Ex-B&A Hudsons running their last miles on the Harlem

It's well documented in Grogan's excellent Harlem book that the J-2 (Boston & Albany) Hudsons --- or some of them, anyway --- ran out their last miles on The Harlem. If the photos of these on The Harlem are correctly dated, it appears that a) they began showing up in the summer of 1948; and b) lasted in that service right up to the last day of steam operation in September 1952.

It also appears that they were renumbered from their 600-series B&A numbers to something in the 54xx series --- I guess beginning where the J-3 number series ended (Note: Grogan's book has some photos of them on the Harlem still in their Boston & Albany lettering and numbers).

And it also appears that they didn't all move to the Harlem at once, and maybe some of the class never moved at all. I say this because I have seen photos of them in service on the B&A dated as late as 1950 (and again, I make the assumption the photos are dated accurately).

Now --- all that said, can anybody tell me: What J-2s went to the Harlem? When? Of those that made the move what was the number of each before and after? I assume some reader of this forum has records of that kind of thing.

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Personal aside: I'm interested in these details because my only, ever, encounter with steam in regular service was on The Harlem. I grew up just over the state line in Danbury, CT, which the New Haven had fully dieselized when I was about a year and a half old. When I was about kindergarten age, my dad (not a railfan, just a first-rate father), hearing that The Harlem was still in steam a mere 12 miles away, and noticing my great (yeah, even at age 5!) interest in railroads, took me over there one day to see steam. Don't ask me if I saw a J-2 but I certainly might have . . .

The BxA Hudsons 600-619 were renumbered 5455-5474 in 1951.

I believe that the J-2's were taken into a NYC system pool for Lines East, and were used to replace K-3's and K-11's as those were retired. Individual locomotives were moved as necessary between the Harlem, B&A, and River Divisions, and were maintained at Rensselaer, Selkirk and West Albany. So no particular engines were assigned to the Harlem - they could be anywhere in that pool. Some were used in freight service on the River Division on occasion, and probably elsewhere.

I rode behind a J-2 on No. 14 from Millerton to North White Plains in August, 1951. I didn't get the number, but I'm fairly sure it had four digits.

Thanks to you folks who have replied to my question on this. Since I'm on a roll, here's another one:

A good look at the huge number of photos, and the dates on those photos, in Lou Grogan's book shows virtually none that have steam powered and diesel powered passenger trains sharing the railroad simultaneously. That suggests to me that the changeover may have occurred over a very short period in the summer of 1952 (Ironic note: it's well known and well documented in photos that the last steam run occurred on the now-infamous date of Sept. 11).

However, on my numerous rides on the Harlem in the 60s I observed that the fleet of RS-3s in use there had builder's plates dated something like July 1951. That suggests to me there might have been as much as a year-long changeover period.

As I was only 6-7 years old when all this was happening, can somebody enlighten me on this?

Another note: the above does not apply to the "Rut Milk" freights which evidently were diesel powered in 1948.

Tom -

The RS-3's you saw on the Harlem in the 1960's were not necessarily the same units that were the first diesels on that line. By then, the NYC had spread the 8200's and 8300's all over the east.

The first 8200's (RS-2's) were delivered in 1948, at the same time the 8100's (RS-1's) were displacing the former U&D Fx class 4-6-0's at Kingston. That was before most of the Harlem passenger service was dieselized. I think, though not from recollection, that they were first assigned to the B&A and the River Division.

I don't have good info on just which diesel power replaced which steam power on which Harlem trains, but after a NYC line was dieselized, the power could have come from just about anywhere. The 8100's only stayed around Kingston for about six years (1954 or so), when they were moved to the Rochester area. The 5800's from Lima that dieselized the Put only stayed there for less than two years before they were moved elsewhere.

I see --- so the Harlem didn't have the same fleet of RS-3's all through the 50s and 60.

Now . . . back to my first question: "A good look at the huge number of photos, and the dates on those photos, in Lou Grogan's book shows virtually none that have steam powered and diesel powered passenger trains sharing the railroad simultaneously. That suggests to me that the changeover may have occurred over a very short period in the summer of 1952." Or, were the RS-3's phased in over a longer time? My question, for whoever was following the Harlem then, and remembers --- which was it?