INDEX to Boxcabs Pages:

Second, take a look at Mark Laundry's Yard Limit Diesel Switcher Spotter's and Reference Guide, a site about early diesel switchers, especially a 1994 paper by Benn Coifman on " The Evolution of the Diesel Locomotive in the United States", with an excellent history of the ALCo-GE-IR consortium (on which I have drawn), as well as McKeen, Westinghouse/Baldwin, Hamilton/EMC/EMD, and Pullman's efforts.]

I must credit and thank the late John F. Campbell for much of the latest information about LIRR #401(1) and #402(2); since Sep 00, he had had an extremely detailed and accurate site focusing exclusively on the earliest history of the ALCo-GE-IR (AGEIR) locos, his "ALCO / General Electric / Ingersoll-Rand (AGEIR) Diesel-Electric Locomotives" site.  I heartily recommend it to you!  John Campbell had since added a complete roster of all the ALCo-GE-IR boxcab locos built in the first production run, totalling 33 units, from 1925 to 1930, but not the later Bi- and Tri-Power or GE-IR units.

Some of what follows is duplicated deliberately from the original BOXCABS page.

The first production diesel locomotive, then called an "oil electric" locomotive, was one of four built for speculation; the first was fired up and ran in December 1923 and was released for demonstration in June 1924.  The first unit sold went to the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) in 1924.  It was built by a consortium of American Locomotive Company (ALCo), one of the world's largest steam locomotive manufacturers (itself an agglomeration of many smaller, but very significant, steam engine builders going back to the 1850s), the General Electric Company, already a well-recognized manufacturer of electric locomotives and components for electrics (and in co-operation with ALCo on these since the 1890s), and Ingersoll-Rand, a major builder of gasoline and diesel motors (and famed for its air compressors).  After the initial four were sold, another eleven were built.

Most of these early units were built for service in and around New York harbor's many "vest-pocket" marine terminal yards (CNJ, PRR, Erie, B&O, D&LW, etc.).  A few went to other harbor railroads and to major industries (Ford, IR, etc.) for in-house yard work.  The Long Island's first, #401, was a road switcher, built for mainline service!

That first engine, CNJ #1000, not only started the irresistible swing to dieselization, it also spawned a small family of boxcabs which the author finds fascinating.  Originally, they came in two sizes, both with virtually identical bodies and fittings, with slightly-rounded roofs and flat ends (looking very much like boxcars with windows - thus "boxcab"); 60-ton locos with a 300HP I-R oil engine, and 100-ton locos with two 300HP I-R oil engines.  The first units also were fitted with tube radiators mounted symmetrically at each end of the roof and curved to fit.

LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD #401

(Photo from TRAIN SHED CYCLOPEDIA #43)

LIRR 401                    CNJ 1000

Z-Scale (1:220) Drawings

(This is no longer just a drawing!
See Even More Z on Z-scale page 5.)

The World's First Production Diesel Road Switcher

Also the first diesel to haul a revenue train on a long-distance run

The late, belovèd Richie Harrison (see bibliography), LIRR engineman, said #401 was fondly called the "Stinkpot!"

[Photograph from Long Island Rail Road archives;
click on thumbnail image to bring up full 258Kb photograph.]

(refer to the beginning of this page and the preceding BOXCABS page
for information on predecessor units)

The above photo is from an LIRR publicity piece; it is reproduced in its entirety on LIRR cont. page 2.

Here she is on her maiden voyage, departing from GE's Erie, Pennsylvania, plant on December 15, 1925, at 07:15, with a riding coach and four of the five boxcars showing (the fifth boxcar and the caboose are, unfortunately, out of the field of view):

(Photograph from John F. Campbell Collection - reproduced by permission - all rights reserved)

Also, I now (19 Aug 2000) have my copy of the TRAIN SHED CYCLOPEDIA No. 43, "Diesel and Oil Electrics from Westinghouse (1930) and Ingersoll-Rand (1936)", with "Diesel Electric Locomotives in the United States, As Originated and Developed by Ingersoll-Rand, 11 Broadway, New York" {undated, but newest loco put in service as of Feb. 1936 with no service time as of publication, thus issued Feb. 1936} (40 pp.).  Page 54 therein shows #401 and lists both #401 and {second} #402 as 108 ton engines, placed in operation in February 1926 and September 1928, respectively.

