Camelback Locomotive Stops in Lorain – April 1953

Although steam locomotives were largely replaced by diesel power by the 1960s, they continue to fascinate train enthusiasts. 

Lorain was a pretty good place for steam lovers. The city had its Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive No. 384, which sat in Oakwood Park (beginning in 1960) for many years.

And if one paid attention, they could see that a few vintage steam trains passed through the city on their way to somewhere else. Back here, I wrote about how in 1968, Nickel Plate Engine 759 crossed the Black River on its way to its winter home in Conneaut.

And fifteen years before that in April 1953, a truly unique steam engine of old – a camelback – made a pit stop in Lorain for repairs. Below is the photo that appeared in the Lorain Journal back on April 28, 1953.

The caption notes, "Bound for a St. Louis museum, this train locomotive from yesteryear developed mechanical difficulties along the way and was pulled into the Nickel Plate yard here yesterday for repairs in a 12-hour layover. 

"The engine, used during the latter part of the 19th century, is owned by the Lackawanna Railroad. It is known as a "camelback" and its power is only about one-fifth as great as today's locomotives. The journey to the museum started in Buffalo."

According to a Wiki entry, "A camelback locomotive (also known as a Mother Hubbard or a center-cab locomotive) is a type of steam locomotive with the driving cab placed in the middle, astride the boiler. Camelbacks were fitted with wide fireboxes which would have severely restricted driver visibility from the normal cab location at the rear.

"The Camelback's cab astride the boiler design raised concerns for its crew. The separation of engineer and fireman limited their ability to communicate with each other. Also, the engineer was perched above the side-rods of the locomotive, vulnerable to swinging and flying metal if anything rotating below should break; in many cases, the fireman was exposed to the elements at the rear. 

"While several states attempted to ban camelback engines, they were overturned due to Federal supremacy regarding railroad safety. The ICC held hearings on banning camelbacks, but they were never actually banned because by the time the hearings were held, the camelback was an obsolete design and were no longer being produced."

So what became of the camelback that rumbled through Lorain? 

Apparently it is one of five known camelbacks still in existence. Today, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western 4-4-0 No. 952, is still at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri.

Courtesy Locomotive.fandom.com

Click here to visit No. 952's page on www.locomotive.fandom.com and here for the National Museum of Transportation's website (where they plastered an unattractive watermark on its photo for no good reason).