Top 15 Extinct American Steam Locomotives

mmm you with over 2,000 steam locomotives preserved in America it would be fair to say that we have quite enough to keep the preservation movement going however some classes weren't as lucky as others such engines were either meant for preservation and then scrapped by mistake or simply forgotten about altogether swept up in the onslaught of diesel ization from famous speed demons to underrated heavy haulers I'm going to count down the top 15 extinct American steam locomotives number 15 the Pennsylvania Railroad s one six four four six number sixty one hundred this unique locomotive was built by the Pennsylvania railroads Juniata shops in 1939 and the elegant streamlining was dreamed up by famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy the s-1 had a strange wheel arrangement of six four four six with 84 inch diameter driving wheels and an astonishing length of over 146 feet it's no wonder that it was nicknamed the big engine after being displayed at the 1939 New York World's Fair the s1 was used on the PRRS mainline between Chicago Illinois and Crestline Ohio pulling deluxe passenger trains unfortunately like most of PRRS later duplex locomotive designs the s1 was susceptible to wheel slip as half of its overall weight was on the driving wheels with the pilot and trailing trucks bearing the rest of it plus it's large size limited its route availability thus the reason why it only ran between Chicago and Crestline after seven years in service s1 number 6100 was formally retired in 1946 and unceremoniously scrapped three years later a rather quiet end for the big engine well at least we have the Lyon L and M th models to keep the legend alive number 14 the Norfolk and Western zwei 6b now before I mention this class I know some of you will mention number 21 56 from the Museum of Transportation in st. Louis and now on loan to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke the difference is that 2156 is a y6a not ay6 be the latter engines were longer had larger fire boxes and a greater tractive effort to use 2156 as an example it is rated for 166 thousand horsepower whereas the y6 beasts had 170,000 at 25 miles per hour the Y 6 bees had equal horsepower as the Union Pacific's big boys so if you wanted a heavy hauler that could slug it out on grades N&W had the engine for the job unfortunately almost all the y6 bees were scrapped when the Norfolk and Western gave up steam in 1960 however one engine number 21 74 almost made it into preservation after being used on a farewell to steam excursion in July of 1959 it was sold to a scrapyard in Roanoke where it's sat until 1976 the Roanoke chapter of the National Railway Historical Society made an attempt to save the locomotive but the head of the fundraising project passed away and when the deadline came and went the 2174 was sadly caught up it's a shame that ay6 B got away before preservationists had the chance to save it but it's gratifying to know that we still have y6 a number 21 56 around to complete the link in the chain of Roanoke's big 3 number 13 the Erie and Virginian triplexes in the 19-teens the articulated locomotive was starting to make a big impact on American railroading the Erie and Virginian railroads knew that if they wanted a locomotive that could haul heavy trains up steep grades they would have to go big or go home so in 1914 the Erie purchased the first two eight eight eight two triplex locomotive from the Baldwin locomotive works number fifty fourteen the Matt H Shea was a monster of an engine with a 210 psi boiler three sets of eight driving wheels an attractive effort of a hundred and sixty thousand pounds unfortunately the Matt H shade didn't perform that well in service as the firebox which had a great area of ninety square feet was found to be too small stories persist that the locomotive frequently ran out of steam on gulfs summit grade and trains would have to stop for several minutes in order to have the engine get its boiler pressure back up thankfully the Matt HJ was rebuilt with a larger firebox with 122 square feet of grade area sadly this didn't stop the other factor that plagued it and the prr duplex engines that would come decades later will slip as coal and water were used up from the tender the rear set of driving wheels was prone to slipping however since the locomotives were mainly used in helper service their fuel and water supplies were readily replenished after each run up the hills the Erie went on to order two additional triplexes while The Virginian ordered only one with a two eight eight eight four wheel arrangement sadly though all four engines were later deemed unsuccessful and either sold for scrap or cut into two separate locomotives which was the fate of The Virginian engine so the triplex lives on an American railroad history as a big gamble that ended up becoming a big bust number 12 the Southern Pacific AC nines these gigantic articulated engines were the oddballs of the SP fleet the cab forwards had proven their worth to the railroad but they wanted a locomotive that could work in the southern portion of the system between New Mexico Texas and Arizona so in 1939 Lima locomotive works built twelve to eight eight fours for use on heavy freight trains in this region they originally burned coal but were converted to oil in the 1950s which increased their route availability they were also partially streamlined having borrowed the skyline casing from the famous GS Class northerns used in passenger service unfortunately after diesel ization