Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal No. 16 is a 0-6-0ST Saddle tank steam locomotive built in 1923 by H.K. Porter & Company for the Astoria Power & Light Company as their No. 5.
History[]
It was used for the Astoria Power & Light Company as a switch engine for a time until it was later sold the to Fleischmanns Transportation. In 1939 it was sold to Birmingham Rail & Locomotive Company who ended up selling it to the the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal Railroad (BEDT), one of the many waterfront railways along the shores of the East River and New York Harbor, of January of that year.
The BEDT numbered it as their No. 16 and had modified it with a square "skirt" sometime between June 1959 and October 1960. It was operational for a couple of more years until Christmas Day, 1963 when it was retired from revenue service.
After the BEDT went bankrupt during the 1980s, No. 16 was left exposed to the elements and vandalism on the Brooklyn Waterfront. During this time it was used as a backdrop in a Bootsy Collins music video.
In 1999 the Railroad Museum of Long Island (RMLI) became the beneficiary of a major clean-up project in Brooklyn. No. 16 was saved from being scrapped and was donated to the Museum.
No. 16 was cosmetically restored by the RMLI and now resides on static display at the front entrance of the museum.