Steam & Excursion > Wabash Beauty

From Appendix B in my Railroading on the Wabash Fourth District book. This is a builder photo, but a later modification to carry more coal was to add coal boards on top of the tender. My late friend, retired Conductor Clarence Montgomery really liked these engines. And in his 90s he could still tell you the quirks and perks of some of these engines by loco number!  Even as a conductor, sometimes he would ride the jump seat in these engines. These were the power on the Red Ball freights and drags on the Fourth District (Montpelier to Chicago) but once in a while an O-1 4-8-4 would run on the Fourth District in a pinch. The Wabash had 25 M-1s, Nos. 2800-2824. They had 70 inch drivers, 245 PSI, 27x32 in cylinders and put out 69,400 lbs of tractive effort. They were delivered in early 1930 and ran btw Montpelier and Decatur before they moved over to Montpelier to Chicago and Montpelier to Detroit in regular service in October of that year. The M-1s were replaced on the Fourth District by pairs of EMD F7s in June 1950.

For some years into the late 1950s, 32 locos consisting of M-1s, O-1s and P-1 Hudsons were stored at the Decatur, Illinois Shops but never returnd to service. (Reportedly, this was to support the national defense effort if additional power was needed.) Not a one was saved. Only two Wabash steam locos survived: An ancient 2-6-0 (F-6 Class No. 573) used on the Keokuck Branch (recently cosmetically restored at the St. Louis Museum of Transport) and a B-7 0-6-0 (Wabash No. 534) in the possession of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical  Society that had ran on the Wabash subsidiary Lake Erie & Fort Wayne as their No. 1, retired in 1957.

​In appendix B, I included a steam and diesel tonnage rating chart, time book summaries by loco numbers, train numbers, class and year for 27 years, diagrams with specs of almost all the Wabash locos used on the Fourth, plus photographs. Of course, first-hand accounts and histories etc., of the locos are in the text with photos too. Appendix B includes other rolling stock.1200 books were printed in December 2013 and just a little more than a hundred are left. My breakfast nook was stacked rather high of these books when deliverd in December 2013. I am down to one row of boxes and look forward to filling the nook with a like number of New York Central, Fort Wayne & Jackson books in 2017.

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



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/16 16:59 by wabash2800.

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Beautiful locomotives !

Put Bill Ferguson on one of these on a Hot Rod 98 and you've got one of the best shows in railroading !

Railroading on the Wabash Fourth District - Great Book, Thanks !!

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/16 16:46 by train1275.

Yes, Bill was a "Hot-Rodder" or "Runner" as they were called on the Wabash. He is, of course, mentioned in the book more than once. He was rather egotisical and a speed demon. Bill was fired  from the railroad for a year when he rear-ended a freight one day (missed a signal). His brother Chuck was a fast runner too, but he was a little less egotistical. Incidentally, both Bill and Chuck were WWI Vets.

​Quoted from page 66 and caption on page 67 of No. 2814: "The dispatcher would tell the yardmasters up there at East Chicago to get their swtich engines off the track or someplace in the clear, because either Bill or Chuck was coming through. When they had the railroad, they would run it--and they did too." Clarence Montgomery

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



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/16 16:56 by wabash2800.