Anybody able (willing) to give a snapshot of how and where Santa Fe used the 4-8-4 Northern types in the last years of steam? In particular, were they freight or passenger (I think freight, but haven’t been able to pin that down.) Also, did they operate all over the system and when might the last ones have been retired?
The Santa Fe had something like 65 ‘Northerns’ in at least 4 different classes - all assigned to passenger service. Even the original engines were converted to 80" drivers. They basiscally ‘ruled’ the transcon passenger service west of Kansas City. And the huge Hudsons handled the passenger service east to Chicago.
As diesels took over the passenger service, I am sure they were used in freight service until their ‘flue time’ expired and they went to scrap. At least one engine is in excursion service. I am not sure of the ‘last run’, but I suspect sometime in the mid 50’s was the last regular service for these engines.
Can’t say when the last run was, or what service they ended up in, but several were given to on-line cities, including Albuquerque, NM, and Kingman, AZ. Of course, Amarillo got Madame Queen.
Kingman’s resident 4-8-4 is kept cosmetically respectable, and Madame Queen was recently moved to a new museum site. Can’t say what the status of Albuquerque’s stuffed steamer might be.
all modern atsf 4-8-4’s were really dual purpose locomotives. with 80 inch drivers, they were capable of 90 mph or more. most were being used in freight and helper service after 1950 but they were also found on extra passenger trains and second sections of regular passenger trains. i recall reading that one was stationed at La Junta Co. and served in freight service to Newton Ka. and also as a passenger engine to Denver on a regular basis. near as i can tell, around summer of 1955 was the last year they were used in any regular service but after that most steam still on the system was stored in case of future power shortages but rarely if ever fired up again. you might look for more information in Locomotive Quarterly magazine but i don’t know which issues featured ATSF Steam.
Last service by a Santa Fe Northern was #3780 in helper service out of Belen in the Summer of 1957. IIRC many Santa Fe modern steam locomotives were parked before their flue time expired.
Hi Mike, All the answers above are correct as far as they go. What’s lacking is the “Big Picture” overview, which you can get from the book, “Santa Fe Steam: The Last Decade, 1949-1959,” by Lloyd Stagner. It was published in 1995 by South Platte Press of David City, Nebraska, but copies are still available at Amazon.com. By 1950 many of the 4-8-4s were in Argentine (Kansas City)-Clovis, N.M., freight service, but some continued to hold passenger assignments on different parts of the system until 1953. A recession in 1954 left little work for mainline steam on the Santa Fe, but in the summer of 1955 4-8-4s were back in freight service between Argentine and Waynoka, Okla. No 4-8-4s were in use at the start of 1956, but a few went into helper service between Belen and Mountainair, N.M., later that year. The last helper run that Ed cites, by the 3780, ended at Belen at 1:30 pm on August 27, 1957. Another recession lasting from the fall of 1957 through the fall of 1958 kept the remaining serviceable 4-8-4s sidelined, and when the 800-class RSD-15s and 900-class SD24s arrived in 1959, the Santa Fe no longer saw any need to hold steam power for standby service. So long, Andy