Can anyone tell me what year Union Pacific retired their 2-8-8-2 Mallets.
Thanks in advance.
Tracklayer
The SA-57 class in 1947, the MC-1 class in 1928, the MC-57 class in 1947, the retirement dates for the 2-8-8-0 classes are:MC-2 & MC-3 , MC-6 classes in 1947-1954,MC-5 class in 1952,1954, Ogden Short Line (Utah) MC-2 in 1942 and MC-4 in 1944. From the Guide to North American Steam Locomotives (Kalmbach). The 2-8-8-0 were converted to simple articulateds between 1937-1944.
Thanks Berk-fan284. I was mainly interested in the Life Like 2-8-8-2 Y-3.
After digging around a bit, I found that UP purchased five of them from N&W during WW II, and used them in Wyoming until they retired them in 1947. If this isn’t right, feel free to correct it.
TL
According to William E. Warden, author of The Norfolk and Western’s Magnificent Mallets - the Y-Class 2-8-8-2’s, UP scrapped their ex-N&W mallets in 1948, so I guess they were probably in service through most of 1947.
Here is his list of their UP road numbers, with corresponding N&W numbers.
3670 N&W 2030
3671 N&W 2020
3672 N&W 2025
3673 N&W 2041
3674 N&W 2013
All were class Y-3, acquired by UP in June of 1945.
It’s sad that UP only used the 2-8-8-2s for just three years, but with a top speed of only 25 mph, I may have retired them too - especially if I had locos like the Challenger and Big Boy that could do three times that speed for the same amount of fuel…
TL
The first production run LifeLike (the one I have) is well detailed a smooth quiet runner that is a little too light weight which makes it a weak puller, otherwise it is a fine locomotive. The new production run has sound and I’m not sure if it has traction tires and more weight or not. Both production runs are supposed to be DCC compatible or plug and play (I think).
Those ex-N&W locos returned to the Blue Ridge with a different owner and hauled coal efficiently for a few more years before their demise. I have two on my layout and love them.
The needs of the UP and the Eastern coal roads were quite different, and that accounts for the mallets not “fitting” well in the UP environment, not any great fuel economy advantage. The N&W was only concerned with speed when it got into the flatlands, not dragging coal out of the hollows, and they were not as heavily trafficked as the UP except in wartime, and they had a full double track main line, so the mallet’s relatively slow speed was no big deal.
In head to head tests, one of the N&W’s venerable beasts fought a close fight with the challengers from LaGrange, and that included the old ton/miles/fuel equation.
Virginian,
N&W 2197 wasn’t a “venerable beast,” it was just off the erecting floor at Roanoke, and very possibly newer than the ABBA demonstrator it competed against. (Many people don’t realize that the very last mainline reciprocating steam loco built in the US wasn’t some cutting-edge superloco with rotary valves and a streamlined casing. It was a very modern direct descendent of a rather old idea - a Mallet compound 2-8-8-2, N&W 2200, class Y-6b.)
The Y-3’s that returned to the West Virginia coal fields were the ex-Santa Fe group of 7, which served the VGN from 1947 until 1954. If they had lasted a few years longer (or if N&W had swallowed the Virginian a few years sooner), they would have come full circle.
Thanks guys - especially tomikawaTT for all the info. I greatly, greatly appreciate it…
TL