Niagara: The Steam Engine That Almost Beat the Diesel

A STEAM LOCOMOTIVE THAT MADE DIESEL SALESMEN NERVOUS A coal-fired locomotive built at the very end of the steam age ran so many miles, so fast, that it came close to matching the best diesel in the country. New York Central's Niagara was designed around one thing: a schedule on the Water Level Route between New York and Chicago, roughly 928 miles of flat, fast railroad. This documentary breaks down the engineering behind it: a boiler a hundred inches wide fitted into a fifteen-foot loading gauge, roller bearings and a trailing truck that let it run twenty-six thousand miles a month, and track pans and scoop-equipped tenders that kept it moving without stopping for water. We also look at Paul Kiefer's 1946 road trial against EMD's E7 diesels, and why the Niagara still lost the war within a decade. IN THIS VIDEO The Water Level Route and the job the Niagara was built for A 100-inch boiler shaped to fit the railroad Roller bearings, the trailing truck and 26,000 miles a month Track pans and scoop tenders: drinking water at speed Kiefer's 1946 road trial against the EMD E7 Why the Niagara lost to the diesel anyway CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 1:11 The Railroad's Need 3:08 A Boiler That Fits 4:52 Wheels and Bearings 6:30 Showing Up Daily 10:24 Coal, Water, Hot Men 10:52 Decline and Scrapping Which steam locomotive do you think came closest to beating the diesel? Tell us in the comments. Subscribe for more railroad engineering explained. #Niagara #NewYorkCentral #SteamLocomotive #SteamVsDiesel #SteamTrain #Locomotive #RailroadEngineering #RailroadHistory #Trains #Engineering