The Boston & Albany Railroad used 2-6-6T and 4-6-6T double-ended locomotives in commuter service between South Station in Boston and the city’s western suburbs. Commuter trains ran a circuit - outbound along the railroad’s main line 12.25 miles to Riverside (in Newton, MA) and inbound on its Highland branch. They also ran the circuit in the opposite direction. These double-ended suburban type locomotives operated equally well in both forward and reverse, and therefore it was unnecessary to turn them when they completed a circuit. After the B&A terminated suburban passenger service, the Highland branch was purchased by the Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1958 and the branch was reopened as the MTA Riverside Line with light-rail electric cars in 1959.
The 2-6-6T locomotives were built by ALCO Schenectady in 1906 and ’07. Five 4-6-6Ts (Class D - #400 to #404) were built by ALCO in 1928 and remained in Boston commuter service until 1951. They ran on 63-inch driving wheels, weighed 352,000 pounds and produced 41,600 pounds of tractive force at 215 pounds-per-square-inch boiler pressure. They were designed for rapid acceleration and could pull up to 20 passenger cars.
The O gauge models of the 4-6-6Ts were first produced by K-Line and more recently by Lionel – from the same tooling. My model of D-1a #400 (Lionel SKU 2031010) was offered in 2020 at an MSRP of $1099.99. The photos and videos show it in operation on my 12’-by-8’ model railroad. I believe that the 4-6-6T locomotives hauled steel passenger cars when they began service. In later years they pulled New York Central round-roofed passenger cars. Since I don’t own the correct passenger cars for this engine, I run MTH Premier unlettered wood-sided passenger coaches behind this locomotive.
MELGAR