of the southwestern divisions and a final stand on the Modoc line in Nevada and California the big reverse cab forwards were retired between 1953 and 1956 and then sent to the scrapyard honestly this is one articulated engine I would have liked to have seen preserved it just has a style about it that's different to many of the others maybe it has to do with that skyline casing but that's just me number 11 the Pennsylvania j-1 and the Chesapeake and Ohio t12 ten fours I decided to include both of these engines together in this spot since the development of one of these two giants led to the development of another let's break down the history lesson in the early 1930s the Chesapeake and Ohio was looking for a locomotive for freight service so they turned to the new advisory mechanical committee or AMC which also managed the motivepower designs for the nickel plate the Erie and the Pere Marquette the CNO tested the Erie's to 8 for Berkshires and decided they wanted an additional pair of driving wheels for their engine creating a 210 for the T ones arrived from Lima locomotive works and the class numbered 40 in all in service they were used for heavy coal drags between Russell Kentucky and Toledo Ohio as well as in Virginia fast forward to the 1940s and the Pennsylvania Railroad was looking for another heavy locomotive to haul freight trains but wartime restrictions denied the prr the opportunity to build a new engine from the rails up in light of the situation the railroad tested enough work in western Class A and a CNO t1 to see which one was the better performer in the end the t1 proved to be the overall superior engine to base a design from so between 1942 and 1943 the Juniata shops turned out an impressive 125 of the PRRS own 210 force known as the J ones eventually both classes succumbed to the rise of diesel power with the CNO engines disappearing first between 1952 and 1953 the J ones followed their predecessors to oblivion five years later number ten the New Haven I five class four six fours these beautiful streamlined Hudson's were built by Baldwin locomotive works in 1937 for the New Haven and became famous for their fleet-footed work hauling the railroads named Express passenger trains such as the merchants limited and the Yankee Clipper only ten of these engines were ever built but crews and passengers love them for their speed and their style one interesting note is that the locomotive streamlining was designed by another famous art deco designer Otto cooler sadly their time and service didn't last very long as the New Haven began purchasing Diesel's after World War two all of the Magnificent I 5s were retired from the roster by 1951 and subsequently scrapped however the famed Australian class c-38 Pacific number 3801 carries on the i5 streamlined styling in the land down under so it'd be fair to say that a part of the New Haven legacy lives on abroad number nine de Milwaukee Road f7 for six fours and Class A for four twos the Milwaukee roads Hiawatha is undeniably one of the most famous streamlined passenger trains in American railroading and what would a beautiful train be without beautiful locomotives to pull them when the service was inaugurated in the 1930s the Milwaukee Road introduced four class-a atlantic's which had 84-inch driving wheels and rated for a top speed of over 100 miles per hour many stories are told of the Class A engines trying to reach the world steam speed record and getting very close but not before Mallard took the crown in 1938 meanwhile the Milwaukee Road ordered more locomotives to pull the Hiawatha's six F seven four six fours arrived in 1937 and 1938 supplementing the Class A four four 2's very nicely as was the case with the i5s on the new haven both of the Milwaukee streamlined engines were designed by Otto cooler and just like the i-5 s when the diesels replaced them on the Hiawatha's there was no going back for the f7 s and the class A's by 1953 all ten of these engines were withdrawn and cut up number eight the Florida East Coast for eight twos the for a to Mountain type was a versatile locomotive that served many railroads well including the Florida East Coast the railroad that went to see bought 125 mountain type engines from Elko between 1923 and 1926 unfortunately the Great Depression put a serious dent in to Fe seas finances and the once-proud railroad declared bankruptcy in the early 1930s in what seems to be a move to recoup some of their financial losses the Florida East Coast sold off 50 of their for a to s two other railroads including the western railway of Alabama the st. Louis Southwestern better known as the Cotton Belt and the National Railways of Mexico the rest of the Florida East Coast for a two s hung on in regular service with a few being involved in wrecks or boiler explosions until the early 1950s when all of them were retired number seven the Western Maryland j14 eight fours the Western Maryland railroad was well known for its consolidations and challengers for heavy freight service but they also had twelve four eight fours on their roster Baldwin locomotive works built these engines and delivered them to the wild Mary in 1947 instead of calling them northerns however the Western Maryland decided to name their engines Potomac s' they earned the distinction of being some of the last for eight fours built new for any railroad in the country and made their mark hauling freight trains in tandem with the m2 class challengers unfortunately as was the case with most modern steam locomotives the Potomac didn't last very long in