QUICK FACTS

Model: Standard 2-200 Jordan spreader
Built: 1927
Builder: O. F. Jordan Company, East Chicago, IN
Past Railroad Owners: Boston & Maine, Susquehanna
Current Owner: TOYX, Inc.

Spreader No. E-1045 is a piece of railroad maintenance equipment built in 1927 by the O. F. Jordan Company of East Chicago, Indiana. It was originally Boston & Maine Railroad No. W3593 (serial No. 666) and was built as a “Knuckle Braced” design, featuring folding locking arms, a movable front plow, and all-steel construction. The No. W3593 was placed into service along the Boston & Maine’s routes in New England, and was used for clearing the right of way, cutting drainage ditches, and even light-duty snowplowing.

Railroad spreaders - including those that were NOT built by the O. F. Jordan Company - are typically referred to as “Jordan spreaders” due to how common the Jordan-built examples were across American railroads. This form of genericization is similar to how the term “Kleenex” is used interchangeably with “tissue.”

In 1940, the No. W3593 was rebuilt into a later Standard 2-200 model Jordan spreader. The Standard series models featured central pneumatic controls mounted on a riveted chassis. The No. W3593 also received a Jordan-designed flanger ahead of its rear truck, used to clear snow and debris from between the rails and in the flangeways that could otherwise cause derailments. Through the late 1960s and early 1970s, the No. W3593 was assigned to the Boston & Maine’s territory around Dover and North Conway, New Hampshire.

In the early to mid-1980s, the No. W3593 was sold to the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway, which quickly repainted the spreader and based it out of the railroad’s new base of operations in Binghamton, New York. Its plain-bearing trucks were converted to roller bearings, and it still has these unique roller bearing conversions today. It is not believed the spreader was given a number until the 1990s, when it was renumbered as NYSW No. E-1045.

In 1986, this Jordan spreader was called upon to reopen the Susquehanna’s long out-of-service route between Butler and Sparta, New Jersey. This spreader was used to clear the line, spread ballast, re-cut drainage ditches, and do other requisite trackwork to allow mainline freight trains to traverse the line en-route to Port Jervis. The first train along the reopened route to Port Jervis operated in October of 1986, and this is still the same route that the Susquehanna uses to reach Port Jervis today.

After sitting unused in Binghamton, New York for a number of years, the No. E-1045 was donated to TOYX on DATE 2024. The Susquehanna delivered this unique piece of railroad maintenance equipment to Port Jervis on DATE, making it one of only a handful of Jordan spreaders preserved in the United States. It will be preserved in its Susquehanna appearance.