Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal 15

Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal 15 is a ST class 0-6-0ST "Switcher" type steam locomotive, owned and operated by the Strasburg Rail Road (STC) outside of Strasburg, Pennsylvania, where it was significantly altered to resemble the children's television series character Thomas the Tank Engine.

The engine was built in March 1917 by the H.K. Porter Inc. for Mesta Machine Works before being sold to the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal (BEDT) in 1935; it has a wheel arrangement of 0-6-0ST.^[3][4] The engine originally worked as a dockside switcher engine, hauling freight trains for boats and ships.^[1][3][4]

After years of service, No. 15 was retired and put out of service on December 25, 1963. It was purchased by Edward Bernard for $5,000 for the Southern Appalachian Railway (SAR) in 1965, where it was rebuilt and operated in occasional service.^[1][2][3][5]

In 1968, the Yancey Railroad offered steam trips between Micaville and Kona by using the No. 15 and two steel passenger coaches. This operation unfortunately was not a huge success and the locomotive along with the equipment was put into storage in Burnsville, North Carolina for several years before being sold. In 1975, the Toledo, Lake Erie and Western Railway (TLEW) purchased No. 15 and placed it on static display for the next twenty-three years.^[1] The engine remained on display until 1998, when the Strasburg Rail Road (SRC) purchased No. 15.^[1][2][2][6]

No. 15 arriving on SRC's property in May 1998.^[5] The following year when film producer Britt Allcroft asked permission from Strasburg to film on their railroad for Thomas and the Magic Railroad, they brought an idea to her, about which she was thrilled; they proposed to restore the locomotive and convert it into a full-size operating replica of Thomas the Tank Engine.^[1][2][5]

Work subsequently began, and in the process, the railroad converted No. 15 from oil to coal firing.^[2][6][7] No. 15 participated in its first public Day Out with Thomas events, on the weekend of September 25-27, 1998, but the locomotive was not fired up, and a 44-ton switcher moved the train from the opposite end.^[8] No. 15 eventually underwent its first test fire with its Thomas livery, on April 14, 1999, and on April 29, it made its first public run for that day’s Day Out with Thomas event.^[1][6][7]

The full-scale Thomas replica locomotive has been used for the semiannual Thomas activities ever since.^[9] It also has been occasionally transferred to other railroads for the same purpose, such as the Illinois Railway Museum, the Greenfield Village Line, the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, and the Belvidere and Delaware River Railway. Today, the locomotive operates in June and September of each year.^[10][11][12]

In 2023, the locomotive made an appearance in the documentary film An Unlikely Fandom, centering on the adult fandom of the children's television series Thomas & Friends. The film was produced and directed by Brannon Carty.^[13]

• Canadian National 7312
• Reading 1187
• Great Western 90
• Canadian National 89
• Norfolk and Western 475
• Canadian Pacific 972

• Conner, Eric; Barrall, Steve (2017). Strasburg Rail Road. Images of Rail (1st ed.). Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4671-2507-9.

• Bell, Kurt; Plant, Jeremy (2015). Strasburg Rail Road In Color (1st ed.). Morning Sun Books. ISBN 978-1582484792.