I should mention here that predecessor Class AA-1 was that first-ever PRR electric experimental boxcab engine, "Phoebe", #10001, that proved out the concept of third-rail electrification for Penn Station and then worked the car floats under LIRR letterboards as LIRR #323 from May 1916 until sent for scrap in July 1937.

Louis Marre (1995, page 409, see Boxcabs Bibliography) claims that the Westinghouse CNR #9000 boxcab pair was "the first large road diesel in North America"; that may well be, if you discount road switchers, but LIRR #401 was certainly the first to run long-distance with a real train for revenue (albeit to avoid paying another road for the service), not merely as a demonstrator.

  Much of the foregoing (and following) detailed information about LIRR #401 is largely based on John Scala's Diesels of the Sunrise Trail, The Weekend Chief Publishing Company, Mineola, New York, 1984 (ISBN 0-9612814-0-5), plus information from Pinkepank (1967) and Marre (1995), plus that on John Campbell's site and in the author's files.

I have been trying for years to establish whether the strut or bar or plate which runs along the underside of each truck sideframe of several early 100-ton locomotives, and which is die-straight on the 60-ton locos, is bent only downward in the vertical plane or also, as I have long suspected, outward in the lateral plane.  John F. Campbell was kind enough to send me a detailed photo of the truck which tantalizes but does not really resolve the question:

(Photograph from John F. Campbell Collection - reproduced by permission - all rights reserved)

I note with interest, however, that the same bottom strap on LIRR #402 is bent downward the same as on #401 but does NOT have the outward "kinks" (bulges); it looks as if the strap is wider all the way across, front-to-rear.

(Photo from TRAIN SHED CYCLOPEDIA #43
probably taken under the Kearney, New Jersey, hill, near Manhattan Transfer.)

* - but see RRL #502, below.

This picture, courtesy of Don Ross (Don's Rail Photos), shows the transverse fans and the stack extensions quite clearly (thanks, Don):

(Photo from Dave Ross collection, by specific permission - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnail image - click on picture for larger image.]

Tracing 29138 - Class Drawing for AA-2 (#401)

Tracing 29138, apparently an LIRR drawing, not a PRR drawing) is the Class Drawing for Class AA-2 (consisting solely of the #401).  It is undated but clearly post-dates the Sep 1927 rebuilding at GE's Erie works because the stacks have been extended and the four original lateral fin-tube radiators have been replaced with two GE transverse-fan forced-draft radiators:

(Copy from LIRR Engineering Dept. ca. 1957; S. Berliner, III collection - all rights reserved)
[Thumbnail image - click on picture for a VERY larger (2Mb!) image.]

[Note that the LIRR used a hyphen in the class number, unlike the parent PRR.]

John Campbell speculated on the 100/102/108 ton ratings on his site and furnished me with these two photos of #402/2:

[Unprovenanced image (left) and Malcolm D. McCarter image (right),
both courtesy of J. F. Campbell - all rights reserved.
Thumbnail images - click on pictures for larger images.]

(photo of one 403 at PRR 4th Street Yard -
photo from Bill Russell's Penny Bridge)

The late Richie Harrison took a blurry picture at Morris Park of LIRR #403B, with #403A barely visible, with a box camera 'way back; Art Huneke was kind enough to furnish an undated print on 26 Aug 00 and allow it's reproduction here:

(undated R. Harrison photo of 403B at Morris Park -
photo from A. Huneke collection - all rights reserved)

  John Scala's "Diesels of the Sunrise Trail" (see Boxcabs Bibliography) has an uncaptioned later photo of #401 and one of #402 (first) in the Philly area on the PRR on page 22 and a photo of Ike and Mike at Morris Park on page 23 and one on page 140 of Ike or Mike (it's probably serial number 60186) still working away in July 1953 at Standard Slag Co's. Crystal Springs, Ohio, gravel pit.  John has a shot of #402 (second) on page 24 and also shows miniature electric boxcab #322 on page 6 and #323 "Phoebe", the first electric (when on the PRR) and #320 and #322:2 mini-electrics on page 7; on pages 8, 9, and 10, he pictures 0-C-0 electric boxcab #325 and DD1 boxcab electric pairs #358 and #352.

  Ron Ziel, in "Steel Rails to the Sunrise" (First Edition, 1965, see Boxcabs Bibliography) has a late shot of #401 (with the stack extenders) and one of one #403 unit at the Pennsy's North 4th Street yard in Brooklyn on page 211.

