Steam & Excursion > What the Bean Counters Said

Right after the Wabash purchased 25 M-1 4-8-2's and 25 O-1 4-8-4's from Baldwin (at the start of the Depression) there were some rumblings from the bean counters on the staff that they weren't really needed. It was their opinion that the Wabash fleet of K class 2-8-2s would be adequate. The Wabash had some big K-3 and K-4 2-8-2's (some with boosters) but it would have been a different railroad without the the 50 M-1's and O-1's, particularly during WWII. The M-1 Class (known as Twenty-Eight-Hundreds"  by the railroaders) with their 70 inch drivers and 69,400 lb. of tractive effort were up the task of fast Red Ball frieight and some were equipped with steam lines for passenger service too.

In contrast, the K-4 Mikes with 64" drivers (known as twenty-seven-hundreds" by Wabash men) put out about 65,000 lb. of tractive effort, but with a booster 77,000 lbs. (I don't know how much the boosters were used on the K-3's and K-4's.)

The attached is an original, large format negative from my collection (photographer unknown)  taken near "Little Englewood" in the Chicago area. The photographer was kind enough to provide a description on the negative sleeve: "Setember 3, 1949, Westbound  No. 91 with No. 2811 doing 40 mph with fifty-two cars". The train was on the Chicago & Western Indiana and would have come off the Wabash Fourth District and headed to 47th Street Yard. The M1's and O1's would serve about 20 years until EMD F7s and Alco F's outmoded them.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com 



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/15 20:16 by wabash2800.

---

Very interesting

Posted from Android

Slightly altered in Photoshop, lightened and sharpened.  Just to bring out detail in the shadows for the locomotive.

Ed



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/24/15 09:16 by Auburn_Ed.

---

It's way too light on my screen, but thanks anyway. I forgot to metion that these engines were ordered in 1929 before anyone had a hint on how bad the Depression was going to be. They were eventually bumped over to the 3rd and 4th Districts in October 1930 though could be in operation on the other mainlines too.