Steam & Excursion > Actually This Steam Job Would Be A Great Way To See The Country!

Each of the builder's of steam locomotives during the age of steam had men non staff who were trained in a very unique job. This was the locomotive courier.

When brand new steam locomotives were delivered to their new owners this meant they had to be towed for miles dead-in-train to their destination. It was the job of the locomotive courier to ride along in the cab and keep the engine parts lubricated while en route and in certain cases to set the engine up at it's new owner.

The men who handled these assignments had to turn the locomotive cab into their living quarters for the duration of the trip. This meant setting up a stove both for heat and for cooking and rigging a mattress for sleeping while on the journey. When the engine would stop along the way they would have to try and get food and showered as best as they could.

In 1931 Baldwin was delivering the last of the initial order of 2-8-8-2's to the Western Pacific when #256 rolled out of the plant at Eddystone, Pennsylvania and headed out West. Here we see her somewhere along the route with her courier enjoying the view along the way.

These men led interesting lives.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/18 01:09 by LoggerHogger.

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I bet life would be a bitch in the winter for those men.

I met a gentleman in the 1960's who was a Baldwin courier and he told me a good number of interesting tales connected to his many journeys delivering engines for Baldwin. As to the cold of winter he said the coal stove Baldwin installed in the cab could keep it as hot as he wanted and that he always started out with more food and water than he could possibly consume.

All in all he said it was a great job.

Ross Rowland

Should also be noted this wasn’t a practice restricted to new power, a good amount of used power also moved with messengers. For example, the Edward Hines Lumber Company sent its own messengers along with the four locomotives the company transferred from its Mississippi operations (then winding down) to its new venture then being built near Burns, Oregon. Hines sent the power out in three groups and selected as messengers people who could be immediately employed in the new operations. Each messenger was given money to cover traveling expenses and instructed to send a telegram to the main Hines office in Chicago at least once a day to provide location and status updates. The messengers stayed with the power as far as Pocatello, Idaho, where Hines had arranged to have UP rebuild and modernize all four in their shops, while the messengers continued on to Burns. However, the first two messengers promptly requested transfers back to Mississippi, one because he didn’t like the country, the other because he had trouble with his eyes. The managers in Mississippi suggested Oregon send a guy out to messenge the last locomotive, they declined as they still wanted people brought west. Unfortunately the surviving file on the subject ends right as this last engine was leaving Mississippi, so it remains unknown the fate of the third guy.

Thanks as always for the picture.

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

Posted from iPhone

Just yesterday a buddy described his friend's job - he delivers small airplanes around the world. His last trip was to fly an Air Tractor crop duster to Brazil.

Here's a new Frisco Northern arriving at Lindenwood in 1942 with a messenger on board. Looks like he ran the stovepipe up through the cab vent. Ironically she is being shoved from the Terminal RR Assn line onto the Frisco at SE Jct by a Baldwin VO1000 which will outlive her.

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So generally what kind of trains were these new steam locos in transit hauled in: local, drag freight, a manifest? I wonder, since I have accounts in my book of new Baldwin, Great Northern Mallets hauled on the Wabash Fourth District to Chicago from the East. I'd assume it might have to do with how many locos were in a train at a time. My accounts seem to be one, maybe two locos in a train.

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



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/18 17:24 by wabash2800.

This is an interesting subject that I always wondered about. I've got several questions you may be able to answer. Did any of the new or used locos. ever get delivered to their new railroad under their own power, across other railroads ? Also, when towed cold, how fast were they allowed to be pulled, and how often did they have to stop and check things out. How much of a break in did new engines need before being put under full load ? I suppose it varied a lot.

I read an article one time where Alco put one of the new Hiawatha F7 4-6-4s on a dynamometer at the factory, and ran it up to 120mph. That seems like it would be one pretty wild break in. I've got a photo of one of the same engines being broken in while pulling a good sized freight, even with it's 84 inch wheels.

Thanks again for the photos and stories.

Craig Hanson
Vay, Idaho

As to your first question, Oregon-American's 3-truck Willamette #106 was run over the SP&S from the Willamette factory in Portland, Oregon to Vernonia when new. This gave the O-A crews a chance to get used to the engines operation and to have it worn in by the time it reached camp.

Martin

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You know, on that WP engine, that thing has a nice big firebox.  Cozy little bedroom, if you ask me.  Squeeze a flexible mattress in down there?

Very interesting post...