Now., also from Don Ross, by his special courtesy on 17 Jun 02, here is the #403-A at Iron & Steel Products Co., a Chicago area firm dealing in used railroad equipment, in 1947):

(J. Sheperd 21 Dec 79 LPC #1 photo courtesy of D. Ross - all rights reserved to source.)
[Thumbnail image; click on photo for larger image.]

In fairness to Brill, it should be noted that they rebuilt first 402 and sold it to the GT&W where it served long and well (see the Other Boxcabs page for details and photos).

That #402/2, the second 100-tonner, was almost identical to Red River Lumber Co. #502, which, until 17 Apr 00, I could not picture here; thanks to Jim Bryant of Nevada Rails, here is RRL #502:

Photos courtesy of James B. Bryant

Although no dates or locations are given, Jim writes that, "the fellow in the door of the {right} photo is from the steel company, which is buying the No. 502".  Well, we know from Marre that she became Armco #E103; now all I have to do is find out when.

Note that #502 has clearly rounded ends, also, as does the sole surviving 100-tonner, Foley Bros. #110-1, but those on LIRR #402 are far less pronouncedly rounded.

As my boxcab coverage grows and pages overload, I create newer, more specialized ones; see my Boxcabs page 6 - RRLCo #502 for more on the 100/108-ton double-motored units.

On 15 Mar 98, I was told this engaging story about #401.  It seems that when she was brand new, the I-R rep came in to the Morris Park roundhouse one evening and told the Foreman, Leslie Dettling, that he was through and wanted her out on the road in the morning for a final shakedown.  No problem!  Although Dettling hated the new-fangled contraption (and eventually quit rather than put up with the stinkpots), he oiled around, topped up water and sand, and went to top up the fuel tank.  Well, this meant yanking up one of two access plates above the fuel (distillate or oil) storage tank, inserting a suction pump supply pipe, and sucking up the fuel and pumping it into Stinkpot's tank.  Well, it seems that the LIRR geniuses put the storage tank right down in a sewer, where the sewer water would keep the oil cool.  When the I-R rep turned up in the morning, Stinkpot wouldn't start.  After much vain cranking and probably a lot of cussin', the manuals were consulted, to no avail.  You guessed?  No fair!  Yup; the access plate was the one to the sewer, not the supply tank, and #401 was tanked up with sewage for her last run before entering LIRR revenue service!  "STINKPOT", indeed!

LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD INFORMATION BULLETIN - Art Huneke, noted LIRR historian and ephemera collector sent me copies of the LONG ISLAND RAILROAD BULLETIN {note the misspelling of "Rail Road"}, Vol. IV, No. 4, of Jan. 1926, covering introduction of the #401, and Vol. V, No. 6, of July-August 1928, covering introduction of the #403; this coverage has been moved to #401 continuation page 1.

BOXCAB MODELING NOTES -   Moved to the Boxcabs Models page, "Notes", 24 Feb 2000.

BOXCAB DIMENSIONS: -

  Moved to the Boxcabs Models page, "Dimensions", 24 Feb 2000.

EPILOGUE to #401

Freudenreich Feinwerktechnik {new URL Dec 2001} makes a fabulous 60-ton Boxcab model, with and without end doors, in Z (1:220) scale (with a flywheel, no less!); see my Freudenreich Z Scale Page.  If we could have gotten about 5 or 6 people together, he'd have made a stretched, early 100-ton version (with correct window spacing and roof detail); as it was, I had to get a custom, one-off chassis and body for myself for a microscopic #401 (see Boxcabs).  [There is a second chassis and body available!]  Now, about #402 - - - !  Not to mention B-W #403A/B - - - !  All are in work as of 15 Jan 2003.

For more on the only surviving 100-ton (nominal - actually 108-ton) oil-electric boxcab, Foley Bros. #110-1, now preserved at the Feather River Rail Society's Portola museum, click here.

William E. Miller, historian of the Electric Lines in Southern Ontario, ends his e-mail messages a with a great keyboard graphic (see the bottom of my Electric Boxcabs Continuation Page; I have taken the liberty of doctoring it to make a vague representation of #401:

___  ___  ___ _________ ___  ___  ___
__||||||||||_|_|_|_______|_|_|_||||||||||__
|_\___________________=___________________/_|
||_|      |_|       =      |_|  [_] |_| |
|401          LONG  = ISLAND    | |     |
[===============================|=|=====]
_|(O)\\=//(O)     |_|_|_|  |_|(O)\\=//(O)|_
===============================================