Roscoe, Snyder & Pacific 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" Locomotives in the USA

Class 2 (Locobase 13315)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 32, p. 24. See also William R. Hunt, "ROSCOE, SNYDER AND PACIFIC RAILWAY," Handbook of Texas Online ([]), last accessed October 28, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.. Works number was 33128 in January 1909.

Just a few miles west of Sweetwater (savory name, that) lay the RS&P, chartered in 1906 to build about 200 miles of line from Roscoe northwest through Bailey County. The first 31 miles (49.9 km) from Roscoe to Snyder was laid down quickly enough and the line opened in July 1908. The Ten-wheeler shown in this entry would have operated on this segment first.

Although it was a typical short line 4-6-0, its Baldwin spec sheet has two "Hereafter" notes that indicate how individual was each order. Should the RS&P order another Baldwin, the builder was to "make the back cab window on side 8" longer and shorten the front side window to suit." (The shops might already have modified the 2 accordingly.) Also, "make valve rod guide of cast iron with brass bushing."

In September 1909, the next 18 1/2 miles (29.8 km) opened to Fluvanna.

Even though those 49 1/2 miles (79.7 km) would be all there ever was of the RS & P, it was, says Hunt's article in the Handbook of Texas, "one of the most profitable short lines in the nation" because of its strategic location as a bridge line.

By 1941, however, the Fluvanna extension was abandoned and taken up. Passenger service on the rest ended in 1953. The line itself closed in 1984.

The 2's service likely ended in the early 1950s as all steam was replaced by diesels by 1955.

Class 3 (Locobase 14342)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 53, pp. 339+. (Thanks to Wes Barris of steamlocomotive.com for his 5 June 2018 email noting an out-of-whack total wheelbase.) Works number was 44060 in September 1916.

Locobase 13174 shows the RS&P's saturated-boiler mixed-service Ten-wheeler that arrived from Baldwin in 1909. The 3 was a reworking of that design to take advantage of drier steam provided by a superheater. To make room for the 20 flues full of elements, the boiler sacrificed 119 small tubes and about 10% of combined heating surface area. Hotter steam meant adoption of 9 1/2" (241 mm) piston valves in place of the 2's slide valves.

A photo on the Denver Public Library's Digital Collections ([]) shows a trim-looking #3 still at work for the RS&P in 1947. Its retirement came in the early 1950s.