NYS&W Alco S-2 #206

NYS&W Alco S-2 #206 - Page 1

Photos of the Restoration of Original NYS&W Alco S-2 #206

In October 2008, the Maywood Station Historical Committee acquired original New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad ALCO S-2 #206, which was donated by the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey and formerly in their collection. On October 14, 2008, the historic locomotive was moved into Maywood Station by the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway. The locomotive is on display at the Maywood Station Museum and has been cosmetically restored by the members of the Maywood Station Historical Committee.

The diesel-electric locomotive was built in March 1942 for the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad (NYS&W) by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in Schenectady, New York. The locomotive was multiple-unit equipped with a 1000 horsepower Seymour-McIntosh 539 engine producing a maximum tractive effort of 72,400 pounds while riding on ALCO B-B Blunt-style trucks. When built, NYS&W S-2 #206 weighed 230,000 pounds and was built as ALCO serial number 69664.

NYS&W S-2 #206 is the sole survivor of a class of (6) original ALCO S-2's that were owned by the NYS&W. All of the NYS&W S-2's were built between December 1941 and April 1942 and were numbered 202, 203, 204, 205, 206 and 208. As was NYS&W numbering practice for diesel-electric locomotives, those with even numbers (202, 204, 206 and 208) were multiple-unit equipped and could operate in tandem with other locomotives while those with odd numbers (203 and 205) did not have this feature and were restricted to operating alone as a single unit. All of the NYS&W S-2's were originally purchased for use in yard and local freight switching but the multiple-unit equipped ones could also be found occasionally in road freight service teamed with the NYS&W fleet of ALCO RS-1 road switchers.

NYS&W S-2 #206 had a long career on the NYS&W, which spanned 44 years from 1942 until it was retired in 1986. The locomotive was based out of the Little Ferry, New Jersey yard and earlier in its life, could often be found working locations between Jersey City, New Jersey and Paterson, New Jersey including the Lodi Branch, Passaic Branch and Edgewater yard. While on assignment, NYS&W S-2 #206 was a frequent visitor passing Maywood Station as well as working the local industries in Maywood, New Jersey. However, by the late 1970's, NYS&W 206 had been basically relegated to the role of Little Ferry shop switcher and very rarely strayed far from the yard limits.

NYS&W S-2 #206 wore three paint schemes during its career on the NYS&W - the original, as-delivered 1942 scheme of maroon and grey body with black underframe; the 1950's scheme of aluminum body with maroon stripe and black underframe; and the 1960's scheme of aluminum body and black underframe.

In early 1985, NYS&W S-2 #206 was rebuilt by the NYS&W, and through the efforts of the Bergen-Rockland Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, it was repainted into its original, as-delivered NYS&W paint scheme of maroon and gray body with black underframe. In the spring of 1985, the NYS&W acquired a portion of former Lehigh & Hudson River Railway trackage between Sparta, New Jersey and Warwick, New York and NYS&W S-2 #206 was moved there to handle local freight customers on the line. Later in the spring of 1985, NYS&W S-2 #206 suffered an engine failure and was sidelined. In 1986, the NYS&W officially retired NYS&W S-2 #206 and in 1988, it was used as a trade-in credit for the NYS&W's new order of (4) B40-8 locomotives placed with General Electric. In 1989, General Electric donated NYS&W S-2 #206 to the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey (URHS) for eventual inclusion in a planned State of New Jersey Transportation Museum. In the early 1990's, the URHS occasionally moved NYS&W S-2 #206 to several railroad related events and it was probably best known for its yearly appearances each September at the Hoboken Festival in Hoboken, New Jersey. In the late 1990's, the URHS placed NYS&W S-2 #206 into storage in an unused yard at the Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) generating station in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey where it resided in anonymity out of public view in the hopes that a State of New Jersey Transportation Museum would materialize.

In the summer of 2006, the Maywood Station Historical Committee approached the URHS about the possibility of giving NYS&W S-2 #206 a new life as part of the Maywood Station Museum, which the URHS embraced. In October 2006, MSHC members conducted their first work session at the PSE&G yard by performing brush cutting and securing NYS&W S-2 #206. During 2007, work was also conducted by the MSHC, URHS and other interested parties on NYS&W S-2 #206 as well other URHS equipment in the yard for an eventual equipment move to the URHS Boonton, NJ storage yard. On July 26, 2008, the URHS equipment move was made out of the PSE&G storage yard in Ridgefield Park via CSX onto the NYS&W. Once the move arrived onto the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway, NYS&W S-2 #206 was cut away from the rest of the consist while the remainder of the move continued to Boonton, NJ via the NYS&W and New Jersey Transit. On October 14, 2008, the NYS&W moved NYS&W S-2 #206 to Maywood Station and restoration work by the MSHC began and continued through 2009.

As in the past, like our station restoration, museum and Caboose #24542, the restoration of NYS&W S-2 #206 had no taxpayer ramifications for residents of the Borough of Maywood. NYS&W S-2 #206 was restored as a complete volunteer project by the MSHC without any Borough of Maywood funds.

On September 10, 2009, NYS&W S-2 #206 was placed on the State of New Jersey Register of Historical Places joining the locomotive with Maywood Station, which was previously placed on the register on February 18, 2003. Maywood Station was also placed on the National Register of Historical Places on May 29, 2003. NYS&W S-2 #206 will now be placed before the National Review Board for consideration onto the National Register of Historical Places. A decision is expected in early 2010.

The MSHC wish to thank Nathan Fenno, Jim Howarth, Tom Charette, Bill Bloomfield, Frank Eichenlaub, Jim Thomas and members of the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway train and track crews for their assistance in moving NYS&W S-2 #206 to Maywood Station. The MSHC also thank the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey; Conrail Shared Assets; and CSX Transportation. Special thanks to Steve West of American Railcar Industries, Tennille, GA; Mike Barbato of Hempel Coatings; and Ricciardi Brothers Paints of Saddle Brook, NJ for their donations of the paint used in the restoration of NYS&W #206.

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

Maywood Station™ is a Trademark of the Maywood Station Historical Committee.

Fair use of copyrighted material is limited and includes only the use of protected materials for noncommercial educational purposes, such as teaching, scholarship, research, criticism, commentary, and news reporting. Users who wish to download or print text and image files from this website for such above uses are welcome to do so without the Maywood Station Historical Committee's express permission. Users must credit both the author and the source of this material as they would material from any printed work; the credit must include the URL "http://www.maywoodstation.com" By downloading, printing, or otherwise using text and image files from this website, users agree that they will limit their use of such files to fair use, and will not violate the copyright laws of the Maywood Station Historical Committee or any other party's proprietary rights.

Commercial use is restricted. Unauthorized commercial publication or exploitation of the Maywood Station Historical Committee's files is specifically prohibited. Anyone wishing to use any of these files or images for commercial use, publication, or any purpose other than fair use as defined by law, must request and receive prior written permission from the Maywood Station Historical Committee. Permission for such use is granted on a case by case basis at the sole discretion of the Maywood Station Historical Committee. A usage fee may be involved depending on the type and nature of the proposed use. Contact Us for more details.