USATC S160 Class

USATC S160 Class

China KD6, ÖBB Class 956, ČSD Class 456.1, SNCF Class 140U, SEK Class Θγ (THg), MÁV Class 411, FS Class 736, PKP Tr201 and Tr203, Russia class ШA, Renfe class 553, TCDD 45171 Class, JZ class 37

S160 5197 at Cheddleton, Staffordshire.
Type and origin
Power type Steam
Designer Maj. J. W. Marsh
Builder American Locomotive Company (755),
Baldwin Locomotive Works (712),
Lima Locomotive Works (653)
Build date 1942–1946
Total produced 2120
Specifications
Configuration 2-8-0
UIC classification 1′D h2
Gauge 4 ft 8 12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Leading wheel
diameter
2 ft 9 in (838 mm)
Driver diameter 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm)
Wheelbase 51 ft 7 34 in (15.74 m)
Length 61 ft 0 in (18.59 m), including tender
Weight on drivers 140,000 lb (63,503 kg)
Locomotive weight 161,000 lb (73,028 kg)
Tender weight 115,500 lb (52,390 kg)
Fuel type Coal
Fuel capacity 20,000 lb (9,072 kg)
Water capacity 6,500 US gallons (25,000 l; 5,400 imp gal)
Boiler 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) maximum diameter
Boiler pressure 225 lbf/in2 (1.55 MPa)
Firegrate area 41 sq ft (3.8 m2)
Heating surface:
– Tubes
1,055 sq ft (98.0 m2) (150 in or 3,810 mm long × 2 in or 51 mm diameter)
– Flues 567 sq ft (52.7 m2) (30 in or 762 mm long × 5.375 in or 137 mm diameter)
– Firebox 136 sq ft (12.6 m2)
– Total 2,253 sq ft (209.3 m2)
Superheater area 313 sq ft (29.1 m2)
Cylinders Two, outside
Cylinder size 19 in × 26 in (482.6 mm × 660.4 mm)
bore x stroke
Valve gear Walschaerts
Valve type 10 inches (254 mm) piston valves
Performance figures
Tractive effort 31,490 lbf (140.1 kN)
Career
Class USATC S160 and country derivatives
Official name USATC S160 Class
Locale United States
European Union
China

The United States Army Transportation Corps S160 Class is a class of 2-8-0 Consolidation steam locomotive designed for use in Europe during World War II for heavy freight work. A total of 2,120 were built and they worked on railroads across the world, including Africa, Asia, all of Europe and South America.

Design

During the 1930s, the United States Army Transportation Corps approved update of a Baldwin Locomotive Works World War I design in contingency for war transportation, to create the S159 Class. During the period of World War Two when America was neutral, the government of Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the Lend-Lease supply to the United Kingdom of the S200 Class, designed specifically to fit into the restricted British loading gauge.[1]

With America's entry to World War Two, the USATC needed a developed design from which to create a volume of locomotive power for the wrecked railways of Europe, which they could use to deploy military hardware and civilian goods. Hence the design created by Maj. J. W. Marsh from the Railway Branch of the Corps of Engineers learnt from both previous locomotives, designed on austerity principles and built using methods which created efficient and fast construction speed over long life,[1] such as axlebox grease lubricators and rolled plates preferred to castings.

With cast frames and cast wheels, the front two driving axles were sprung independently from the rear two driving axles to allow for running on poor quality track. The larger tender layout was derived from the similar design for the WD Austerity 2-8-0, with the coal bunker inset above the water tank to improve visibility when running backwards.

British deployment

800 locomotives were constructed in 1942/3 in thirteen batches, split between ALCO, Baldwin and Lima Locomotive Works. Shipped to South Wales and dispatched from the GWR locomotive depot at Newport, Ebbw Junction, the first 43 locomotives were transferred to the LNER works at Doncaster for completion, and later running in over the East Coast Main Line. This started a pattern whereby each of the four British railway companies eventually deployed a total of 400 S160's under the guise of "running in," but factually replacing damaged stock and increasing the capacity of the British railway system to allow for shipping of military pre-invasion equipment and troops. The eventual deployment of S160's were:

The second batch of 400 S160's were prepared for storage by USATC personnel at the Great Western's Ebbw Junction locomotive depot in the immediate run-up to D-Day. After the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the locomotives deployed across Britain again began to be collected and be refurbished at Ebbw Junction in preparation for shipment to Europe.

Operational failures

The S160's were designed for quick and efficient building, not long term operations, thus compromises in design led to some difficulties in operations. The axle box grease lubricators were not very efficient, particularly when maintenance procedures lapsed or were delayed for operational war reasons, and so axle boxes often ran hot. Braking was poor for European standards, with a Westinghouse steam brake used for the locomotive,[1] which was woefully insufficient due to the long distance from the driver's valve and the brake cylinder.

The major faults of the S160 were the crown stays in the firebox, coupled with only a single water gauge of an unreliable design, which was prone to blockage, misleading the crew into thinking that the water level was adequate, even though it was becoming dangerously low. The bolts holding the crown stays were found to collapse under heat tension with low water levels and with little warning, resulting in a boiler explosion.[2] In a space of ten months, three UK S160s suffered a collapse of the firebox crown, with the first leading to the death of a GWR fireman on No. 2403 in November 1943.

