Being ideal for fast freight, the SAL was a believer in their ten Class R and R1 2-6-6-4s bought in '35 and '37. They served well, but the SAL's early adoption of diesel power brought a 1947 sale of them to the B&O as their Class KB-1, where it's said that B&O crews loved them for their power and easy steaming.
Steam from the final decade of U.S. production is the epitome of engineering and design, and I love it. It's a shame that so many locomotives of this era had such short lives.
Amen to that. Fantastic engineering that went into these creatures. The builders plate is partially covered and I can't tell if it is Baldwin or Lima.
There are a couple photos of these after being "B&O-ized" in "B&O Power" by Sagle and Staufer. And I think there was an article about these in "Trains" magazine circa 1980. You're right, these were good-looking engines; so sad they all became torch bait way too early.
B&O bought 10 of these from SAL in 1947 when the B&O was short of power. They would become the only 2-6-6-4's the B&O would ever own.
When your railroad is 'power short' and you buy working locomotives from any source you don't waste a lot of time and effort in getting them in operation to pull your freight. In today's world of railroading, a lot of a carriers short term power shortages are rectified by keeping 'run through' power from connecting carriers on the property longer than they would if they weren't power short. Through the AAR there are 'Horsepower Hour' accounts that each carrier maintains with all their connecting carriers that account for 'Foreign' power on line. On a monthly basis the multiple carriers Horsepower Hour accounts are reconciled through the AAR and the balances get settled by payments from the net user to the owner. The Horsepower Hour accounts are based on the particular carrier that interchanges a particular engine. Thus a NS engine interchanged to CSX by BNSF will be carried on CSX in the BNSF Horsepower Hours account. Horsepower Hours accrue during the period of time the locomotive is received from a carrier until it is interchanged to another carrier, not matter if that is the home carrier or not.
