BO B&O EM1

Inkaneer Jan 20, 2016

  1. Inkaneer

    Inkaneer TrainBoard Member

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    This has been bothering me for a while now. Did the B&O EM1's ever have Vanderbilt tenders? I recall an article way, way, way back in a model RR magazine, Railroad Model Craftsman I believe, about a cab ride in an EM1 from Benwood WV to Glennwood, PA (Wheeling to Pittsburgh). On the cover was a picture of an EM1 with, I think, a Vanderbilt tender. I recall the article because the author wrote about taking on coal direct from a mine, the stoker became inoperable and the engine had to be fired by hand. Later it was determined that the cause of the stoker malfunction was a mine roof bolt that was jammed in the stoker. So did the EM1's, or at least some of them, get Vandy tenders?
     
  2. Jerry M. LaBoda

    Jerry M. LaBoda TrainBoard Supporter

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    While you won't find a photo of a prototype application for the Vanderbilt tender it is your model and you can do with it as you would like. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that, because of what it took to feed these beasts the tender needs to be "huge". Anything less would just not look right out on the road.
     
  3. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    That's the December 1976 issue of Railfan. Do you want me to dig it out of my stash and take a look? It might take a while for me to find it.
     
  4. acptulsa

    acptulsa TrainBoard Member

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    Never saw or heard of such a thing.

    The road did, however, have 2-8-8-0 types with Vandy tenders.
     
  5. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    The EL classes did have Vanderbilt tenders. Never have I seen a photograph of an EM-1 that had one, but that does not mean that it did not happen.

    I have seen a photograph of a Q-3 (USRA light 2-8-2) with one. It was taken sometime between 1955 and 1957. The Vanderbilt came from a scrapped EL class. During this period, B&O had been dismantling its steam facilities, so on some parts of the railroad, the steam power had to go longer between water and fuel stops..

    While on the subject of these things, while I doubt that B&O ran these or the EL classes between Baltimore and Philadelphia with any frequency, does anyone know if the tracks, bridges and clearances would take one of these things? I know that they would take the Q-4s and the various heavy pacifics, but does anyone know if they would take any of the articulateds? The Big Sixes? The T classes?
     
  6. Point353

    Point353 TrainBoard Member

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    One might ask via what route did the EM's make their way from Eddystone onto B&O property, and then to the location where they were put into service?
    Old topo maps seem to show a track along Crum Creek connecting the B&O and the RDG ( and passing below the PRR), with a siding leading into the Baldwin factory grounds.
     
  7. Randy Stahl

    Randy Stahl TrainBoard Supporter

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    The engines were delivered wherever there was a tax advantage at the moment. hard to say just where.

    Randy
     
  8. Inkaneer

    Inkaneer TrainBoard Member

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    Come to think about it I do believe it was an EL not an EM. So now the question is what region were the EM1's used?
     
  9. rogergperkins

    rogergperkins TrainBoard Member

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    Dixon & Withers' book on B&O EM-1s does not show any Vandy tenders in their collection of photos.
    There are some Vanderbilt tender photos in the book, but they are with 2-8-8-0s.
     
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2016
  10. Point353

    Point353 TrainBoard Member

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    The objective of asking where the EMs were delivered to the B&O had nothing to do with any financial aspect.
    Rather it was intended to help determine whether or not the B&O line between Baltimore and Philadelphia (Eddystone) was able to accommodate them.
     
  11. mmi16

    mmi16 TrainBoard Member

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    With the B&O having direct access to the Baldwin plant at Eddystone, I am certain they proceeded down, what is now, CSX's Philadelphia Sub and then continued West to their operating area of conquering the Allegheny's.
     
  12. rogergperkins

    rogergperkins TrainBoard Member

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    The Dixon & Withers' book covers the areas where B&O used them.
     
  13. mmi16

    mmi16 TrainBoard Member

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    Once their days of operating out of Cumberland to Grafton, Brunswick and Connellsville ended when they were replaced by diesels they were transferred to B&O's Akron Division and handled mineral trains between Holloway, OH and Cleveland and Lorain as well as operating on the Lake SD hauling coal to Painesville and Fairport Harbor, OH; where their time ran out.
     

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