Central Railroad of New Jersey 113

Central Railroad of New Jersey 113
CNJ 113 at Minersville, Pennsylvania in June 2021
Type and origin Power type Steam Builder American Locomotive Company Serial number 64384 Build date June 1923
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 0-6-0 Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Driver dia. 51 in (1.295 m) Loco weight 197,000 lb (89,000 kg; 89 t) Tender weight 139,300 lb (63,200 kg; 63.2 t) Total weight 336,300 lb (152,500 kg; 152.5 t) Fuel type Anthracite coal Boiler 76.5 in (1.94 m) diameter Boiler pressure 200 psi (1.38 MPa) Cylinders 2 Cylinder size 23 in × 26 in (584 mm × 660 mm) Valve gear Baker
Performance figures Tractive effort 45,847 lbf (203.9 kN)
Career Operators Central Railroad of New Jersey Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company The Railway Restoration Project 113 Organization Class B-7 Number in class 3rd of 5 total Numbers CNJ 113 Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co. 113 Retired 1951 (1st retirement) January 1960 (2nd retirement) Restored 1953 (1st restoration) November 23, 2012 (2nd restoration) Current owner The Railway Restoration Project 113 Organization Disposition Operational
References:

Central Railroad of New Jersey No. 113, also known as CNJ No. 113, is a B-7 class 0-6-0 "Switcher" type steam locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) for the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The locomotive was designed solely for yard service and could only operate at slow speeds due to the locomotive not having any leading or trailing wheels, but only six driving wheels (thus the 0-6-0 wheel arrangement). No. 113 currently performs passenger excursion services and some freight assignments on Reading Blue Mountain & Northern operated tracks. It is owned and operated by the Railway Restoration Project 113 Organization out of Minersville, PA.

History

Revenue service

No. 113 was built in June 1923 by the American Locomotive Company. It was one of five B-7 type switchers built for the Central Railroad of New Jersey, numbers 111–115. These locomotives were designed to operate on the Anthracite Roads of Pennsylvania, so instead of having regular fireboxes, they had Wootten fireboxes which allowed them to burn anthracite coal. Since these locomotives were designed with a 0-6-0 wheel arrangement, their only effective use was to be operated as switchers since they did not ride smoothly and rarely got past 15 miles per hour. No. 113 along with its counterparts operated in the CNJ's freight yards for almost three decades. In 1945, the railroad had changed their class to 6S46 (6-wheeled Switcher, 46,000 pounds tractive effort). By 1951, locomotives 111-115 were placed out of service in favor of the new diesel locomotives.

Change in ownership

Around 1953, the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company, now the Reading Anthracite Co., bought No. 113 and used the engine at a colliery in Locust Summit outside Ashland, Pennsylvania until it was last used in January 1960 when it was retired from revenue service. It became the last CNJ steam engine to be steamed up. No. 113 also ran a few fan trips with CNJ No. 774 in 1954, but 774 was soon scrapped. No. 113 was then stored outside at Locust Summit for many years and as a result, suffered a massive amount of deterioration and there were even some trees growing around the locomotive. The Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company eventually decided to donate No. 113 to the Historic Red Clay Valley Inc. (located in Wilmington, Delaware) in 1980. In June 1986, the locomotive was purchased by Robert E. Kimmel Sr. and was later moved to Minersville in February 1991.

Restoration

Work to restore the locomotive to operating condition began in 1999 and it took more than ten years for it to fully be operational again. The total cost to restore the engine was more than $600,000 and had countless hours of volunteer labor. No. 113 was also restored with minimal protection from the elements and no heavy machinery. Many of the parts on the locomotive had long been missing before the restoration had even started. As a result, many of the parts had to be made from scratch since there had not been any commercial builders that produced parts for steam locomotives in decades. One example is how the volunteers had to make a wooden cast of the original three-chime whistle by measuring an original CNJ whistle which was available to them. Some additional work on the engine included replacing the original tender, a new one was fabricated by Oaks Welding in Buck Run, Pennsylvania. The engine was finally fired up after more than five decades of inactivity on November 23, 2012. The Railway Restoration Project 113 Organization conducted a test-run on the same day with the engine also doing some more test-runs in 2013 and 2014.

Excursion service

After the conclusion of test runs for the engine from late 2012 to mid-2013, the locomotive began operating on some passenger excursions in late 2013 with Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad No. 425. CNJ No. 113 continued to run more excursions by itself and with RBM&N No. 425 during the 2014 season. Every year since then, the No. 113 has been hauling excursions across the RBM&NR's lines in cooperation with the railroad. For the excursions, the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad provides passenger cars and occasionally some helper locomotives to Railway Restoration Project 113 in order for the excursions to occur. Currently, No. 113 operates out of Minersville, PA, at the Minersville Train Depot, hauling multiple excursions each year.

CNJ 113 is one of only two CNJ steam locomotives still in existence and the only one that is still operational. Their only other surviving steam locomotive is CNJ No. 592, which currently resides on static display at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum.

See also

• Central Railroad of New Jersey

External links

• Railway Restoration Project 113's Homepage
• Railroad Pictures Archive: CNJ 113
• CNJ No. 592 Archived 2018-12-29 at the Wayback Machine