Wichita Falls, Ranger & Fort Worth 2-10-0 "Decapod" Locomotives in the USA

Class Ea/103/401/2554 (Locobase 16332)

Data from the quite detailed overview published by designer Alphonse I Lipetz, "Russian 'Decapod' Locomotives", The Railway Engineer, Volume 43, No 2 (February 1922), pp. 51-54; April 1922, pp. 136-137; July 1922, pp. 249-251; and November 1922, pp. 415-417. See also Handbook of Texas Online, H. Allen Anderson, "Wichita Falls, Ranger and Fort Worth Railroad," accessed January 08, 2018, [] . (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 8 February 2019 email correcting the Russian decapods' wheelbases.) Works number was 48139 in March 1918

As noted in several other Locobase entries, 857 2-10-0s were built by Baldwin and Alco (Richmond and Schenectady Works) for the Russian Government (see Locobase 381 for a full description). When that empire was overthrown, some 200 more of the Russian order was diverted to railroads in the US by the USRA.

Possibly the newest of all the recipients was the WFR&FW, which was chartered on 26 September 1919. Motivation for building the 67-mile (108 km) line from Dublin, Texas to Breckenridge was the Ranger oil field. The backers, two of whom appear in the line's nicknames-- Jake Hamon Railroad, or Hamon- Kell Railroad, seem to have been firm in their confidence. They added 9 miles (14.5 km) from Breckenridge to Jimkurn in 1921 and operated the Eastland, Wichita Falls & Gulf Railroad for nine months ending in March 1922.

The first of the two 2-10-0s to run on the road had been operated for the US Government by the Central of New Jersey, which retained the USG road number 1180. The second bore the number 1184, but apparently was not used until it too went to the WFR&FW.

In December 1921, however, the WFR&FW went into receivership, but continued to operate, ultimately being leased to the Wichita Falls & Southern in 1926. But the two Decapods were cut loose and sold to the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient in 1921 as the last two of their three ex-Romanovs and numbered 402-403. (The first had been sold by the US Government directly to the KCM&O.) It was

When the KCM&O was bought by the Santa Fe, the three engines formed the 2554 class. By then, the class had been converted to oil-firing. The 2555 (ex-402) never entered service and headed to the scrapyard where it was broken up in May 1930. The Santa Fe sent the 2554 to the ferro-knacker in August 1934 and the 2556 followed in October.