Steam & Excursion > Once The Pride Of Their Builders These Locomotives Days Are Over!

Few sights were sadder throughout the age of steam than the deadlines of steam locomotives that were present on nearly every major mainline railroad.  It was here that the once new and glistening machines of steel and iron that were built especially for these railroads would serve out their last days in dust and grime covered covered rows with other engines about to meet their same fate.

One such "death row" of steam power was caught on film at the Northern Pacific yards in Tacoma, Washington in 1936.  With the Nation still struggling to emerge from the Great Depression, the Northern Pacific had little need to keep up repairs on the older locomotives in their steam fleet such as the engines shown here. 

The deadline in Tacoma that day is filled with locomotives from both ALCO and Baldwin that had been once delivered new from those factories to NP when times were good and more power was needed to keep pace with NP's need for power.  By 1936, this had all changed and few, if any, of these engines would ever see steam fill their boiler's again.

Martin



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/19 02:45 by LoggerHogger.

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Death row.

I remember seeing the huge SP&S "Challenger" 4-6-6-4s lined up in a row in Vancouver, WA with the windows boarded-up.  A time in my life when the "cycle of life", had little meaning for me.

 

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

E25 Wrote:
> I remember seeing the huge SP&S "Challenger"
> 4-6-6-4s lined up in a row in Vancouver, WA with
> the windows boarded-up.  A time in my life when
> the "cycle of life", had little meaning for me.
>
>
Greg,   This is what you are remembering.

Martin

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That's it, Martin.  My dad took me by to have a look when I was about 14 or so. 'Definitely a lingering memory.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

If any of them survived for just a few years more then they were recalled into service for WWII.  Once the war started it seemed like any locomotive  that could boil water was put back into service.  The flip side though is that the railroads came out of the war flush with cash and knowing that diesels were the future went on a buying spree. So even though the war gave some old locomotives a repreve from the scrappers tourch, in the long run the war sped up the demise of steam.

Northern Pacific P-1 #215 was dismantled on June 17, 1937.  Northern Pacific F-1 #63 was dismantled on February 17, 1939.

http://www.nprha.org/Equipment/Numerical%20Registers/NP%20Locos%20and%20Misc/NP%20Steam%20Locomotives%201%20-%20547%20Register%20Sheets.pdf
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/19 08:35 by WoodwardEJ.

When I was a child around 7 or 8 years old, there was a dead line of B&O steam engines parked in the Curtis Bay Yards in South Baltimore waiting to be sent over to the local scrap yard near by.  In later years of 1957 & 1958 there was another dead line of B&O steamers parked in the Mt. Clare Yard behind what is now the B&O R.R. Museum and all of these were gradually delivered to the nearby scrap yard only a few hundred feet from the end of the yard.  There were all kinds of engines from Pacific's 4-8-2's to a few 4-8-2 Mountains.  Whenever my parents went over to the Montgomery Ward & Company main store right across from Carroll Park, my father would walk me over across the street and these steam locomotives were right there just beyond the park fence.   I only wish that we had taken the time to photograph them.  Sad times.
John in White Marsh, Maryland.

More recently while in China, Daban ? I recall walking between 2 lines of dead QJ's, sad to see these wonderful machines being scrapped. :(

With China's improving economy even they can't afford to use steam in daily service.The cost of labour has gone up there too.

I don’t know the ultimate fate of 2433 which is next in line, but her sister 2435 survives to this day at the Lake Shore Railroad Museum after having survived almost to the end on NP steam, based in Duluth.

Gordon

The accounting practice of changing business technology continues today...    A frequent TO philosopher often remarks...."It's all crap now."    :-)

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Northern Pacific T-1 2-6-2 #2433 was dismantled on January 24, 1940.  I didn't add that to my earlier post because I was not sure of the engine number.

http://www.nprha.org/Equipment/Numerical%20Registers/NP%20Locos%20and%20Misc/NP%20Steam%20Locomotives%201850%20-%202505%20Register%20Sheets.pdf



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/15/19 18:05 by WoodwardEJ.

gbmott Wrote:
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> I don’t know the ultimate fate of 2433 which is
> next in line, but her sister 2435 survives to this
> day at the Lake Shore Railroad Museum after having
> survived almost to the end on NP steam, based in
> Duluth.
>
> Gordon

Do you mean the Lake Superior Railroad Museum?