I am freelancing the St. Louis, Mo area in HO, including a bit of southern Illinois. Even though it’s now the early '60s, the owner of my soon-to-be-modeled Illinois coal mine sees no reason why he should buy a diesel switcher, when second hand steam is cheap and burns fuel produced by his mine.
Duties at the mine will include pushing cuts of up to 10 empties under the tipple, caboose wrangling for the road power, and occasional short transfer runs with 4 or 5 hoppers to a Mississippi river barge terminal. There is no turntable on the premises, so operations in both directions are essential.
I have all first and second gen diesels now, and don’t know much about steam. Suggestions on selecting an appropriate steam switcher would be appreciated (DCC a must, sound would be nice), as well as comments on whether this scenario is protypically reasonable or too much of a stretch for the early '60s. Thanks,
I seem to recall that the PRR leased a steam switcher and cabin car to an NJ shortline in the Camden area. The shortline kept the steamer until about 1960, when the PRR sent a GE 40-tonner as a replacement.
The steam loco was a Class B6 0-6-0. Bowser used to make metal kits of them, out of production now.
But I think there’s a Proto Heritage 0-6-0 that’s been well received - it’s a USRA design. Get one in a road that served the St. Louis area and it could be either leased or sold to the mine company.
I like your way of justifying the use of steam on your layout. I would say any 0-6-0 or 0-8-0 would be feasible, after all it’s not like the owner of the railroad went down to the used locomotive lot and had his pick of steam engines.he purchase one at a deal of course. My yard switchers will be a pair of Proto 0-8-0 and 0-6-0 and yet to be purchased perhaps a first generation diesel to work the yard and move one of the steam switchers over to an industry perhaps. I have seen where 0-6-0 saddle tankers have been used for yard switchers not sure how prototypical it is but it looked neat
IIRC, there were a couple of USRA design 0-8-0s in captive industrial service until fairly late in the '60s. They would seem to be the logical choice:
More USRA-pattern 0-8-0s were manufactured than any other design of steam locomotive.
The design lasted right up until the end of steam on the N&W.
Your frugal mine owner just might have purchased an extra or two as cannibal fodder, since repair parts had become unavailable. Then it would have been a case of, “Run the best, and take parts off the worst.”
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with steam serving my colliery)
good examples of short line and industrial operations using small steam power in the 60’s for your area would be the Bevier and Southern, Granite City Steel and Northwestern Steel and Wire up in Sterling Illinois.
the B&S had a mike they leased from the Q and the mills favored 0-8-0’s.
i have a P2K usra 0-8-0 (straight dc) and it runs like a watch but it is unable to handle more the 12 or 15 cars before loosing it’s footing. so, on my layout, it winds up switching the cab track and car shop. just too light for the drill job.
from what you said about the work you intend for your loco to do, something like that should work fine.
the real railroads learned early on that yard engines use in making up and breaking up road trains should be able to handle the entire train if necessary. maybe at no more than walking speed, but at least able to pull the entire train back or shove it when necessary. this may not be an issue to you but it is often overlooked by some modelers.
Had you considered a “geared” engine, say one of the Bachmann shay’s, you can get those with DCC “and” sound equiped ready to go…just something to think about.
Walthers has announced a new production run of the Proto 0-6-0 USRA models. I have one from their second production run. It runs very well and sounds great. It, too, is not a great hauler, although it came with traction tires that I could install if I wanted to pull more. My layout is fundamentally flat, though, and I don’t run long trains, so the engine is fine as it is for me. Unlike the first production run, mine gets pickup from all wheels, loco and tender. The entire unit just fits on my 9-inch Atlas turntable.
These aren’t cheap. In fact, this run is a lot more money than they went for a few years back. But, if you’re looking for a “showpiece” engine, it’s hard to beat these.
Your idea is plausible. Here in St.Paul MN there was a big coke plant (coal that is, not soda pop) that used one or two 0-6-0 steam engines (ex-Soo IIRC) until the mid-sixties. Duluth & NorthEastern, a shortline in northern Minnesota used I think at least one 0-6-0 and 2-8-0 until 1964.
I believe Northwest Steel and Wire kept an 0-8-0 working until about 1980!! In the mid-eighties Railfan & Railroad did a two-part story on EMD’s diesel design team, and they pointed out that the design (colors, graphics, striping etc.) for the EMD diesels that NWSW bought to replace the 0-8-0 was probably the last new “1st generation” paint scheme design (i.e. for a diesel bought to replace a steam engine.)
