Carnegie Phipps & Company / Comal Power Company 0-4-0 "Switcher" Locomotives in the USA


Class Details by Steve Llanso of Sweat House Media

Class 1 (Locobase 5588)

Data from [] (20 June 2003, last accessed 24 December 2014), aka the Longhorn & Western Railroad. See also DeGolyer, Volume 80, pp. 18+. See also Locobase 8486 for a summary description of Baldwin's industrial saddle tankers. Works number was 58555 in July 1925.

This little oil-burning saddle-tanker was sold to United Gas Improvement Constructing Company to serve its New Braunfels generating plant. Its on-board Western Wheeled Scraper Company air dump valve was expressly proportioned to operate 20-ton air dump cars carrying coal. UGICC sold the 1 to the San Antonio Public Service in 1927, presumably at the end of the construction of a new line or lines. In 1942, the SAPS sold the 1 to the Comal Power Company, which operated it briefly, then put it on display.

The Texas Transportation Museum site notes that Comal painted the engine every year. After 40 years, "...this had a 'cocooning' effect and kept the engine very well preserved." It's been revived several times, each time for a short period, but after short runs in 2004 and 2005 exposed a problem in the dry pipe, the 1 has not run again.

Volunteers at the TTT began restoration work on the engine with the goal of either repairing the engine for operation or sealing it properly for display, but, the TTT's website reported: "Just putting it back together is taking much longer than anyone would like. As of early 2014, only about half of the restoration work is done. The sticking point is with the newly installed boiler flue pipes. Just finding the correct tools to flare, bead and seal the tubes, which are very small by modern standards, required a nationwide search. The pipes themselves have a very specific metal composition and had to be ordered from out of state.".

By 2016, work had proceeded far enough along to offer hope that the 1 would re-enter service.


Class unknown (Locobase 10797)

Data from Railroad & Engineering Journal, Vol LXIII (Vol 3, new series), (December 1889), p. 544. Boiler pressure is an estimate. Works number was 1067 in August 1889, 1107 and 1110 in November, 1204 in August 1890.

This were compact switchers that Carnegie used in the steel works that dotted the Western Pennsylvania. The narrow-gauge industrial railway had curves as tight as 40-ft radius, which called for the short wheelbase. Porter started delivering a revised version with 9 1/2" cylinders (241 mm) in 1891.

The initials in the company's name stood for Henry Kirke Porter.

Principal Dimensions by Steve Llanso of Sweat House Media

Class1unknown
Locobase ID5588 10797
RailroadComal Power CompanyCarnegie Phipps & Company
CountryUSAUSA
Whyte0-4-0ST0-4-0ST
Number in Class11
Road Numbers111
GaugeStd2'6"
Number Built11
BuilderBaldwinPorter
Year19251889
Valve GearStephenson
Locomotive Length and Weight
Driver Wheelbase (ft / m)6 / 1.834 / 1.22
Engine Wheelbase (ft / m)6 / 1.834 / 1.22
Ratio of driving wheelbase to overall engine wheelbase11
Overall Wheelbase (engine & tender) (ft / m)4 / 1.22
Axle Loading (Maximum Weight per Axle) (lbs / kg)
Weight on Drivers (lbs / kg)47,000 / 21,31927,500 / 12,474
Engine Weight (lbs / kg)47,000 / 21,31927,500 / 12,474
Tender Loaded Weight (lbs / kg)
Total Engine and Tender Weight (lbs / kg)47,00027,500
Tender Water Capacity (gals / ML)700 / 2.65500 / 1.89
Tender Fuel Capacity (oil/coal) (gals/tons / Liters/MT)120 / 454
Minimum weight of rail (calculated) (lb/yd / kg/m)39 / 19.5023 / 11.50
Geometry Relating to Tractive Effort
Driver Diameter (in / mm)30 / 76228 / 711
Boiler Pressure (psi / kPa)180 / 12.40170 / 11.70
High Pressure Cylinders (dia x stroke) (in / mm)11" x 16" / 279x40610" x 14" / 254x356
Tractive Effort (lbs / kg)9874 / 4478.787225 / 3277.21
Factor of Adhesion (Weight on Drivers/Tractive Effort) 4.76 3.81
Heating Ability
Tubes (number - dia) (in / mm)73 - 1.75" / 4466 - 1.75" / 44
Flues (number - dia) (in / mm)
Flue/Tube length (ft / m) 9.19 / 2.80 6.42 / 1.96
Firebox Area (sq ft / m2)38.60 / 3.59
Grate Area (sq ft / m2) 7.60 / 0.71 4.50 / 0.42
Evaporative Heating Surface (sq ft / m2)343 / 31.88
Superheating Surface (sq ft / m2)
Combined Heating Surface (sq ft / m2)343 / 31.88
Evaporative Heating Surface/Cylinder Volume194.89
Computations Relating to Power Output (More Information)
Robert LeMassena's Power Computation1368765
Same as above plus superheater percentage1368765
Same as above but substitute firebox area for grate area6948
Power L12741
Power MT257.14

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