When it was retired in 1946, B&O class D-1 0-6-0T #316 had completed 81 years and 1 month of service, having been built during the Johnson Administration - Andrew, not Lyndon - in 1865
adcbo316.jpg (849×551) (trainweb.com)
A Long and Dutiful Life – The Story of B&O 316 (trainweb.com)
Too bad it didn’t end up in the B&O museum
Too bad indeed! I’m guessing the museum wasn’t interested as 316 looked nothing like it did when first built and for all intents and purposes really wasn’t the same locomotive anymore.
Still, it’s a great story. It should have been saved for no other reason than it’s longevity and useful life.
The author made a good point, it was born in the time of muzzle-loaders and worked into the atomic age. Pretty remarkable.
Reminds me of British Railways #58865. Oldest steamer that BR inherited. Was built in 1858 and finally was retired and scrapped in 1951.
I expect the “oldest locomotive” might be in the B&O museum.
Reading about this interesting engine, I think I would have titled this topic “Locomotive with the longest in-service life”. THAT might well describe this wonderful old, and gone, locomotive.
With all the back-woods railroad operations there used to be, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a steamer with a longer operational life. But how to know, and how to prove?
If we move over to diesels, it would get a bit easier. To match this steamer, it would have to be still at work, and been built before about 1940. My guess would be a very early NW2.
Ed
I understand one or more Alco high hoods are supposed to still be in service
Nope, it’s the John Bull, still in operational condition, in the Smithsonian
“It was operated for the first time on September 15, 1831, and became the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution ran it under its own steam in 1981”
Allentown & Auburn uses a 1937 EMC SW (but was later rebuilt with an EMD prime mover, so the whole George Washington’s axe thing comes into play).
In comparing the various photos of the subject steam locomotive, I am having trouble finding anything in the first photo that is still there in the last. I would say this SW has likely retained its frame and its trucks, at least. Cab too, maybe. So no reason to reject it because of its axeness.
So we have a new champ, as far as longest operating life. And still chugging!
That said, I am very impressed at the life of ole 316!
IF we again redefine the rules to “longest service life with the original owner”, THAT might still go to 316.
BN ran some 1938 built switchers (100 & 101) until the early '80’s, when they were sold. They, too, were “fixed up” over time. Don’t know if they 're still alive and working.
Ed
another contender/honorabel mention:
Strasburg RR rosters a 1926 gas plymouth the RR bought new. I don’t believe it has been in continuous service, but was brought back to life a few years ago.
I was amused by why it was given the “all-around” cab.
Very common for steam locos operating in the streets, usually called a “steam dummy” or just “dummy” and immortalized by the song “The Dummy Line”
New York Central had some dummyized Shays that they used on the West Side Freight Line when it was still in the streets of Manhattan
nyc7189.jpg (750×360) (railarchive.net)
New Haven subsidiary Union Freight ran shrouded Climaxes between South and North Stations in Boston
http://www.gearedsteam.com/climax/images/union_freight_rr_8.jpg
I am sure there were others as well
And by the way, a spooked horse was no joke. They killed people
True. It’s been said the most dangerous animal in Colonial America was the horse. Or could be.
I was going to suggest the “Best Friend of Charleston”, but, it is a replica.
I think the champ for the oldest in continuous use has got to be this one.
It still pulls trains on the Greenfield Vilage Railroad.
A handful of NYC&HR S-motors are up there. They were built in 1906 and eventually retired by Conrail (!) around 1980. Metra 1, an SW1 now used as a shop switcher, dates back to 1940.
That’s a concept that I had never heard of before.
Come to think of it this crew’s got three steeple-cab electrics over 100 years old, and still in service!
Recently retired and sold due to some mechanical issues. EMD SW1 #2 remains though (1946 built).
