1877 ad Paterson NJ Poors Manual of Railroads

The Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works, located in

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

s from 1852 until it was merged with seven other manufacturers to form

American Locomotive Company The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer that operated from 1901 to 1969, initially specializing in the production of locomotives but later diversifying and fabricating at various time ...

(ALCO) in 1901.

History

The firm was established in 1852 by former

Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works was a manufacturer of railroad steam locomotives based in Paterson, New Jersey, Paterson, in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, New Jersey, in the United States. Between its founding in 1832 and its acq ...

superintendent (and son-in-law of William Swinburne of

Swinburne, Smith and Company Swinburne, Smith and Company was an American railroad locomotive manufacturing company of the mid-19th century. The company was founded in 1845, in Paterson, New Jersey, by a partnership between William Swinburne (locomotive builder), William Swinb ...

) John Cooke and former

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

resident Charles Danforth as the Danforth, Cooke, and Company, as a manufacturer of steam locomotives as well as cotton machinery.Trumbull, L R. A History of Industrial Paterson : Being a Compendium of the Establishment, Growth and Present Status in Paterson, N.J., of the Silk, Cotton, Flax, Locomotive, Iron and Miscellaneous Industries : Together with Outlines of State, County and Local History, Corporate Records, Biographical Sketches, Incidents of Manufacture, Interesting Facts and Valuable Statistics. Salem, Mass., Higginson Book Co, 2016. The company was renamed Danforth Locomotive and Machine Company in 1865, with Danforth serving as president until 1871, four years before his death in 1875. Cooke succeeded Danforth as president in 1871, continuing in such capacity until his own death in 1882, after which Cooke's sons, John, Frederick, and Charles reorganized the firm as the Cooke Locomotive and Machine Works, and continued operating the company as such until the merger in 1901. In 1901, Cooke and several other locomotive manufacturers merged to form the

; Cooke's plant becomes the Alco-Cooke Works, and locomotive production continued at the plant until 1926. Approximately 2600 locomotives were built by Cooke from 1852 to 1901, among the most notable engines produced by the firm are the

C. P. Huntington ''C. P. Huntington'' is a 4-2-4T steam locomotive on static display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California, USA. It is the first locomotive purchased by the Southern Pacific Railroad, carrying that railroad's number ...

, and the Western & Atlantic Railroad "Texas".

Exports

In addition to providing motive power for North American railroads, Cooke has also produced many locomotives for Central and South America as well as other parts of the world. Examples of exported locomotives include two 0-8-2 tank locomotives for the

Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company The Port Talbot Railway and Docks Company (PTR&D) was formed in 1894 to secure the means of bringing minerals, chiefly coal, to the harbour in South Wales. It took over the docks at Port Talbot that had been operated by the Port Talbot Company. ...

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

, in 1899, as well as

Barry Railway The Barry Railway Company was a railway and docks company in South Wales, first incorporated as the ''Barry Dock and Railway Company'' in 1884. It arose out of frustration among Rhondda coal owners at congestion and high charges at Cardiff Doc ...

's five class K

0-6-2T T, or t, is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is d ...

locomotives the same year. The firm also produced

2-6-2T T, or t, is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is d ...

locomotives for the

War Department Light Railways The War Department Light Railways were a system of narrow gauge trench railways run by the British War Department in World War I. Light railways made an important contribution to the Allied war effort in the First World War, and were used for t ...

to be used in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, preserved examples of which can be found on the

Froissy Dompierre Light Railway The Froissy Dompierre Light Railway (, CFCD) is a Narrow gauge railway, narrow gauge light railway running from Froissy (La Neuville-lès-Bray), Froissy (a hamlet of La Neuville-lès-Bray) to Dompierre-Becquincourt, through Cappy, Somme, Cappy ...

and

Ffestiniog Railway The Ffestiniog Railway () is a heritage railway based on Narrow-gauge railway, narrow-gauge, located in Gwynedd, Wales. It is a major tourist attraction located mainly within the Snowdonia#Snowdonia National Park, Snowdonia National Park. The ...

Preserved Cooke locomotives

The following is a list of preserved locomotives built by Cooke before the ALCO merger in 1901. They are listed here in serial number order. In addition to the above locomotives, the White Pass and Yukon Route railroad WP&YR owns and maintains a steam-powered snowplow built by Cooke in 1899. This unit is on static display in Skagway, Alaska (see

Rotary snowplow A rotary snowplow (American English) or rotary snowplough is a piece of Rail transport, railroad snow removal equipment with a large circular set of blades on its front end that rotate to cut through the snow on the track ahead of it. It was devel ...

for a photo). The following is a list of preserved locomotives built at the Cooke factory after the ALCO merger.

References

External links

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Steam Locomotive Builders

Steam locomotive preservation information
Defunct locomotive manufacturers of the United States History of Paterson, New Jersey Economy of Paterson, New Jersey Transportation in Paterson, New Jersey Historic American Engineering Record in New Jersey Industrial buildings and structures in New Jersey Companies based in Passaic County, New Jersey {{US-train-stub