Steam & Excursion > Frisco Friday-The 4400s

As has been told many times, the Frisco bought 60 low drivered 2-10-2s back in the teens.  They were big hogs but were rough on the rails and were limited to 30-35 mph. Engine crews hated them, section foremen hated them and after the Frisco started updatng their motive power fleet during the '20s a different midset was used.
In 1936, the West Shops in Springfield undertook building 11 higher horsepower, higher drivered 4-8-2s.  They salvaged what they could from the "spot" engines in bulding the 4300s, but the only thing they used from the boiler was the steam dome and a piece of the boiler underneath it and put it on a new nickle steel boiler rolled in Springfield.  The 4300s were great engines with front end throttles and really speeded up freight service.  Three years later, more of the spot engines were utilized in bulding the 4400 class big 4-8-2s.  This time money was getting short and they used as much of the boiler and cab as they could.  New smokeboxes, huge cylinders and oil burners.  The first run of them made a huge difference and were also used in passenger service.  Like the 4300s they had Scullin Disc drivers, boosters and bigger tenders.   After the first run, they started using web spoked drivers and were coal burners.  They built a total of 23 of them.  They were the last 4-8-2s added to the roster.  Frisco ended up with 30 1500s,11 4300s and 23 4400s which did heavy duty work during the war.  The 4400s were among the heaviest 4-8-2s built.
Again turning to the Barham negatives, we show three of these 4400s doing their thing in fine form,  This time we are hanging around Valley Park Hill, west of Kirkwood, MO in '42-'43.

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Thanks for sharing Don. The Frisco engines always look good. The Wabash had the same experience with their 2-10-2s. Those very few that didn't end up on the second-hand market were used on drag freights and transfer trains.

Incidentally, I  just send  you an email with a a rear-end photo of the Wabash 2813 tender.

Victor

That smokebox reminds me of a UP FEF.

It's kinda funny Don, Great Northern went the other way with their P-1 class Mountains and turned them into 2-10-2's....Q somethings I think...Research! Really dig your Frisco stuff!

Cheers, Dave

 

I love how clean and delineated the right-of-ways werre back then.  And while all these engines are handsome, the scullin-drivered engines look great!  Why did they go with spoked drivers afterward?