down the Hudson River Valley in March, 1894. Setting the world speed record, and breaking the 100 MPH barrier, the 999 became an overnight sensation, akin in its day, I think, to John Glenn's Mercury Space Capsule flight into space, or the more recent NASA Space Shuttle Missions. The 999 was known everywhere and displayed all over the Eastern United States. The Cagney Brothers produced a 12 5/8" miniature locomotive version of the locomotive in the late 1890's, before switching to their famous 15" Park gauge design. A dozen or so other builders produced one-off 4-4-0 models of the 999 and similar 12" gauge engines for private, wealthy estate owners. However, none of the engines I found matched the construction techniques or design of this locomotive.

Eventually I hit on the idea of researching Frederick Shaw- who dedicated his 'Little Railways' book to his friend Albert Campbell - and found a series of letters between the two, that the Shaw family donated to the California State Railway Museum library Archives in Sacramento. The letters describe Mr. Campbell's construction detail and actual dimensions of the locomotive. The dimensions are an exact match for this locomotive -including the ID of the steam cylinder. Well, it's within 30 thousands anyway. When I visited the Library this past winter, much to my amazement, I found an original 4' x 6' Black and White glossy print of the locomotive, dated 1906 - one of the 2 engines built by Mr.Campbell; sold to Mathias Hertig and his brother for operation in the Roseville Amusement Park, Sharon, Pennsylvania. The photo was reproduced as an amusement park advertising postcard around 1907, and is shown below.

The young man standing behind the engine is Locomotive Engineer and Amusements entrepreneur Mr. Mathias Hertig.
image.jpg
So next steps are to work through the mechanical restoration of the engine and boiler and build up the tender and consist. Charlie Pipes has already helped me design and make a Shapeways pattern duplicating the 10 spoked wheels on the leading truck. Charlie sent the pattern to Cattails Foundry, in Lancaster, Pennsyvania to cast up a batch of new wheels for the tender. I plan to use the newly cast wheels to build a 1902 replica tender, as close as I can, matching the riveted construction techniques and design of the NYC's 7,500 gal passenger carrying tenders in use at the turn-of-the-century.

Having discovered who built the locomotive, and its origins, I am a bit un-certain about how to proceed with placing it back in service. For example, I don't want to alter its historical significance. On the other hand, have thought about re-gauging it to 12'' gauge to be compatible with other 12' ga equipment and rolling stock. 12 5/8" is practically non existent these days as a miniature railroad track standard (only six 12 5/8" gauge Cagneys are known to exist - and they never see the light of day or change hands on the open market). But 12'' gauge motive power and rolling stock is available - particularly MTC's G-12 train set, and could be added to the consist with a bit of modification- itself an historical afront to MTC preservation... So this is a bit of a quandary. Alter Mr. Campbell's gauge to accommodate current track standards. Or leave it as-built and add a few additional non-standard bits of rolling stock. In practice, Railroad owners regauged equipment at will, to suit their needs. So I am curious what more experienced live steamers recommend in these circumstances?

I will post some detailed photos of the engine, and pictures of the pattern making process - (and my snappy green engine stand!) next time.
Last edited by Glenn Brooks on Mon Jan 25, 2016 12:41 am, edited 15 times in total.
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Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
kvom
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Re: Albert S. Campbell's 12" gauge 1902 4-4-0

Post by kvom »

Cool project!
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Pipescs
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Re: Albert S. Campbell's 12" gauge 1902 4-4-0

Post by Pipescs »

Glenn's Wheel Patterns just before leaving for Cattail
DSC_3197.jpg
Charlie Pipes
Mid-South Live Steamers


Current Projects:

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Glenn Brooks
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Re: Albert S. Campbell's 12" gauge 1902 4-4-0

Post by Glenn Brooks »

A bit more background on the Loco.

Here is Al Campbell's circa 1900 advertising flyer for his model steam line. I dated the flyer through Mr. Campbell's return address printed at bottom of the page. he lived at this address for 7 years, from sometime in the late 1890's until he moved to his farm at Montecello, NY in 1907.
Campbell Brochure-20%.jpg
The blue print depicted below is a picture taken of his original 1902 general construction plan, drawn for him by his friend, Jos B. Ennis a railroad draftsman who designed locomotives for Cooke Locomotive Works in Patterson, New Jersey. The locomotive is the same design and configuration as this small blueprint- just scaled up by a factor of 4.
3 3/16" gauge
3 3/16" gauge
Although Mr. Campbell built and sold several other designs, his primary model was this 4-4-0 replica of the NYC 900 series engines - as shown in his blueprint and advertising flyer. Campbell wrote Cap Shaw in 1943 that his first involvement in model making occurred in 1894 or '95, when a local man, an undertaker, asked him to make a small steam engine. Campbell wrote the man couldn't "handle a fire" ( in the boiler assuredly), but wanted a locomotive. So Mr. Campbell built him a 1" scale model of a Jersey Central 4-4-2 Camel Back, with the cab in the center of the boiler and a hood on back. Campbell remained interested in model making throughout his life, even though working for 50 years as a Railroad machinist in and around New York City.
NYC 928.JPG
a few other detail photos of the 12 5/8" ga engine...
this photo shows the drivers.
drivers.JPG
The closeup photo of the driver detail Mr. Campbell designed into his Park Gauge Locomotive includes the position and design of a steam driven pump and very large brakeshoes hanging between the two main driving wheels. This is the same design as depicted earlier in the grey scale builders photo of the NYC engine #928 - the master prototype design for the railroad's 900 series engines that hauled the famed "Empire State Express" in the 1890's on the daily high speed passenger service down the Hudson River Valley.
brake assembly and steam pump mounted above
brake assembly and steam pump mounted above
brake assembly.JPG (74.6 KiB) Viewed 15838 times
Last edited by Glenn Brooks on Sun Aug 16, 2015 10:20 pm, edited 8 times in total.
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
Glenn Brooks
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Re: Albert S. Campbell's 12" gauge 1902 4-4-0

