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NYS&W 142 Returns to Service

New York, Susquehanna, & Western SY 2-8-2 142 has returned to service at the Belvidere & Delaware River Railway in New Jersey. Photo Courtesy of Allegany Preservation Society Limited.

NYS&W 142 Returns to Service

New York, Susquehanna, & Western SY 2-8-2 142 has returned to service at the Belvidere & Delaware River Railway in New Jersey. The locomotive is owned by the New York, Susquehanna, & Western Technical Historical Society and was last used on regular excursions in 2017, when it was taken out of service for an overhaul. 

Since then, crews have slowly but surely rebuilt the locomotive, firing it up for the first time in seven years in 2024. The engine returned to service in late September and will be leading Delaware River Railroad Excursions throughout October

NYS&W 142 is one of a half-dozen Chinese steam locomotives exported to the United States. It was built in 1989 for Connecticut’s Valley Railroad, where it ran into the 1990s. The Susquehanna purchased its own SY locomotive, but it was lost at sea when the ship it was on sank. The NYS&W then purchased the Valley locomotive (then numbered 1647) and gave it the number 142, two numbers above the last Susquehanna 2-8-2 (140) and one number above the one that sank (141). It ran in excursion service on the railroad for more than a decade before being sold to the historical society. 

The other Chinese-built steam locomotives in the U.S. include Valley Railroad SY 2-8-2 3025 (built for the Knox & Kane in 1989), JS 2-8-2 8419 at the Boone & Scenic, Iowa Interstate QJ 2-10-2s 6988 and 7081, and R.J. Corman QJ 2-10-2 2008 (now owned by Kentucky Steam Heritage Corp.). 

This article was posted on: October 13, 2025