service before Diesel's came along all the engines were retired in May of 1954 and then scrapped three years later when the equipment Trust's expired though there are several other northern type engines preserved including the rival reading T ones it's kind of sad that none of the Potomac s-- were saved as they would have made a nice contrast to some of the other for a force that were restored but one can dream number six the Baltimore and Ohio eeehm ones the Baltimore in Ohio is known for being the first official railroad incorporated in America on July 4th 1828 it was also known for having some impressive motive power from the P class for six to s and the antique locomotive collection including the Thatcher Perkins and the William Mason after World War two the B&O ordered 32 eight-eight for locomotives for heavy freight service the em1 class locomotives quickly proved their worth in freight work and with their roller bearings they were also quite adept for working fast mail and Express trains as well the e/m ones originally served the cumberland division home of the infamous sand patch and 17 mile grades later as diesels took over that territory the locomotives were transferred to the pittsburgh division by 1957 though scrapping commenced on the fleet and by 1960 all of them were gone or were they a post on a baltimore and ohio facebook fanpage recently chose an old B&O museum booklet from the late 1950s and early 1960s that highlights a future exhibit being an e/m one the following pictures in the post show engine number 659 in dead storage awaiting the chance to be put on display tragically there was possibly a mixup in communication regarding the locomotive status and the 659 didn't live to see preservation being cut up by 1961 a sad case of close but no cigar for these Baltimore and Ohio brutes number five the reading and cnj for 62s these two classes of Pacific's deserve to be together in this spot as they were the backbone of express passenger service for their respective railroads the reading G class engines were built in two batches the first 30 known as Class G 1a in the Redding's own workshops between 1916 and 1922 and an additional five known as Class G 2's a being built by Baldwin in 1924 then in 1948 the reading shops built ten more engines in the class g3 the Central Railroad of New Jersey saw how much of the success that the reading engines were and decided to order several identical locomotives for their own roster from Baldwin the CIA's own G class specifics became the cream of the crop for their deluxe passenger train the blue comet which ran between Jersey City and Atlantic City in the 1920s and 1930s the engines were painted blue and cream to match the heavyweight contest the Redding's G class was also well known for being flashy engines as two of them were streamlined in the late 1930s to pull the stainless steel Crusader passenger train which ran from Philadelphia to Jersey City sadly the two breeds of Pacific's were later downgraded to secondary passenger services as diesels took over the high priority assignments the cnj engines were retired by 1955 and the Redding engines followed them two years later number four the PRRT one four four four four duplex you should have known this one was coming the famed t1 duplex locomotives built by Baldwin locomotive works and the prr in the early and mid 1940s these shark nose Giants were developed to be the next generation of steam passenger locomotives but just like the s1 before it the T ones were prone to violent wheel slips which were compounded by the finicky nature of the poppet valve gear regardless of those problems though they could attain eighty to a hundred miles per hour quite easily and were used between Harrisburg and st. Louis after a few years of working the famous first class passenger trains of the pennsie the T ones were relegated to mail and Express service after the EMD e 7 and e 8 Diesel's came into the picture all of them were retired by 1952 and later scrapped four years later but all hope isn't lost for the t1 duplex in the spring of 2014 a group of railroad preservation experts formed the PRRT one steam locomotive trust with the intent of building a brand-new t1 from the rail some at the time of this production they have a campaign on Kickstarter which is winding down for getting the driving wheel castings made the campaign has raised just over its goal of $20,000 while some enthusiasts might be opposed to the idea of building a new t1 the opportunity for new build mainline steam is there after all if the British can build a new Pacific from the rails up we can do it too the new t1 to be numbered 55 50 is expected to be completed by the year 2030 number three the New York Central's Hudson's and niagra's these two engines are grouped together in this spot because they're both highly respected icons of the New York Central Railroad the Hudson's were first developed by the New York central in the mid 1920s as a response to longer and heavier passenger trains straining the limits of their k5 class specific type engines the first Hudson rolled out of Alko Schenectady works in 1927 and from that point onward they just kept rolling out of the factory until 1938 when the last ones were completed all told a staggering 275 j-class Hudson's were built for the water-level route the locomotives proved their worth keeping to time with the railroads top Express passenger assignments such as the 20th century limited and the Empire State Express some engines were later streamlined to match their stylish trains which