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Pipescs wrote:Glenn's Wheel Patterns just before leaving for Cattail
DSC_3197.jpg

Thanks Charlie. I was just editing the photo's you sent me earlier to include here. it takes a lot of work to figure out how to make the fourm upload thing work! I figured I might make a separate entry for your casting work. feel free to add a description of your work, if you wish. or I can - i certainly owe you a shout out for making this happen.

glenn
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Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
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NP317
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Re: Albert S. Campbell's 12" gauge 1902 4-4-0

Post by NP317 »

Glenn
I would re-gauge to 12" so that this historic locomotive could be operated and enjoyed by a wider audience. Since it's never actually operated on 12-5/8" gauge track, you should feel free to make such changes without "violating" historic precedence.
This also gives you an opportunity to make sure the driver axle bearing surfaces are good enough for extended operation.
What a great project!
~Russ
Glenn Brooks
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Re: Albert S. Campbell's 12" gauge 1902 4-4-0

Post by Glenn Brooks »

Thanks Russ! the Railroad Barons of old wouldn't think twice about re-gauging Iam sure... what ever the circumstances dictate is justification enuf. But, its still a bit daunting to consider. I got a chance to do a more detailed inspection under the frame two days ago, when I finally lifted the Loco off the floor and onto its stand, I noticed for the first time that the rear drivers are 1/8th" out of gauge - being actually a few thou over 12.75". I was surprised to find this, so certainly have a need to do something with the rear frame and rear drivers at least.

glenn
Last edited by Glenn Brooks on Sat Aug 08, 2015 10:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
Moderator - Grand Scale Forum

Motive power : 1902 A.S.Campbell 4-4-0 American - 12 5/8" gauge, 1955 Ottaway 4-4-0 American 12" gauge

Ahaha, Retirement: the good life - drifting endlessly on a Sea of projects....
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Pipescs
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Re: Albert S. Campbell's 12" gauge 1902 4-4-0

Post by Pipescs »

Thanks Charlie. I was just editing the photo's you sent me earlier to include here.
What works for me is to right click on the file for the photo and select "send to" from the menu. Then select "mail recipient" It will ask me to attach in in medium size. One the mail is opened up and the photo is in the attachment section, I copy and paste it into a molder labeled small photos.

From that file you can upload it to Chaski.
Charlie Pipes
Mid-South Live Steamers


Current Projects:

Scratch Built 3 3/4 scale 0-4-4 Forney
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NP317
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Re: Albert S. Campbell's 12" gauge 1902 4-4-0

Post by NP317 »

Glenn Brooks wrote:Thanks Russ! the Railroad Barons of old wouldn't think twice about re-gauging Iam sure... what ever the circumstances dictate is justification enuf. But, its still a bit daunting to consider. I got a chance to do a more detailed inspection under the frame two days ago, when I finally lifted the Loco off the floor and onto its stand. I noticed for the first time that the rear drivers are 1/8th" out of gauge - being actually a few thou over 12.75". I was surprised to find this, so certainly have a need to do something with the rear frame and rear drivers at least.

glenn
'Sounds like you have all the justification required to make the gauge change.
Yea!
Hopefully changes to the frame spacing will not be complicated. The cylinder spacing might present the most "interesting" requirements.
~RN
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Dick_Morris
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Re: Albert S. Campbell's 12" gauge 1902 4-4-0

Post by Dick_Morris »

If you decide to modify the gauge you could see if the same solution that the Alaska Railroad applied to 5' gauge ex-Panama Canal locomotives would work. Wider tires were installed on the drivers with the flange inset from the original position. They had some problems with the drivers lifting at grade crossings when there was packed ice next to the rails, but that isn't likely to be a problem for you.
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steamin10
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Re: Albert S. Campbell's 12" gauge 1902 4-4-0

Post by steamin10 »

Dick: I was told at least one of the old builders (Cagney?) could accommodate from 12 to 16 inch park gauges by simply making the axles to fit. All the frame and boiler dimensions were common.
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Dick_Morris
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Re: Albert S. Campbell's 12" gauge 1902 4-4-0

Post by Dick_Morris »

Versions of the WWII War Department Consolidation we are working on were built to 4'8-1/2" (U.S. and Europe), 5' (USSR), and 5'6" (India) gauge. Boilers were identical and most of the parts were interchangeable. Cylinder blocks were different with different bore spacing and all the frame spreaders and axles were different, but they are essentially the same locomotive. I'm guessing the park locomotives were built the same way although a three-piece cylinder block would make it easier.

The beauty of changing tires (if there is room) is that no modification is needed to the drivers or the rest of the running gear and it's reversible to maintain the historical value.
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