Steam & Excursion > Restoring T&P 610

A group of us had a chance to visit the site where T&P 610 was under restoration for Freedom Train service.
Here it is outside next to the - still being used - stockpens at the Ft.Worth Stockyards in May 1975. I was amazed the 610 group could work like this , outside dealing with the weather conditions and also the great cattle smell.
We were sure they could never get the engine ready in 9 months for the Freedom Train - boy were we wrong !

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I don't know if slaughtering was still going on (a few buildings were being demolished) at the stockyards but the cattle pens were still used.

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They did it - 9 months later in Feb 1976, the just restored 610 is running fast southbound on the Missouri Pacific headed to Austin to meet (later this same day) the SP 4449 and the Freedom Train.
610 had a break-in run from Ft.Worth-Wichita Falls earlier but was ready for this run to the Freedom Train only 2 days before (thanks to tomstp for that info).
The engine looked and sounded great !
Can you imagine a class I today allowing a steam engine to run light on their rails just after being restored ?
I'm not sure what town this is, maybe Buda ?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/20 09:01 by gcm.

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Getting closer to Austin.

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Later that same day, 4449 and 610 posed side by side in Austin.
The crews had a celebration in front of the engines.
Later the 610 took the Freedom Train to Houston then up to its home base in Ft.Worth where the 4449 took over again.
Congratulations were in order to crews of both engines for a job well done.

Gary

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Great stuff Gary, thanks for sharing.

How is the 610 doing today?
Where is it today and any current photos available?

Hope it's undercover and not stuffed and mounted.

Wattslocal

The 610 is currently located at the Texas State Railroad located in Rusk, Texas (South of Dallas)
and operates a tourist line with operating steam engines along a 25 mile scenic line.  The 610 is
stored inside a covered building and is often pushed outside for railfans to see and photograph.
It is not operable.

Thanks for posting this. There is very little about the 610 and it's part of the AFT history available.

       Tom

Actually its first mainline running was on the FW&D Ft Worth to Wichita Falls and back for its break in run..  It was ready for the Freedom Train only 2 days before it had to be ready.  That was close.

tomstp Wrote:
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> Actually its first mainline running was on the
> FW&D Ft Worth to Wichita Falls and back for its
> break in run..  It was ready for the Freedom
> Train only 2 days before it had to be ready.
>  That was close.

Thanks for that info.
I wasn't sure if it had a break-in run before.
Gary

There were a lot of old steam guys left on the railroads back then.  They were quite familiar with the capability and actual simplicity of those machines.  The engines hadn't actually been laid up that long, if you think about it.  Given the amount of service restored steam would see, total rebuilds seemed like overkill, considering the rough and tumble nature of actually hauling revenue.  During their final years many of them were cobbled together in areas that would make you hat flip.  They weren't that scared--not like today. 

Your best set yet!
Thanks for sharing these. I photographed her on an excursion in Indiana, so these brought back great memories.
Bob

Here she sits with a sister in Shreveport La engine terminal, 1949

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tomstp Wrote:
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> Here she sits with a sister in Shreveport La
> engine terminal, 1949

Nice !
Gary

In the Lima early, 4-wheel,  trailing trucks, wasn't the front drawbar-pin actually in
the rear transverse cross-brace of the trailer truck?

The Commonwealth Delta ( triangular, 3-point) trailer trucks had not yet been introduced,
when Lima manufactured these 2-10-4s.

Whats truly remarkable is that at the time these locos were introduced, that they
performed almost perfectly,  from drawing board to a whole class of successful 
locomotives.

In the photo, I loved the two Lima products, next to each other, almost two decades apart...
like a father and son pair, basking in a crowd of admirers...
It's a wonderful photo for what it captures,

Thanks goes to Ross, for all the years of hard work, blood, sweat & tears that he'd put into
getting the AFT to become a reality.

Look at all the similar restorations that have been spawned, since these two, and the RDG 2101 
were all made road-ready and under steam --- all in very tight time-frames, in that short, brilliant
flash of time.
💥

​Wes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/20 11:35 by wcamp1472.

wcamp1472 Wrote:
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> In the Lima early, 4-wheel,  trailing trucks,
> wasn't the front drawbar-pin actually in
> the rear transverse cross-brace of the trailer
> truck?
>
Yes.

What follows is a repost from about 5 years ago describing this truck.
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There have been several threads recently mentioning Lima's articulated trailing truck and frame, so I thought I'd whip up
a couple of sketches showing what this is, and how it differed from more conventional designs.

Lima had a LOT of great ideas when it came to innovation and improvement in steam locomotive design, but this wasn't one
of them!

Conventional non-articulated "delta" trailing truck
A. Boiler attached rigidly to frame via cylinder saddle
B. Sliding pads on frame at 4 corners of firebox allow boiler expansion/contraction but no lateral movement
C. Tender drawbar attached to frame
D. Trailing truck hinges on frame
E. Tailpiece of frame which supports firebox is, itself, supported by the trailing truck by "heart rocker" centering
devices
F. Front 2 driving axles (on both sides) and two wheel pony truck are equalized together
G. Rear 2 driving axles and trailing truck are equalized together on each side, thus providing "three point" suspension
for the entire locomotive


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Lima Articulated trailing truck
A. Boiler attached rigidly to frame via cylinder saddle
B. Sliding pads on frame at 2 front corners of firebox allow boiler expansion/contraction but no lateral movement
C. Tender drawbar attached to trailing truck
D. Trailing truck hinges on frame
E. Tailpiece of trailing truck supports rear 2 corners of firebox by lateral sliding pads, allowing truck to swivel but
with no centering devices.  A centering device would put undue stresses on the firebox
F. All 4 driving axles and two wheel pony truck are equalized together
G. 2 axles of trailing truck are equalized together on each side, thus providing "three point" suspension for locomotive
H. On coal burners, the ashpan was attached to the top of the trailing truck, rather than to the mudring, and swiveled under the firebox along with the truck
No locomotives were built with articulated trailing truck and 4 wheel leading truck.  There would be major problems
equilizing such a locomotive

It's easy to see that the articulated truck bore all in-train forces, and why it was unstable, particularly when backing
on curves.

-Larry Doyle

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Here is where both engines were made - Lima Locomotive Works in Lima,Ohio.
In June 93 the plant was mostly abandoned and nothing remains today.
Gary

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Larry, the trailing truck was unstable backing but, make that backing into rather sharp curves.  For example the switches at Dallas Union Terminal.  It would run forward thru them with no problem but, T&P found out right quick about trying to back into them with several derailments.