This 0-6-0 was built at Alco’s Brooks Works in Dunkirk, NY, for the Boston & Maine Railroad in 1916. Although built in the city,
it apparently never worked there. It weighs 148,000 lbs with
52” drivers and 20” x 26” cylinders. A coal burner operating at
a boiler pressure of 185 psi, it delivered 31,450 lbs tractive
effort.
In 1952, #444 was sold to H. E. Fletcher Company in Westford, MA, who donated it to the Historical Society of Dunkirk, NY, in 1986. It is on display at the Alco-Brooks Railroad Display in the Chautauqua Fairgrounds just off Central Ave in Dunkirk, NY, along with Delaware & Hudson Box Car #22020 built in 1907 in Colonie, NY, and New York Central Wooden Caboose #19224 built in Oswego, NY, in 1905. The display is open to the public 1.00-4.00 pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday from April to August, and on Monday and Friday September to March.
One other Boston & Maine 0-6-0, G-11a #410, has been preserved. After retirement, it too was sold to the Fletcher Company. It is now on display in Lowell, MA, and you can see photos and find out more about it on the BM #410 page of this website.
