LIRR 4-4-0 208

I just got back my MP Nscale 4-4-0 as LIRR #208. Number board is round(no #!) Did prototype have round or Pennsy keystone #board? Did it change in it's sevice life? Can anyone direct Me to some photos?

If this 4-4-0 was a camel back locomotive then it had a round # plate if it were a PRR locomotive from Juniata then it could have had either a round or a keystone plate

208 was a class D-16b. I can't remember exact build date but it was late 1800's and predated PRR ownership. correct plate is round.

Should be a round number plate. Pennsy did not start puting Keystones on until about 1938.

#208 (4-4-0) was a D16b, later superheated, starting in 1914 and re-classed D16sb.

It was built by the Pennsy's Juniata Shops in 1905-06 (I don't have my roster in front of me at the moment, but it was NOT prior to 1905.)

The number plates were round, as were ALL Pennsy number plates at that time.

Keystone number plates came later, and were only used on passenger locomotives. Photos of Pennsy engines in the 1940s showed round plates on their freight engines.

The LIRR adopted the Pennsy-style Keystone number plates on their passsenger locomotives starting in the Fall of 1942.

The D16's were all retired by 1931.

Here's a distant shot of one westbound at Patchogue around 1908. The round number plate is visible (but no "PD" tower yet):


And here's a closeup of #201's plate, visible behind the LIRR's Trainmen's Trio taken at Morris Park Shops in 1924:


Dave Keller

P.S. The D16's did NOT pre-date Pennsy ownership of the LIRR as that occurred in 1900.

There were even leased Pennsy D16's running on the LIRR in the early years!

Dave Keller