Maine Central 470
preserved MEC class C locomotive
Maine Central 470 is a 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in May 1924 for the Maine Central Railroad (MEC). Currently owned by the New England Steam Corporation, it is being restored to operating condition at Washington Junction in Hancock, Maine.
History
Revenue service and retirement
In the early 1920s, passenger traffic was rising on the Maine Central Railroad (MEC), particularly for stops between Boston, Massachusetts, and Bangor, Maine, and so the railroad was buying larger and more powerful engines to boost capacity and speed. Among them was the American Locomotive Company's popular 4-6-2s, which ALCO vigorously promoted to the railroads, especially in the passenger-dense East Coast.
In May 1924, ALCO's plant in Schenectady, New York, produced the locomotive designated as builder's number 65555. MEC bought the locomotive for $62,296.90 (the equivalent of ±$839,000 in present-day U.S. dollars) and numbered it 470. Delivery was expected during the summer of 1924.
During its 30 years of service, No. 470 pulled named passenger trains including The Gull, the Bar Harbor Express, and the Kennebec Limited.
The engine was the last steam locomotive to be operated by Maine Central Railroad.
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This entry incorporates text from “Maine Central 470” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.