Barre 2-4-2 "Columbian" Locomotives in the USA

Class Granite City (Locobase 11614)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines, 1888, as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Vol 15, p. 69. See also Industries and wealth of the principal points in Vermont (New York: American Publishing and Engraving Co, 1891), p. 154. Works number was 9946 in April 1889.

Next on the production line after the two Portland & Vancouver dummies (see Locobase 11607) was this standard-gauge tank of the same arrangement. But it was originally destined for the Crescent City, Fort Dick & Smith River Railroad, a logging operation in northern California. It even was to be lettered for Carlton Hobbs, a principal founder.

Instead, it was sold to the Barre Railroad, which served 27 miles in Vermont (east of Montpelier) including 16 miles from Barre (pronounced "Barry") to Websterville and Langsdon.

The 1892 "Industries and wealth ..." reported that granite movement from quarry to town was the Barre's main activity: "The Barre Railroad, built by the granite firms and the Montpelier and Wells River R. R. Co., runs from the village to the oranite quarries four and one half miles distant. This road however is eight miles long, the quarries being at such an elevation above the village that the railroad must traverse nearly double the air line distance in making the ascent."

In 1902, the Granite City was sold to the White River Railroad, which ran between Bethel and Rochester, Vt. It petitioned the Vermont Board of Railroad Commissioners in 1907 to allow for the carriage of passengers because of its efforts to strengthen the roadbed and rebuild several bridges. Permission was granted. The WRR operated for 25 more years before closing, at which point the little #6 was scrapped.

NB: Locobase estimates the firebox and evaporative heating surface areas by comparing the specifications of this locomotive with the very similar, if younger, saddle tank operated in the US Brooklyn Navy Yard. All of the data match up exactly, including such measurements as firebox length, width, and front and rear depth, all of which are the same to the quarter inch.