ran from New York State to Chicago later on in the 1940s the New York Central expanded their steam passenger roster with 27 484 s that they called niagra's they complemented the Hudson's really well an express passenger service and later helped to halt some fast Freight including the famed pacemakers as good as these engines were however the New York central was hell-bent on diesel supremacy by the early 1950s by the end of the decade none of the Hudson's or niagra's were left to savor the joys of preservation several attempts have been made to try and build a new j-class Hudson but the projects have stalled in one way or another one can only hope that a new Hudson will eventually be built in the not-too-distant future number two the central of Georgia's Big Apple's these four eight fours are some of the rarest locomotives to have ever worked in the southern United States they were built by Lima locomotive works in 1943 during the height of World War two but just as the war production board had prohibited the Pennsylvania from building a new locomotive from the rails up they did the same for the central of Georgia with that restriction the co G based their new for a force off of the Southern Pacific GS two s built in the late 1930s you can see the GS two's design influence in the Box Pok driving wheels and running gear but in every other respect they were central Georgia's own design the tender seems small compared to the locomotive but the Big Apple's lived up to their reputation as good engines on the railroad the eight engines in this group of four eight fours enjoyed a ten-year career hauling passenger and freight trains between Birmingham Alabama and Atlanta Georgia by 1953 however all of them were retired and scrapped in favor of diesel power now before we get to number one I would like to include some honorable mentions for this list you you and now for the number one pick every steam turbine locomotive if there was ever a curiosity in railroad history that deserves to be admired even in the twilight of the steam era it has to be the steam turbine locomotives beginning in the 1930s America's railroads thought what if we took the turbine power concept that power plants and ships use and apply it to locomotives and so in 1939 General Electric partnered with the Union Pacific to produce the first steam turbine electric locomotives yes despite having the outward appearance of the diesel these engines were in fact powered by steam despite having successful test runs they broke down once while hauling a passenger train from Colorado to Omaha necessitating a conventional steam locomotive to come to their aid by 1941 the Union Pacific had pulled out of the partnership and the engines were leased to the Great Northern for freight service in late 1943 the locomotives were returned to GE and scrapped before the end of World War two around the time GE steam turbines were being scrapped the Pennsylvania Railroad experimented with their own direct drive steam turbine the odd 686 locomotive s - class number 6200 was built by Baldwin locomotive works in 1944 it had to Westinghouse designed and built turbines one for forward running and one for backward running it was used for passenger trains between Chicago and Crestline Ohio much like the s-1 duplex before it the prr gave the s2 a lot of publicity but it ended up being an operational nightmare it had stable problems relating to the boiler pressure dropping rapidly due the turbines using up massive amounts of steam after only two years in service the 6,200 was removed from service and stored at Crestline until 1952 when it was moved to conway pennsylvania and caught up but the turbine story doesn't end here Baldwin and Westinghouse also built three steam turbine electrics for the Chesapeake and Ohio says streamliner the m1 class turbines were rated at 6,000 horsepower and were predicted to run from Washington to Cincinnati and back without any servicing but like the two previous turbines they suffered continuous mechanical maladies the chassis streamliner was cancelled by 1948 essentially making the m1 class worthless in 1950 all three engines were unceremoniously scrapped the final steam turbine of note is the Norfolk and Western number 2300 affectionately known as the John Henry it was built by Baldwin in May of 1954 and though it had a fair rate of success it had minor problems as far as boiler controls were concerned and it was too big and too late to save the age of steam it was retired by the beginning of 1958 and was no more so all of these turbines might have had a chance if they had been allowed to develop further but their early teething troubles and the rise of diesel power ultimately sealed their fate the one-of-a-kind design of these engines and their short lived lives are the main reasons why they deserve the number one spot on this list of extinct American steam locomotives that's all for this list but if you liked this video be sure to leave a comment and a rating and be sure to stay tuned for more new content coming to my channel in a not too distant future so until next time I wish you all good night good luck and keep on steaming

Channel: Christopher Kovacs

Views: 2,263,094

Rating: 4.8257627 out of 5

Keywords: Locomotive (Product Category), Train, Steam Locomotive (Invention), Railway, Trains, Railroad, Top, 15, Extinct, American, Steam Engine (Invention), Steam Turbine (Engine Category), Rail Transport (Industry), Class

Id: MdD3LOnv1TY

Length: 32min 12sec (1932 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 11 2015