Treasures at the MOT - July 2008
By Fred Blank

#952        Delaware, Lackawanna & Western           1905

This locomotive, a 1905 product of the American Locomotive Company (ALCO), is the only surviving "Mother Hubbard" (or "camelback") 4-4-0 type locomotive. Its wide "Wooten" firebox burned hard anthracite coal and necessitated the cab's location on top of the boiler. Number 952 was exhibited at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair and was transported to MOT as part of a freight train in 1953. The camelback was a darling of the DL&W's public relations department, having been chosen to open the Lackawanna Cut-Off (between Scranton, PA and Hoboken, NJ) in 1911. It was also featured in the railroad's Phoebe Snow passenger train advertising campaign, which incorporated the image of a woman clad in white to espouse the cleanliness of anthracite coal.

Did You Realize: Peter Cooper, manufacturer of the first steam-powered locomotive in America, invented Jell-O?

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