Steam Roster

Notes:

According to Railroads of Pennsylvania (ROPa): "It is not known what locomotives were purchased from 1890 until 1916. In 1914 it had six, in 1900 nine. Mining increased in 1920."
Compiler's note regarding the above: Perhaps no "new" locomotives were purchased between 1890 and 1916. Some engines from pre-1890 are known to have lasted into 1910's to 1920's. Perhaps some were retired or sold, in addition to second hand purchases, to explain the change in count.

1 - Built for the North Lebanon Railroad, predessor to the Cornwall.

2 - Said to have pulled first steam powered train in 1854-5. It was sold to the Berks County RR in 1873 or 1874, then said to have been moved to Reading, Pa and used as a barrier at the end of Court Street. The P&R acquired and returned this locomotive to service as the 400 that same year. The Lebanon Valley Standard reported its new job as the P&R 400 on 5-29-75.

3 - Railroads of Lebanon County (ROLC) confuses this locomotive with the other Donaghmore. These are instead two different locomotives.

4 - A document in Lebanon County Historical Society mentions the locomotive Colebrook. It is in the form of a letter describing the disatisfaction of the locomotive to the builder. It describes the workmanship as having been better on the Speedwell (also built by Baldwin).

5 - ROLC claims that this locomotive pulled first passenger train and the last on 1-29-1929. Research backs up that it pulled the last passenger train but not the first, as such service started some time in 1883 and the Castle Finn was built in 1884. At some point, it was rebuilt with a new boiler, cab, and tender, in additon to apparently smaller drivers.

6 - Rebuilt with new boiler and tender, in addtion to apparently smaller drivers.

7 - Passenger engine (all other locomotives were primarly used for freight service).

8 - ROPa questions if these are really Cornwall Railroad locomotives as they do not appear on Baldwin records. These may be confused with actual Cornwall RR locomotives. See notes 9 and 10.

9 - #7 ("Mountaineer") may have been confused as actually being the ex. CNJ #709 (Cornwall #7? or #9?). The Cornwall Ore Banks had at least two "Mountaineers" over the years (also 0-6-0's) which may have help lead to confusion.

10 - Possibly mistaken to be the other #6?

11 - May have been rebuilt with small driving wheels - Kercher claims that the Cornwall RR rebuilt some of their earlier passenger engines with smaller diameter driving wheels, mentioning specifically the Hopewell. Studing of photos seem to give possibility to his statement.

12 - Some information about this locomotive was from a notation on a copy of ROPa. These notes appear to be from Tabor himself. Supposedly this was ex P&LE # 69 , acquired by the Cornwall RR in 1899. It is said to have been sold in 1912 to Kirby Lisa(?) Co. keeping the # 6. The dates from such statement conflict with the ICC reports and other information.

13 - Ex. Central Railroad of New Jersey 709 (orig. #18), acquired in 1905. The only known photo of this engine shows it still in CNJ paint as 709.

14 - Pulled last ore train with steam as power on the Cornwall Railroad on 4-7-1950.

15 - Sold to the Conemaugh and Black Lick Railroad in 1946.

16 - After unsucessfully tried as a freight locomotive (following the end of passenger service) it was sold to Tuckerton Railroad, keeping the # 14 before being renumbered to 19. The Tuckerton scrapped it in 1936.

17 - Wrecked on 4-23-1942 but rebuilt. Retired with rest of steamers in 1950 and scrapped 1951.

18 - Transfered from the PBNE to the Cornwall RR in 1940. A photo by Wilber Wyckoff (7-14-40) had the following information associated with it: "Built by Alco in April 1917, Shop No. 57715. Former Philadelphia, Bethlehem & New England No. 71 (Bethlehem Steel). Bought from them April 1940. Rebuilt and placed in service July 1940."


Sources:
- Cornwall R.R. by James Kercher, published for the Lebanon County Historical Society, 1969.
- ICC Report from June 30, 1917
- Railroads Of Lebanon County by Donald L. Rhoads and Robert A. Heilman, published for the Lebanon County Historical Society, 2000.
- Railroads Of Pennsylvania, Encyclopedia And Atlas by Thomas T. Taber III, circa 1987.
- The Road To Cornwall by Robert A. Heilman, Lebanon County Histocical Sociey, 2003.


Note Regarding Sources:
With all due respect to J. Kercher and R. Heilman, their rosters were analyzed and compared to other sources and hard information. However, multiple errors, especially those that conflicted with hard facts, resulted in their documents yeilding little additional information to this compiled roster. T. Taber and the ICC report appear to be the documents with the fewest errors, and therefore more correct overall. Additional information from dated photos and other miscellaneous clues from texts were used in this compiled document.

Compiled by Mark Cain, 2006-2010. Please give credit if used.
Roster updated 02-10-10.


If you have any information regarding these locomotives, feel free to contact the author of this site at cwlrr122@yahoo.com