A P2K 0-6-0 or 0-8-0 would be a good choice but as noted are a bit pricey. A Spectrum 2-8-0 wouldn’t be a bad choice and would certainly be cheaper. I have a Spectrum 2-10-0 with factory sound (Tsunami) and it’s a great engine. I’m not sure about the P2K engines, but the Spectrum ones don’t have any type of cam etc. to synchronize the sound to the drivers, so you do have to fiddle with the CVs for chuff rate, momentum etc. to get it synch up to the correct 4 chuffs per revolutions. But with patience you can get it very close if not spot on.
If you can locate a copy of Ron Ziel’s classic book “Twilight of Steam” you’ll find several examples of steam locomotives being used into the 1960s at various small industries. I seem to recall a Burlington Northern tie plant retained a tiny steam 0-4-0T well into the BN era. I don’t think it was a fireless “cooker” I think it was a real steam engine. The Illinois Midland ran steam until just about 1960 (it was less than 2 miles long). THere was a mill in Birmingham Alabama that I think kept in steam into the 60s.
The best example was the above-mentioned steel mill in Sterling Illinois, Northwestern Steel and Wire. Due entirely to the quirks and stubborness of its elderly owner, they were all steam – large USRA-type 0-8-0s - until the early 1980s.
The day I was there in 1980 there were four engines in steam (leaking steam from every possible joint by the way), out of a possible 8. And every move was fully “whistled!” While my friend and I photographed the engines (the main office would give out permits provided you signed the appropriate waiver which they had all ready for you), a limo slowly drove by, and a very elderly gent gave us a military style salute from the back seat. I am certain it was the owner. When the old man died it took a matter of days for the steam to be replaced by diesels! A few years later I was photographing C&NW freight trains over a neat bridge over a creek in Galt IL. I drove down a country road, and a whole bunch of the 0-8-0s were sitting in a farm field …
When I read this thread yesterday, it rang a bell… took a little while, but I found this in the August 1963 “Trains” magazine. I hope it is ok to post this since it is from a Kalmbach publication and this is a Kalmbach forum. If not, I profusely apologize.
The cool thing is that when I found it, I realized that the picture was taken by someone I know! Another example is Frisco 4-4-0 #140, which was used by the same company as the above locomotive. According to Frisco Power (Joe G. Collias), it was scrapped in the early '60’s after sitting unused for many years. Here is a picture of it in quarry service:
I’m pretty sure the BN tie plant engines were 0-4-0 fireless steam engines. I think in NW Minnesota there was a sugar beet plant that had one or more similar engines. IIRC both places used them into the early eighties.
Course in the seventies / early eighties you had the Crab Orchard & Egyptian, a railfan - tourist type railroad that in time became the last freight-only all-steam railroad in the U.S.
Thanks for the responses, everyone, both on the prototypes who clung to steam so long, as well as suggestions for models. I had no idea that these old workhorses were used into the 1980s, in some cases!
The General Manager for Glen Carbon #2 mine has been instructed to watch for an 0-6-0 or 0-8-0, with the unspoken (but well known) requirement from the Owner that it must be obtained for a reasonable price. The Engineering Manager has also been tasked with exploring the possibility of a wye tucked into the corner of the property, just large enough to turn the switcher for transfer runs to the barge terminal. There is no shortage of new tasks and challenges at Glen Carbon #2!
don’t worry too much about the wye unless you really want one. a lot of locomotive spent most of their lives facing in the same direction. i don’t think the Bevier and Southern mentioned earlier ever turned their’s. perhaps someone with more knowledge of their operations can shed light on this but i read somewhere, that they spent half their time backing up.
transfer moves across major terminal districts were commonly done with the engine in reverse either going or coming and if you look at photos of IC and Burlington steam power used in the southern illinois coal fields, you will find most of them equipped with large back up lights on the tender.
Good concept! The Sterling Illinois steel company used 0-8-0 steam locomotives past 1980 or so so the small coal mine could certainly use either the 0-6-0 or a good used 0-8-0 for switching until the mid sixties.
Thanks for the responses, everyone, both on the prototypes who clung to steam so long, as well as suggestions for models. I had no idea that these old workhorses were used into the 1980s, in some cases!
You may find this interesting…
The Graham County Railroad in North Carolina used a 3 truck shay until late 1970…The GC was a 12 mile short line.
