I was wondering if it was common for railroads to assign strange combinations of power to the branchlines at the end of the steam era. I remember reading an article written by Andy Sperandeo on the San Jacinto District Layout(?) that mentioned that a 1226(?) Class 4-6-2 would not be out of place in the late 40’s. Any other interesting observations or corrections on this? I am looking for some interesting power options on the end of steam era for a branchline. I hope this makes sense as i am typing on the fly…
I don’ think it was ever common - read large numbers of engines. Generally a railroad had sufficient freight classes of steam engines on hand to use but there are exceptions. The PRR used D class 4-4-0 and K4s class 4-6-2 engines on the Delmarva peninsula for trains hauling vegetables and fruits to Philadelphia that needed to get there quickly. It was far more common to use passenger diesels early on that were in commuter or passneger service for freight service when they were idle. The New Haven used DL109s for both right after dieselizing. Passenger steam engines didn’t have enough dig for freight service usually. They had more “git”
Toward the end of steam, locomotives were being retired on the basis of needing any but the most superficial repairs - sort of, "If we have to pay labor, we fix - if we have to buy parts not on hand, we scrap. That frequently meant that the workhorse 2-8-2 with expired flues would be on its way to the torch, while a lightly-used 4-6-2 would be standing on the ready track waiting for an assignment.
If the Pacific could move the train, it would be sent out with the branch freight.
When I was a youngster living in the San Fernando Valley I knew some of the SP crews. One day the local was headed by a 4-4-2 Atlantic, the drivers were huge. It was some climb up to the cab. Those were the days.
On a railfan trip, with my dad, from L.A. to Bakersfield and back the train was headed up by two black 4-8-4’s dressed with skyline casings, 4423 & 4444 and twenty plus heavy wieght passenger cars trailing behind. On the return trip the train stalled on Tehachapi near Caliente, blocking the mainline. Eventually an ABBA set of Santa Fe Frieght F units came to the recsue. All six locomotives dug in, smoke and machinery sounds reverated through out the mountain canyons as we climbed up to Tehachapi. 4444 became my favorte loco and saw it many times after that heading up the Over Night and refer blocks.
After that I came to believe unusual was usual on the SP, Rob
When I was a youngster living in the San Fernando Valley I knew some of the SP crews. One day the local was headed by a 4-4-2 Atlantic, the drivers were huge. It was some climb up to the cab. Those were the days.
Somewhere I read that SP rated A-3 4-4-2’s at 2400 tons in freight service in the San Joaquin Valley. Don’t have the book handy, but there is a picture of an A-6 (#3000, I think) being used as a rear end helper on a freight train in Lucius Beebe’s The Central Pacific & the Southern Pacific Railroads
Both CNR and CPR used Pacifics in freight service, as well as on passenger trains. Ian Wilson’s books on CNR branchlines in southern Ontario in the '50s show quite a few examples of this. While some of these locos had 69" drivers, many were also eqipped with 72" or 73" drivers, and all were rated at between 34,000 and 40,000 lbs. tractive effort: not particularly large engines, but capable on a suitably-sized train, and, for the most part, light enough for many branch lines.
The Pacific locomotive was designed for passenger service, and most were fairly large and had high axle-loading; therefore, it was far from ideal for branchline freight service. Thus, it was not frequently used in such service, but did sometimes.
Railroaders assigned the most effective, available, locomotive capable of its given assignment. Particularly during times of locomotive shortage, locomotives were used under less-than-desirable circumstances. For example, I’ve seen photographs taken in WWII where a combination of freight and passenger locomotives were quadruple-headed to move a heavy freight train, or where a Pacific locomotive was used on a freight train. Also, after a passenger locomotive was newly-shopped, it would be assigned to light freight service to “break it in.”
On some branchlines, such as the Monterey and Los Gatos, CA branches of the SP, Pacifics were normally assigned well into the 1950s for regular passenger runs. Regardless, the locomotive had to be able to traverse the branchline without endangering itself, its train, or the right-of-way. Track and bridges had to be capable. Thus, the lighter Pacifics may be necessary and possibly assigned shorter tenders than usual so to fit on a branch’s smaller turntable.
The most modern steam locomotives were not necessarily the last kept running. The SP kept lots of half-century-old locomotives such as 2-6-0s, 2-8-0s, and even a few 4-8-0s until the end on branchlines due to their limitations of track and bridges.
I have seen photos of Chicago & North Western 4-6-2s in work train/wreck crane service, and have read stories where even their racey looking 4-4-2s would be used for that service. As mentioned above this was probably a phenomenon of the late days of steam, when the freight steam engines were out of flue time, the passenger steam engines were possibly being kept around as protection power for commuter trains, and all the available diesels were assigned to their duties. The availability of diesels was so high that railroads tended to not have a lot of spares, compared to steam where having spares was virtually a necessity.
If you want to invent a scenario to justify your idea you might follow up on that idea: a branch line that connects to the main near a terminal that services commuter train locomotives.
