Class 149 / 807 / 931 (Locobase 7440)

Data from 1918 Union Pacific Locomotives & Tenders diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. Builder and roster data from Don Strack's compilation presented on Utah Rails' http://utahrails.net/steam/up03-upsys1885-1898-06.php . Taunton works numbers were 657-663 and 664-668.

Based on the 737 shown in Locobase 5088, this class shared many components with that class. Two differences were the shorter boiler tubes and the taller drivers. Most retained their 24" cylinders, but the 816 and 819 received 26"-diameter cylinders in Nov 1892 and Aug 1893.

Class 15 (Locobase 6572)

Data from 1914 ST J & GI locomotive diagram supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. Works numbers were 1360-1363 in March 1884.

Weight data is the best reading from the diagram, but cannot be confirmed fully.

Class 20 (Locobase 6573)

Data from 1914 ST J & GI locomotive diagram supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The diagram tells us that the data reflects the St J & GI's rebuild in 1890. Taunton delivered the original in 1874 as works #20.

Class 21 (Locobase 6574)

Data from 1914 ST J & GI locomotive diagram supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

The diagram tells us that the data reflects the St J & GI's rebuild in 1893. Taunton delivered the original in 1874 as works #41. The 1893 makeover yielded a locomotive identical in its principal areas and dimensions to the Baldwin Moguls of 1885 (see Locobase 6576).

Class 22 (Locobase 6575)

Data from 1914 ST J & GI locomotive diagram supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. In the diagram, the works number was given as 7767, which doesn't match any listing.

This Eight-wheeler was a slight enlargement of the 15 class that had arrived a year earlier.

Class 600 / 900 (Locobase 5088)

Data from Union Pacific locomotive diagram drawn up in September 1898 as reproduced in the National Park Service's study of Steamtown's #737. According to the report, #737 was delivered in 1887 "...as part of one of the largest locomotive orders on record up to that date.." although the total for the class isn't given. http://utahrails.net/up/steam/up-steam-1885-1915.php

(visited 14 July 2005) gives details of builder's numbers:

8372, 8375, 8381-8424.

As delivered, the engine had a shallow diamond stack, long "cowcatcher" with vertical bars and plain, squared domes for sand and steam.

A comparison with other Locobase 4-4-0s of similar vintage shows that while the 600 class was in the middle of the pack in terms of heating surface and offered a relatively small grate, it had a deep firebox with lots of area. Taken all in all, it's highly representative of a dual-service eight-wheeler of the era.

Over the years, those members of the class that remained with the Union Pacific were refitted with an extended smokebox and "shotgun" stack. The NPS report does not give details on when the last member of the class was retired from the UP. See the report for 737's extended operating life with the Southern Pacific and the Erath & Vermilion Sugar Companies in Vermilion Bayou.

Class 760 (Locobase 2849)

Data from Alexander, Iron Horse, p. l 81 and from Memoires et compte-rendu des travaux?

by Societe des ingenieurs civils de France, Vol 2 (1888), pp. 204-206.

Camelbacks (also known as Mother Hubbards) were almost always associated with Northeast anthracite roads, where their wide, wide Wootten fireboxes provided the grate area needed to burn that type of coal. In the Nebraska and Wyoming sections of the Union Pacific, a Wootten firebox could burn fine coal or the slack from coal mining. So Clement Hackney, superintendent of the road designed these engines to take advantage of the fuel on hand. Unlike the eastern camelbacks, these had a full cab for the fireman.

The class was converted to a standard firebox and cab in 1892; see Locobase 6585.

Class 780 (Locobase 2154)

Data from 1899 Brooks catalogue.

Builder info from B.Rumary, 25 Kingscombe, Gurney Slade, Radstock, BA3 4TH, ENGLAND and Jeremy Lambert as supplied by Allen Stanley in March 2004. Works #1380-1389, produced in June 1888.

Classic '80s American with coned boiler topped by smallish steam dome just ahead of large wooden cab.

Most of the class saw out their days on the Union Pacific. 1383 went to affiliate Fort Worth & Denver as their 39 and 1380 followed as #40. 1382 was sold to Texas & New Orleans RR as that line's 247; it was renumbered 217 later on. And 1386 eventually served the Chicago, Memphis & Gulf as #3.

Class 831 (Locobase 6585)

Data from 1897 Union Pacific Locomotives & Tenders Folio 200 supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. Builder and roster data from Don Strack's compilation presented on Utah Rails' http://utahrails.net/steam/up03-upsys1885-1898-06.php . Strack's compilation tells us that this class was delivered as camelbacks with big Wootten fireboxes; see Locobase 2849.

Disposition of the class took several forms. Three (836, 838-839) were sold to F M Hicks Locomotive and Car Company in 1901 (2) and 1904 (1). Five were sold to the Souther Pacific Lines, 4 receiving SP road numbers -- 831-833, 840 renumbered to 1459-1462 -- and 834 became CRY & P 101 and ultimately the SPdeM 161.