Deployment

Judging accurately the actual deployment of 2120 locomotives is difficult, but the following numbers are referenced:[2]

Europe

The British locomotives, together with those shipped direct from America were also similarly deployed first with troops reclaiming Europe, and then subsumed throughout European national railways as replacements for their destroyed stock after the war:

Africa

At the same time as S160s were being deployed into Britain, when General Patton led American troops in Operation Torch into the North African Campaign, their Transport Corps brought with them S160s. These locomotives moved across the north of the continent as Patton's troops waged war, and when the troops moved to Italy the majority of their S160s moved with them. These locomotives, supplemented with those directly imported from America, were eventually to create a group of 243 locomotives, subsumed by the Italian State Railway's to become the FS Class 736 class.

Americas

607 at the US Army Transportation Museum

Asia

After World War Two, the reconstruction of the world required transportation. The S160s were deployed to Asia under the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, to China and South Korea.[10]

Variants

There were three major variants of the S160 class, excluding inlife design development:

Preservation

Mainly due to their numbers, rather than the design or build quality, at least 25 examples of the S160 have survived into preservation, making them one of the most numerous survivors of all Mainline Steam Locomotives:

No. Builder Post WW2 Owner Current Owner Location Notes
1631 Alco 70284 Hungary MÁV 411.388 Great Central Railway (Nottingham) United KingdomRuddington, Nottinghamshire under restoration
2138 Alco 70620 Hungary MÁV 411.380 Great Central Railway (Nottingham) United KingdomRuddington, Nottinghamshire Source of strategic spares for 1631
2364 Baldwin 69621 Hungary MÁV 411.xxx Great Central Railway (Nottingham) United KingdomRuddington, Nottinghamshire Chassis only, source for strategic spares for 1631
2627 Baldwin 69855 United States Alaska Railroad 556 City of Anchorage United States Anchorage, Alaska|
3523 Baldwin 70480 United States Alaska Railroad 557 Engine 557 Restoration Company United States Wasilla, Alaska August,2012, being restored for operation.
5846 Lima 8784 United States US Army 606 Crewe Railroad Museum United States Crewe, Virginia
5187 Lima 8846 United States US Army 2627; US Army 607 US Army Transportation Museum United States Fort Eustis Military Railroad
2628 Baldwin 69856 United States US Army 611 Bill Miller Equipment Sales United States Eckhart Mines, Maryland Fitted with Franklin Poppet valve gear[13] undergoing restoration
2630 Baldwin 69858 United States US Army 612 Southeastern Railway Museum United States Duluth, Georgia For Sale / Undergoing restoration
1702 Baldwin 64641 United States Reader Railroad Great Smoky Mountains Railroad United States Dillsboro, North Carolina Undergoing restoration
5197 Lima 8856 China Funshum Industrial Railway, #KD6.463 Churnet Valley Railway United Kingdom Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Overhaul began 2013
6046 Baldwin 72080 Hungary MÁV 411.144 Churnet Valley Railway United Kingdom Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Overhaul finished July 2012, Returned to service December 2012. Operating on hire at the Nene Valley Railway until 2015.
2253 Baldwin 69496 Poland PKP Tr.203.208 North Yorkshire Moors Railway United Kingdom North Yorkshire Cosmetically overhauled. Loaned to National Railway Museum at Shildon until October 2015.
5820 Lima 8758 Poland PKP Tr.203.474 Keighley and Worth Valley Railway United Kingdom West Yorkshire Returned to service in January 2014 following overhaul
3278 Baldwin 70340 Italy FS 736.073; Greece SEK Θγ575 Tyseley Locomotive Works United KingdomTyseley, West Midlands #701 Franklin D. Roosevelt, Under overhaul at Tyseley for Long Marston Military Railway
5164 Lima 8823 Poland PKP Tr.201.51 Polskie Koleje Państwowe Poland Jaworzyna Śląska
2438 ALCO 70787 Poland PKP Tr.203.296 Polskie Koleje Państwowe Poland Jaworzyna Śląska
5801 Lima 8739 Poland PKP Tr203-451 Polskie Koleje Państwowe Poland Warsaw Railway Museum
3540 Alco 70587 Hungary MÁV 411.118 Hungarian Railway Museum HungaryBudapest Operational
2781 Lima 8434 Hungary MÁV 411.264 Railway station Hungary Hatvan Plinthed
6056 Baldwin 72090 Hungary MÁV 411.358 Railway station Hungary Hegyeshalom Plinthed
2206 Lima 8212 Greece SEK Θγ 525 OSE Greece Thessaloniki Depot stored
2524 Lima 8341 Turkey TCDD 45172 Turkish State Railways Turkey Çamlık Railway Museum
2879 Alco 71076 Turkey TCDD 45174 Turkish State Railways Turkey Ankara Railway Museum
3324 Alco 71579 Italy FS 736.114 FS Italy Pietrarsa railway museum
Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton 75503 United States US Army 610 Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum United States Chattanooga, Tennessee Out of service for her 1472 inspection & rebuild. 610 is technically not an S-160 but classified as a type A, constructed in 1952

See also

References

  • Hughes, Hugh (1977). Steam Locomotives in India, Part 3 – Broad Gauge. Harrow, Middlesex: The Continental Railway Circle. ISBN 0-9503469-4-2.
  • Rakov, V. A. (1995). Lokomotivy otechestvennykh zheleznykh dorog 1845–1955 (in Russian). Moscow. ISBN 5-277-00821-7.
  • Tourret, R. (1977). United States Army Transportation Corps Locomotives. Abingdon: Tourret Publishing. ISBN 0-905878-01-9.

External links

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