Stories are told that at various times the Chicago Burlington & Quincy would press all sorts of strange and inappropriate power for the branch line that went from Galesburg IL down to Peoria. Sometimes the roundhouse was devoid of anything usable, again because it is likely the diesels were all at work. Jim Boyd wrote of a time when an old doodlebug was fired up and used to pull the local. A BN engineer told me of a time when they literally had nothing they could spare and actually used the 4960, an excursion steam locomotive 2-8-2 (Now at the Grand Canyon RR) and used it for the Peoria local, and this was in the 1960s. It would not be shocking to imagine some time in the 1950s when a 4-6-2 in Galesburg might have been pressed into similar service but I cannot say there was an actual example of this.
Again all the scenarios involve the strange or unusual situation and in most cases we are all well advised to stick to the normal and usual rather than have a perpetual series of once-in-a-blue-moon events on our layouts.
The Great Northern also used their various classes of Pacific in freight assignments toward the end of steam. Photos exist of an H-4 (73-inch drivers) outfitted with footboards, at work on the Mesabi Range in iron ore service. However, the GN had one class of Pacific that was designed as a dual-service locomotive-the H-6. These were rebuilt from the old J-class 2-6-2s and had 69-inch drivers. These locomotives drew both freight and passenger assignments throughout their entire service lives. Of course, at the end of steam, one could find almost any locomotive doing just about any work, for instance, GN P-2 2523 was assigned to Seattle yard switching service (!) for a time, and the S-2 class 4-8-4s (80-inch drivers) were put on drag freights (!!)
The Mississippi Central used Mikes in passenger service, and it’s pacific’s on freights. I’ve seen photographs on Yesteryeardepot.com of the SP using 2-8-0’s in passenger service, and pacifics on freights too. If you look long/hard enough you can find a prototype for just about anything.
Just one thing to remember is that the weight and age of the rail and size of the curves on the branch often dictated what could be run on branchline. As the others mentioned, many railroads kept their older, lighter steamers well into the 50’s because the branchlines that they ran on couldn’t handle anything bigger.
IIRC Boston and Albany had some Pacifics that were specifically built as freight engines.
Certainly you could see a 4-6-2 hauling freight in the fifties, even on a branchline, but it would be more likely on a mainline train. A 4-6-2 might be too heavy for some branchlines, and would be better pulling a mainline train at speed rather than starting and stopping with a wayfreight.
This may not exactly fit your question concerning end of the steam era, but does fit strange. I lived near the SP Roseville yard. Every weekend a through frieght arrived powered by SDP45’s which were asigned to San Francisco - San Jose commuter service. They didn’t go to the shops, just routine servicing, ready track, returning on Sunday.
In Northen Califronia the SP loved their SD7 and 9’s calling them Caddlacs, They were used for everything from road units with SD45T2’s etc., helpers, branchlines, snow service, even yard switchers.
Along the same vain… the Q sent all it’s E’s (those not in commuter service) to the C&S after they finally killed the passenger trains to work the joint line in drag service. Something E’s were never meant or able to do. I’ve heard two versions why…
One, that Mensk did it intentinaly to pour salt on the wound to pro-passenger guys
The other, the head guy at C&S was so desperate for power that he requested them, instead of the Q scrapping them. He’d have used a tricycle if it would move a train.
Didn’t N&W convert some of it’s newer big steam to work in the coal yards at the end?
Yup, NYC had a whole class of dual-purpose Pacific’s with 69" drivers. The designation escapes me at the moment…At times they would even roll freight up and down the Hudson with…Hudson’s!!! Double headed at times…
Ya that came up a while back - were Hudsons ever used on freights? - and I mentioned that I’d read quotes from some NYC crews saying that did very well in freight service.
IC #1 was a 73.5" drivered 4-6-4 rebuild of a drag engine, purpose-built for fast freight service. It was never duplicated.
N&W had been using Mallets as yard and hump power (and on almost every branchline in Pocahontas country) almost from the time they began running Mallets. There are numerous photos of late-model Y’s with footboards instead of road pilots.
After Stuart Saunders abruptly dieselized N&W passenger traffic the Js were bumped to freight service. (He later went on to oversee the PRR, then totally bungled the PC merger - which is what happens when you make a lawyer a railroad president.) I doubt that the big bullets would have been particularly useful on most of N&W’s branches, but they did haul mainline peddlers.
Southern Pacific had branches that could and did support heavy motive power, it was not uncommon to dispatch odd engines to branch/local duties after major overhauls. Somewhere in my collection, I have a photo of a MT class working the old line in Daily City after recieving class 3 repairs at nearby Bayshore. When the MT class became suffcient in numbers they bumped the Pacifics primarily to commute duty by 1929, they also drew freight assignments and local work as needed until the retirement of steam operations.
MILW used F3 and F5 Pacifics in freight service. They were about the only engines light enough to go over the pontoon bridge at Prairie du Chien. I have also read about using F6 4-6-4s in way freight service, in the last years of steam. A pain to switch with, but getting to the next station was a quick trip.
However, for another example of the pervasiveness of the Pacific locomotive type, consider this: as of January 1, 1946, in the New York Central diagram book, the number of J class 4-6-4 passenger locomotives was 274; the number of K class 4-6-2s was 368, although, in all fairness, 102 of the Pacifics were class K11, built as fast freight locomotives, and used for local freight to a certain extent.