Steam & Excursion > What You Do When Your Steam Locomotive Is Banned!

Not everyone looked fondly on steam locomotives even back when steam was the primary power used by American Railroads. Certain cities objected to these smoke belching and whistle shrieking beasts that they were outlawed within their City limits for decades!

One such town was Modesto, California. For many years the Modesto town fathers prohibited the use of steam power on the streets of the city. This required the Tidewater Southern to develop a means of getting their trains through town while complying with the ban on steam power. Here is what they did to solve the problem.

When the local steam powered TS freight train approached the outskirts of town, the fire was killed on the steam locomotive and an electric motor was added as we see her in this late 1930's photo. TS Motor #100 has taken over pulling the freight train brought into town by TS #1 for the balance of the trip though town. Once they are through town, the crew will light off #1 and they will proceed on to Stockton under steam power.

Thus, another problem solved.


Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/14 04:06 by LoggerHogger.

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Classic view of the Tidewater!

I was told by an old fireman that near the end of this strange arrangement, about 1946-47 (the last wire came down in 48), the 100 was so tired that it could barely move itself. So it was stuck on the front, basically for show, and the the steam engine did a majority of the work, with the fireman being ordered to keep a clean stack so as not to draw the wrath of the local powers.

Thanks for posting, Martin!

Z

Martin,
help me understand how the city forced this requirement....was this before localities were prohibited from interfering with interstate commerce? thanks, Arlen

Is this different than a municipality enforcing a speed limit on trains passing through it? The town I live in had this until not too many years ago.

Posted from iPhone

I don't know about speed limits or the current concerns about crude oil routings. Those seem to be issues that can only be regulated at the federal level. In this case, the description indicates they were running through the streets. There's nothing that says a town has to allow that at all and they certainly can require compliance with certain regulations if they do.

I am running off memory here, but as I recall it was a franchise restriction placed by the city because the Tidewater wanted to build down Ninth Street, which was and still is one of the major streets in Modesto.

Note that the Southern Pacific, whose line was literally one block over, never had the same restriction. I believe it was only because of the location in the street. Since the Tidewater Southern was built as an electric passenger interurban, this was likely not viewed as a detriment, however the railroad rapidly realized that it was better off with freight revenue, and thus the Ninth Street section became a problem for Modesto that persisted for almost 90 years, until it was abandoned in 2000-2001.

So, the TS probably could have said "screw you" on the steam restriction, but then the city would have said "fine, buy your own right of way". Instead, we got a fascinating little shortline that simultaneously operated steam, diesel and electric for a few years and still survives today (although part of the big yellow UP).

Z

My recollection is that the restriction was because of steam locomotives spooking horses, which were then still powering vehicles (wagons, etc.) Spooked horses led to accidents & injuries. Cleanliness was not the issue. Horse pollution was more of a problem than steam locomotive pollution, but that was not a consideration.

In 1903, the New York State legislature passed a law banning New York Central's operation of steam locomotives in Manhattan by 1908 after one train collided into another in the Park Avenue Tunnel in 1902 killing 15 people.

The ban was extended to other railroads operating in Manhattan with subsequent state legislation in 1923. These restrictions led to the development and operation of some of the earliest diesel locomotives in the United States.

LoggerHogger Wrote:

> When the local steam powered TS freight train
> approached the outskirts of town, the fire was
> killed on the steam locomotive and an electric
> motor was added as we see her in this late 1930's
> photo.

That looks like either a Charles Savage photo or a photo by someone standing next to him. The Western Railway Museum Archives has a couple of nearly identical negatives, same cars behind the engines, 106 to the right, etc. The date on the envelope is August 12, 1939.

zephyrus

> I am running off memory here, but as I recall it was a franchise restriction placed by the city because the Tidewater wanted to build down Ninth Street, which was and still is one of the major streets in Modesto. Note that the Southern Pacific, whose line was literally one
> block over, never had the same restriction.

I assume M&ET didn't either? The first shot below by Arthur Lloyd shows M&ET 6 pulling into the TS yard beside motor 601. When did M&ET build their connection to the SP down B St?

A couple of other TS pictures in the archive have me scratching my head. Tacking the freight motor directly onto the steam engine makes sense, but there are also scenes with several freight cars separating the two as though the 100 was busy doing other things when the train showed up, and the motor just brought its work along as it escorted the steam train (there's probably a better explanation). The second photo below is another Savage view from October 8, 1938, and the third is an undated view by Addison Laflin.

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More "fallen flags," DeSoto and Plymouth.