Arcade & Attica No. 18

Arcade & Attica No. 18 is a 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type coal-fired steam locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) at its Cooke Works of Patterson, New Jersey in November 1920, originally for export to Cuba. Originally intended for service at a sugar mill in Cuba, plans to export the locomotive fell through and it eventually ended up on the Boyne City Railroad in Michigan to be used on freight and lumber trains. After its retirement from the Boyne City Railroad, it was sold in 1962 to the Arcade & Attica Railroad (A&A) between Arcade and North Java, New York. It was the first steam locomotive to be acquired by the A&A and is one of only two steamers on the A&A, the other one being A&A (formerly Escanaba & Lake Superior Railroad) 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" type No. 14.
It was used to operate excursion trains on the A&A until No. 14 was restored to operating condition to operate excursions, at which point, it was primarily used as a backup locomotive for No. 14. However, in 1988, No. 14 would make its last excursion runs and was officially retired from excursion service one year later in 1989. In 1990, the A&A decided to swap the tenders of both of their steamers and No. 18 was fitted with No. 14's tender.
In late 2017/early 2018, it was taken out of service temporarily for a complete Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) mandated 1,472-day boiler inspection and overhaul. In the meantime, it was temporarily replaced by A&A 80-tonner center-cab type diesel locomotive No. 113, which originally operated in revenue service at the Consolidated Edison plant in New York City, New York. During its mandated 1,472-day restoration, in 2018, the A&A acquired the tender of Gettysburg Railroad (formerly Mississippian Railway) 2-8-0 type steamer No. 76, which last operated in 1995 when the Gettysburg Railroad discontinued all steam operations after the catastrophic boiler backdraft explosion of Gettysburg Railroad (formerly Canadian Pacific) 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steamer No. 1278 on June 16th of that year. The decision was made to swap No. 14's tender, which was being used by No. 18 prior to it being taken out of service, with No. 76's tender, as No. 18's original tender was pretty much unusable and beyond repair. No. 76 was fitted with No. 18's original tender and it was eventually cosmetically restored as B&O No. 476. It currently resides on outdoor static display at the Oakland B&O Railroad Museum in Oakland, Maryland as of today. The other reason for swapping out No. 14's tender with No. 76's tender on No. 18 was if by any chance the A&A eventually decides to bring back No. 14 to operating condition to operate alongside No. 18 again in the very near future.
On June 27, 2024, it was fired up for the first time since late 2017/early 2018 for a test firing. On August 14, 2024, the A&A announced that the locomotive had passed the FRA inspections and it made a few test runs afterwards. The A&A originally announced via Facebook that the locomotive was scheduled to make its official re-debut in excursion service on August 24th, but on August 17th, they later announced that its return to service had been postponed due to a mechanical failure during testing. Eventually, it recently made its official re-debut in excursion service on September 28th.
==Gallery==
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Arcade & Attica 18 2024 Inaugural run 11am by Captain Retro.jpg
Arcade & Attica steam locomotive.jpg
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:ALCO locomotives
Category:Built in 1920
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Freight locomotives
Category:Excursion locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:American steam locomotives
Category:United States