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

Class R-1 (Locobase 382)

Data from Erie 4 - 1928 Loco Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also DeGolyer, Volume 55, pp. 85+ and 105+; and "Erie 2-10-2 Type Locomotive", Railway Age Gazette, Volume 58, No 13 (26 March 1915), pp. 706-707, and "Heavy 2-10-2 Type Locomotive", Railway Age Gazette, Mechanical Edition, Volume 89, No 4 (April, 1915), p. 158-160. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his later email noting the original coal capacity in the tender. and for his 2 April 2013 email identifying the valve gear.)

Road numbers Date Builder Works Numbers

4001-4005 December 1915 Baldwin 42754-42758

4006-4010 February 1916 Baldwin 42852-42853,

42942-42944

4011-4023 March 1916 Schenectady 55510-55522

4029-4034 May 1916 Baldwin 43362, 43404-43408

4035-4038 June 1916 Baldwin 43548-43551

4025 January 1917 Lima 5114

4026-4028 February 1917 Lima 5115-5117

4039-4041 April, May, October 1917 Lima 5110-5112

Large, powerful freight engines with an unrivaled combination of cylinder bore and stroke for two-cylinder, simple expansion locomotives. Only the Schenectady R-2s (Locobase 383) and Brooks-built Denver & Rio Grande Western Santa Fes of a year later (Locobase 429) matched their cylinder volume. The first, Baldwin-built (#4000) was the prototype with a 90-in diameter boiler and seven more firetubes; see Locobase 14580.

The data given are for engines that had as part of the firebox heating surface 126 sq ft (11.7 sq m) of thermic syphons and 20 sq ft (1.85 sq m) of arch tubes. Another variant had no thermic syphons and 37 sq ft (3.4 sq m) of arch tubes -- total firebox heating surface amounted to 358 sq ft (33.25 sq m) and total heating surface came to 5,684 sq ft (528.05 sq m). Its piston valves each measured an impressive 16" (406 mm) in diameter and received steam through passages that RAG reported were "unusually direct and of liberal section area."

Later engines (built by Baldwin, Alco-Schenectady, and Lima) had minimum boiler diameters of 96.25 in (2,445 mm). Their rough riding qualities were problematical until revised counterbalancing smoothed the way. All of the Erie's 2-10-2s were renowned for their great power, whether as road engines or pushers.

Class R-1 (Locobase 14580)

Data from DeGolyer, Volume 55, pp.71+. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 30 May 2016 email noting the original tender weights and capacities.) Works number was 41895 in February 1915.

This prototype 2-10-2 had a big firebox to begin with and the combustion chamber added 62.5 sq ft (5.8 sq m) to direct heating surface area. A notable feature of the design was the sizable cylinder volume, which was the greatest of any two-cylinder, simple expansion locomotive.

Chris Hohl pointed out that the original Vanderbilt tender weighed 178,500 lb (80,966 kg) loaded with 16 tons (14.5 tonnes) of coal and 10,000 US gallons (37,850 litres) of water.

See Locobase 382 for the production variant of this Santa Fe.

Class R-2 (Locobase 383)

Data from table in May 1916 issue of Railway Mechanical Engineer (RME). See also "Recent Examples of 2-10-2 Type Locomotives", Railway Age Gazette, Volume 60, No 16 (21 April 1916), pp. 887-891; supplemented by the Erie 7-1949-1 locomotive diagram book supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 15 June 2019 email reporting the original coal capacity.) Works numbers were 55422-55426 in November 1915, 55937-55946 in June 1916, 57269-57273 in May 1917, 57274-57283 in June.

30 R2s were built between 1915-1917. Said to have had better steaming qualities than the R1s (Locobase 382), they had a higher superheat ratio, much shorter firetubes, better factor of adhesion (though not by much), and a larger grate. They had coned boilers, 16" (406 mm) piston valves, and outside radial valve gear.

Chris Hohl noted that the original tenders carried 19 tons of coal and weighed 184,500 lb (83,3878 kg).

Class R-3 (USRA) (Locobase 384)

Data from Erie 4 - 1928 and 7-1949-1 Loco Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange.

Twenty-five USRA Heavy (Locobase 90) Santa Fe engines proved the longest-lived of all Erie 2-10-2s, lasting until 1949-1952. A bit smaller than the earlier Erie 2-10-2s (down to the use of 14" piston valves rather than those of 16"), they were typical USRA designs in their balance and well-integrated components.

This entry shows the later configuration when the basic firebox had 28 sq ft (2.60 sq m) of arch tubes and 106 sq ft (9.85 sq m) of thermic syphons adding to the firebox heating surface.