Class 842 (Locobase 6586)

Data from 1897 Union Pacific Locomotives & Tenders Folio 200 supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Boiler pressure is an estimate, based on similar locomotives operated by the UP in the same period. (See Locobase 5088, 6585)

Class 890 (Locobase 9716)

Data from Angus Sinclair, "Ratio of Heating Surface to Grate Area and Cylinder Volume," Locomotive Engineering, Volume X, No. 4 (April 1897), pp. 316-318.

Locobase uses Don Strack's roster posted at http://utahrails.net/steam/up03-upsys1885-1898-06.php to come up with this candidate for Sinclair's subject. According to the notes, the 890-891 were delivered some time earlier (he cannot say when), but were rebuilt with the cylinder dimensions and driver diameter shown in February 1897 and May 1898.

890 and 891 were later sold to the Los Angeles, San Pedro & Salt Lake in 1913.

Class 932 - superheated (Locobase 8334)

Data from UP 10 - 1936 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Locobase is surprised to see that the Union Pacific went to the trouble of superheating this collection of 1880s Eight-wheelers. Indeed, the small scale of the superheater was apparently unrivalled in North American railroading. Some British 4-4-0s featured boilers of similar size with even less superheater area, but an American on the American prairies running with such a small superheater was a novelty. Moreover, the usual practice in such small locomotives was to install flues measuring 5 3/8" in diameter; the UP engines had 5 1/2" flues.

On the other hand, one does see the usual gain in performance for what was obviously a niche service.

Class CV 70 / E-70 (Locobase 7261)

Data from SPLA&SL Locomotive Diagram book (the Salt Lake Route) supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection.

Originally delivered to the Los Angeles Terminal Company, this Eight-wheeler then came under the LASL rubric. A solo engine, it carried until its retirement in 1925.

Class E-45 (Locobase 7834)

Data from OWRR&NCo 1 - 1930 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. Builder and roster data from Don Strack's compilation presented on Utah Rails' http://utahrails.net/steam/up03-upsys1885-1898-09.php#oslun1459_4-6-0. Works numbers were 507-510 in October 1889 and 511-512 in November. Baldwin works numbers were 5031-5032, 5034 in March 1880 (road numbers 1, 3, and 5) and 5037-5038 (2 & 4) in April.

Locobase doesn't know what part of the OWRR & N's system was narrow gauge or for how long. But here was this little Eight-wheeler in the 1930 book. Locobase notes that both Utah Rails and Connelly's Baldwin list shows this engine as a Mogul with 37" drivers. Yet the diagram and the designation in the OWRR book is equally clear in calling it an Eight-wheeler. Is it possible the engine was converted from one to the other at some point?

Class E-64 (Locobase 7835)

Data from OWRR&NCo 1 - 1930 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive collection. Builder and roster data from Don Strack's compilation presented on Utah Rails' http://utahrails.net/steam/owrrn03-oryn-1894-1896.php . Works numbers were 2444-2445 in September 1890, 2446-2451 in October.

It's interesting to compare this Eight-wheeler to the narrow-gauger that was a decade older (see Locobase 7834). Most of the dimensions are not strikingly bigger in each dimension, but taken as a whole, you have a locomotive that was twice as powerful and ran on the standard gauge.

Almost all of the class served the OWRR & N into the late 1920s, latterly rolling on 62" drivers. 87 was sold to the Idaho Northern in 1909 as their #1, but returned a year later and regained its old number.

Class Pawnee (Locobase 104)

Data from Alfred W Bruce, The Steam Locomotive in America - Its development in the twentieth century (New York: W W Norton, 1952), p. 40-43. Rogers works numbers were 1453, 1456, 1459.

To Alfred Bruce, former director of steam engineering for Alco, "the design ...with its deep firebox dropped down between the frames and the driving axles was typical ...of all the 20,000 engines of the 4-4-0 type built ...between 1840 and 1890."

Bruce's magisterial summary of what the American design -- "one of the most satisfactory ever developed for general-purpose use" -- had to offer is composed of several parts. First, a familiar contention: "The boiler center was low and the engine easily adapted itself to the uneven track of the nineteenth century."

Then a feature perhaps less well appreciated by 21st century historians: "The combustion conditions of the firebox were excellent and well suited to the wood burning so general in the early days."

Some other key values:"The valve gear was accessible [in part because the cylinders were always outside the frame and the main rod always drove the leading coupled axle], and the entire engine was light, well balanced, and easily maintained ...Its very simple three-point weight suspension is one of the most flexible arrangements ever devised." (p. 43)

The Seminole was one of 6 engines named for Indian tribes by the KP. Three of them were delivered with the 16" x 22" cylinders and 56" drivers - these were Pawnee, Comanche, and Seminole. When rebuilt in 1879, they received 58" drivers. T

he other three (Seneca, Choctaw, and Cheyenne) were delivered with different specs. Seneca (16) started with 15 x 22" and 63" drivers, Choctaw (17) had 17 x 24" turning 67" drivers, and Cheyenne (20) was delivered 16 1/2" x 22" with 63" drivers. These were later refitted with 17" x 24" cylinders s and several sizes of drivers. After all of that effort, the last 4 were scrapped in 1888-1889. 16-17 remained in use until the late 1890s.