2-10-2 "Santa Fe" Locomotives in the USA

The Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad bought a pair of "Decapod" type locomotives for use as pushers on the Raton Pass over the mountains to and from California. These locomotives did a good job of ascending the steep grade. After they reached the summit and were relieved from pusher duty there was no facility to turn them around. They had to back down the mountain and with their long ridged wheelbase they had difficulty negotiating the tight curves of this twisting line.

In 1903, the AT&SF asked the Baldwin Locomotive Works to build it several 2-10-0 locomotives with a pair of tailing wheels that could be used to guide the drivers when the locomotives were operated in reverse. With this modification to the "Decapod" type a new wheel arrangement was born and the new type of locomotive was named "Santa Fe" for the railroad that first used it.

These first "Santa Fe" types were just 2-10-2 design locomotives on a 2-10-0 frame. Locomotives on subsequent orders for this new type of locomotives had vastly improved boilers. Because of the addition of the trailing truck a deeper and wider firebox could be placed behind the rear driving wheels instead of between them as was the case in the 2-10-0 wheel arrangement.

The "Decapod" type locomotive with its five coupled axles had excellent adhesion, but lacked the power needed for heavy freight service. With the larger firebox and a centering device on the trailing truck the "Santa Fe" had more power and began to be used on heavy-duty freight. Over time, other improvements were made to the design of the 2-10-2. Super heaters and stokers were incorporated and internal motion devices were added.

The reciprocating masses of the big piston and the heavy main rods on the "Santa Fe" could not be properly counterbalanced because there was not enough room for counter weights on the relatively small driving wheels. This problem damaged the tracks and caused misalignment of the locomotive frame and became increasingly more pronounced when the locomotive ran at speeds over 30 mph.

The development of the 2-10-4 and articulated locomotives resolved the counterbalance problems and these locomotives replaced the 2-10-2s in mainline use. The "Santa Fe" type locomotives were relegated to dragging coal and ore trains or used in isolated pusher roles.

There were 44 North American railroads that owned and operated a total of 2,179 "Santa Fe" type locomotives. The B&O produced the ultimate 2-10-2s. They were more powerful and faster than most other 2-10-2s. The B&O called them "Big Sixes" because they were numbered in the 6000s.

A few words about the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Baldwin had been forced by hard financial times to take on a series of partners between 1839 and 1846, and the firm's name changed repeatedly as a result. It was known as Baldwin, Vail & Hufty from1839 to1842, Baldwin & Whitney from1842 to 1845, M. W. Baldwin form1846 to1853, and M. W. Baldwin & Co.from1854 until the death of Baldwin in 1867. After Baldwin's death the firm was known as M. Baird & Co. until1873. Then the name became Burnham, Parry, Williams & Co. from1873 to1890 and then Burnham, Williams & Co. from 1891 to1909. The company was finally incorporated as the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1909.

Through out this work and others for brevity the reference to The Baldwin Locomotive Works or simply Baldwin would mean the "Baldwin Locomotive Works" after 1909 or any of the predecessor names prior to 1909.

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• Railroads that used 2-10-2 locomotives in other countries