#952

#952. Delaware, Lackawanna and Western. , Built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in Schenectady, NY, this 4-4-0 is a "Camelback" or "Mother Hubbard" locomotive. It gets that name from the engineer's cab being located in its center, above the boiler. This is due to the wide firebox needed to burn the hard anthracite coal from the Northeast. To burn properly this coal has to be in a very thin layer compared to more common soft coal, leaving no room for a cab in the normal location. A separate shelter is provided at the rear for the fireman. It was built to haul passenger trains, such as the fabled "Phoebe Snow," and was exhibited at the New York World's Fair in 1939-40., It is 59' 2" long, has 69" driving wheels, 20" x 26" cylinders, boiler pressure of 185 lbs and weighs 159,200 lbs in working order. IT came to the museum in 1953 and was cosmetically restored in 1999-2002. The Lackawanna used the imaginary "Phoebe Snow" to promote its image as a clean railroad starting in 1900., The image of this elegant woman getting off a train in the summertime with her white linen dress as clean as when she left home was powerful advertising., Many poems written in this ad campaign were similar to this early one: , Here is the maiden all in lawn, Who boarded the train one early morn , That runs on the Road of Anthracite, And when she left the train that night , She found, to her surprised delight, Hard coal had kept her dress still white..