 Double compound engines were superseded by more efficient Triple expansion steam engines.The "Binghamton" (Hull #49) was one of five identical screw-propeller, double-ended ferryboats built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry-dock Company 
at Newport News, Virginia in 1904–05 to designs by Gardner & Cox, naval architects.She was launched on February 20, 1905, with Miss Charlotte Emery, daughter of John M. Emery, the newly promoted superintendent of the Hoboken Ferry Company and Ferry Department of the DL&W, serving as her sponsor.