Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works explained

Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works
Industry:rail transport
Fate:merged
Successor:ALCO
Founded:as Danforth, Cooke, and Company in 1852
Founders:John Cooke, Charles Danforth, John Edwards, and Edwin T. Prall
Defunct:1901
Hq Location City:Paterson, New Jersey
Hq Location Country:United States
Areas Served:-->
Products:steam locomotives and rolling stock, cotton machinery[1]
Owners:-->

The Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works, located in Paterson, New Jersey, manufactured steam railroad locomotives from 1852 until it was merged with seven other manufacturers to form American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1901.

History

The firm was established in 1852 by former Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works superintendent (and son-in-law of William Swinburne of Swinburne, Smith and Company) John Cooke and former Montreal resident Charles Danforth as the Danforth, Cooke, and Company, as a manufacturer of steam locomotives as well as cotton machinery.[2] The company was renamed Danforth Locomotive and Machine Company in 1865, with Danforth serving as president until 1871, four years before his death in 1875. Cooke succeeded Danforth as president in 1871, continuing in such capacity until his own death in 1882, after which Cooke's sons, John, Frederick, and Charles reorganized the firm as the Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works, and continued operating the company as such until the merger in 1901.In 1901, Cooke and several other locomotive manufacturers merged to form the American Locomotive Company; Cooke's plant becomes the Alco-Cooke Works, and locomotive production continued at the plant until 1926. Approximately 2600 locomotives were built by Cooke from 1852 to 1901,[3] among the most notable engines produced by the firm are the C. P. Huntington, and the Western & Atlantic Railroad "Texas".

Exports

In addition to providing motive power for North American railroads, Cooke has also produced many locomotives for Central and South America as well as other parts of the world. Examples of exported locomotives include two 0-8-2 tank locomotives for the Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company, South Wales, in 1899, as well as Barry Railway's five class K 0-6-2T locomotives the same year. The firm also produced 2-6-2T locomotives for the War Department Light Railways to be used in France during World War I, preserved examples of which can be found on the Froissy Dompierre Light Railway and Ffestiniog Railway.

Preserved Cooke locomotives

The following is a list of preserved locomotives built by Cooke before the ALCO merger in 1901. They are listed here in serial number order.[4]

Serial numberWheel arrangement
(Whyte notation)
Build dateNameDisposition
unknown4-4-0October 1856Western and Atlantic Railroad 49 TexasAtlanta History Center, Atlanta, Georgia
2774-2-4TOctober 1863Central Pacific Railroad #3 C. P. Huntington, Southern Pacific Railroad 1California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento, California[5]
15552-6-0February 1884Colorado and Southern Railway 9Highline Park, Breckinridge, Colorado
18614-4-0February 1888Dardanelle and Russelville 8Nevada State Railroad Museum, Carson City, Nevada
20534-6-0October, 1890Union Pacific Railroad 1242Lion's Park, Cheyenne, Wyoming
20544-6-0October, 1890Union Pacific Railroad 1243Durham Western Heritage Museum, Omaha, Nebraska
21974-6-0April 1892Texas and New Orleans Railroad 314Center for Transportation and Commerce, Galveston, Texas
22024-6-0April 1892Texas and New Orleans Railroad 319Riverdale, Georgia
23414-6-0July 1896Southern Pacific Railroad 2248Grapevine Vintage Railroad, Grapevine, Texas
23604-6-0March 1897Southern Pacific Railroad 2252Overlooking the Union Pacific classification yard, Roseville, California[6]
24084-6-0October 1898Missouri Pacific Railroad 2522Paris City Park, Paris, Arkansas

In addition to the above locomotives, the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad WP&YR owns and maintains a steam-powered snowplow built by Cooke in 1899. This unit is on static display in Skagway, Alaska (see Rotary snowplow for a photo).

The following is a list of preserved locomotives built at the Cooke factory after the ALCO merger.

!Serial number!Wheel arrangement
(Whyte notation)!Build date!Name!Disposition
286862-8-0September 1903Illinois Central 790Steamtown National Historic Site, Scranton, Pennsylvania
558472-6-0 May 1916Waynesburg & Washington 4Greene County Historical Museum, Waynesburg, Pennsylvania
579782-10-2January 1918Southern Pacific 975Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois
626242-8-0November 1920Arcade and Attica 18Arcade and Attica Railroad, Attica, New York

References

Notes and References

  1. Trumbull, L R. A History of Industrial Paterson : Being a Compendium of the Establishment, Growth and Present Status in Paterson, N.J., of the Silk, Cotton, Flax, Locomotive, Iron and Miscellaneous Industries : Together with Outlines of State, County and Local History, Corporate Records, Biographical Sketches, Incidents of Manufacture, Interesting Facts and Valuable Statistics. Salem, Mass., Higginson Book Co, 2016.‌
  2. Trumbull, L R. A History of Industrial Paterson : Being a Compendium of the Establishment, Growth and Present Status in Paterson, N.J., of the Silk, Cotton, Flax, Locomotive, Iron and Miscellaneous Industries : Together with Outlines of State, County and Local History, Corporate Records, Biographical Sketches, Incidents of Manufacture, Interesting Facts and Valuable Statistics. Salem, Mass., Higginson Book Co, 2016.
  3. Lucas, W. A. “Locomotive Builders of Paterson.” The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin, no. 11, 1926, pp. 22–30. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43516818. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.
  4. Web site: Sunshine Software. Steam Locomotive Information. October 30, 2005.
  5. Book: Diebert, Timothy S. . Strapac, Joseph A.. Southern Pacific Company Steam Locomotive Conpendium. Shade Tree Books. 1987. 0-930742-12-5.
  6. Web site: Rocklin and Roseville Today. August 5, 2005. Mighty 2252 Relocation Complete. August 5, 2005.