When did it happen? 1945-60 is the "transition era", but when did it occur for each railroad? For any railroad you know, state when they bought their last steam engine and the last time one ran in revenue service. Example: Norfolk & Western - 1953/1960.
Milwaukee Road- Last new steam was 1944. (Class S-3, including the still operating #261.) Their last "regular" service for any Milw steam, I believe 1954. Many of these last locos were were retired 1952-1954. But some were stored. Not scrapped. Held in sort of a "reserve" status. Their last steam were officially retired 1956. Boxcab E50
The first D&H Diesel was #3000 built in 1944 (Scrapped 1962). As for D&H Steam, they mainly ended service around 1953. This was one of the last (Built 1940 - Luria August 1953)
For Western Pacific my source indicates #486 in 1943, and last steam regular freight, 1953. (#329) A ceremony to celebrate fifty years of passenger service, #94 at the front of the Zephyr in 1960 may have been the last steam "operation". For Feather River Railway, the three Shays were built in the twenties, and last steam operation (I think) was 1964.
I'm pretty sure one of the last hold outs was the N&W. They may have gone as long as 1963. The interesting part about their transition is that as soon as diesels took over mainline jobs, it was possible to see a mallet pulling a branch local with three cars and a caboose. I have a photo book with pictures by O Winston Link that shows some of these crazy consists. Steam lasted much longer in europe. I recall seeing steam engines pulling trains in the Italian alps up into the late 60's, possibly into 70's era. Countries like yugoslavia lasteds even longer.
New York Central subsidiary Pittsburgh and Lake Erie bought their last steam, A-2 Berkshires, in 1948. They were short lived. Various reports exist about the last steam runs on the Central, but 1956 seems to be the commonly reported "last" year.
The Magma Railroad, a desert mining shortline here in Arizona, was still running revenue steam through 1963 or so, changing over to diesel power for their last decades.
I know some shortlines ran steam past 1960 - the Rio Grande narrow gauge never dieselized and ran its last revenue freights in 1968 - and I also know that almost everywhere else in the world kept steam longer. In Britain, it lasted till '67? on the mainlines, and in Germany into the early '70s. I should have made it clear: I was only really interested in US Class 1 railroads.
L&N: Last steam was delivered in 1949 in the form of M-1 berkshires, or "big emmas". All steam operations ended in 1956.
I am pretty sure the Great Northern purchased it's last steam in the late forties. By 1956 there was steam at the roundhouse but not performing any revenue service. Most GN steam was scrapped by 1964. I am sure that some were rescued for "museum" use.
Some roads started off with dieselizing just switchers or passenger trains, pushing steam out of their jobs... Any particular roads you interested in? Harold
Not really. I'm not likely to model transition-era. I just want to know if the generic statements I've read are right, so I need figures for many different railroads. Though now that I think of it, I want to know for UP and New Haven, because I seem to recall the former retired steam late and the latter did early.
The AT&SF was declared totaly diesl in 1953, but the heavy modern steam was held in reserve for power shortages. The last revanue steam ran in 1957, <shamless plug> our Loco the 2926 is the youngest Santa Fe 2900 left and we hope to retern it to service soon <we tell evey one 6 years, but we really dont know <<G>>. Gunns
Yer talkin mui, mucho grande dinero ! If you folks get a grant to do the work, let me know who, what, where, and why the grant issuer is. We need one to get the #19 up and running again !
Hey Bill, I thought that you weren't going to work with those guys anymore. Did you change your mind?
No .. I'm not working with them. But I will do my very best to try and get old #19 alive again. Mostly because it is extremely important to the community.
