Southern Pacific 786

Specifications
Specifications
Configuration:;
• Whyte	2-8-2
• UIC	1'D1' h2
Gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Leading dia.	33 in (840 mm)
Driver dia.	63 in (1,600 mm)
Trailing dia.	41 in (1,000 mm)
Wheelbase	80.17 ft (24.44 m)
• Engine	35.17 ft (10.72 m)
• Drivers	16.50 ft (5.03 m)
Length	84 ft (26 m)
Adhesive weight	213,380 lb (96,790 kg)
Loco weight	285,980 lb (129,720 kg)
Tender weight	156,100 lb (70,800 kg)
Total weight	442,080 lb (200,520 kg)
Fuel type	Oil
Fuel capacity	2,940 US gal (11,100 L; 2,450 imp gal)
Water cap.	9,000 US gal (34,000 L; 7,500 imp gal)
Firebox:
• Grate area	70.40 sq ft (6.540 m2)
Boiler pressure	New: 200 psi (1,400 kPa); Now: 210 psi (1,400 kPa)
Heating surface:
• Firebox	235 sq ft (21.8 m2)
Superheater:;
• Heating area	865 sq ft (80.4 m2)
Cylinders	Two, outside
Cylinder size	26 in × 28 in (660 mm × 710 mm)
Valve gear	Walschaerts

Type and origin
Type and origin
Power type	Steam
Builder	American Locomotive Company (Brooks Works)
Serial number	55972
Build date	August 1916

Southern Pacific (T&NO) 786
Southern Pacific (T&NO) 786
Power type
Type and origin
Power type	Steam
Builder	American Locomotive Company (Brooks Works)
Serial number	55972
Build date	August 1916
Configuration:;
Specifications
Configuration:;
• Whyte	2-8-2
• UIC	1'D1' h2
Gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Leading dia.	33 in (840 mm)
Driver dia.	63 in (1,600 mm)
Trailing dia.	41 in (1,000 mm)
Wheelbase	80.17 ft (24.44 m)
• Engine	35.17 ft (10.72 m)
• Drivers	16.50 ft (5.03 m)
Length	84 ft (26 m)
Adhesive weight	213,380 lb (96,790 kg)
Loco weight	285,980 lb (129,720 kg)
Tender weight	156,100 lb (70,800 kg)
Total weight	442,080 lb (200,520 kg)
Fuel type	Oil
Fuel capacity	2,940 US gal (11,100 L; 2,450 imp gal)
Water cap.	9,000 US gal (34,000 L; 7,500 imp gal)
Firebox:
• Grate area	70.40 sq ft (6.540 m2)
Boiler pressure	New: 200 psi (1,400 kPa); Now: 210 psi (1,400 kPa)
Heating surface:
• Firebox	235 sq ft (21.8 m2)
Superheater:;
• Heating area	865 sq ft (80.4 m2)
Cylinders	Two, outside
Cylinder size	26 in × 28 in (660 mm × 710 mm)
Valve gear	Walschaerts
Tractive effort
Performance figures
Tractive effort	53,629 lb (24,326 kg)
Factor of adh.	3.98
Operators
Career
Operators	Southern Pacific Lines ; Texas and New Orleans Railroad ; Austin Steam Train Association
Class	Mk-5
Numbers	SP 786
Retired	1955 (revenue service); July 1999 (excursion service)
Restored	December 1991
Disposition	Undergoing restoration to operating condition

Last updated May 17, 2024

Southern Pacific 786 is a preserved 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive that was constructed at the American Locomotive Company's Brooks Works in New York. It was used to pull mainline freight trains by the Texas and New Orleans Railroad, a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Railroad, until it was removed from service in 1955, and it was donated to the city of Austin, Texas the following year. Beginning in 1989, No. 786 was leased to the Austin Steam Train Association, who restored it to operating condition, and the locomotive was used to pull excursion trains on the Austin Western Railroad until 1999. Since 2000, crews have been performing an extensive rebuild on No. 786 to bring it back to service, and as of 2023, the rebuild continues to progress.

History

Revenue service

In the 1910s, the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) designed a new class of 2-8-2 "Mikado" type locomotives for one of their subsidiary companies, the Houston and Texas Central Railway (H&TC). This new class was the MK-5 class, which consisted of fifty-seven locomotives. No. 786 was the twelfth of twenty MK-5s to be ordered from the American Locomotive Company's (ALCO) Brooks Locomotive Works in Dunkirk, New York, and it was constructed in August 1916. The following year, 1917, No. 786 was transferred to another SP subsidiary, the Texas and New Orleans Railroad (H&TC), and they subsequently assigned No. 786 to pull mixed freight trains on their mainline trackage between Houston, Austin, and Galveston.

The locomotive received multiple modifications while being overhauled for several times during revenue service, including its original extended smokebox being shortened in the 1920s, its boiler pressure being increased from 200 to 210 pounds per square inch on March 1, 1931, and a reception of a worthington feedwater heater system and superheaters on November 29, 1941. After serving the T&NO for thirty-nine years, No. 786 was retired in late 1955. On March 24, 1956, No. 786 was donated to the city of Austin for static display purposes, and it would remain at a vacant lot behind the Central Fire Station between 4th and 5th Streets for the next thirty-four years.

Excursion service

In 1989, the Austin Steam Train Association (ASTA) was incorporated with the intention of recreating historic passenger railroading in Central Texas. The ASTA, being led by Arthur U. Boone, subsequently approached an agreement with the city of Austin to lease No. 786 to restore it to operating condition. In February 1990, No. 786 was moved from its display site to the Westinghouse Motor Company in Georgetown. Four months later, a team of both professional and volunteer crews began performing an extensive rebuild on the locomotive under the supervision of Robert Franzen and Gary Bensman. The initial restoration on No. 786 lasted less than two years. In December 1991, No. 786 made its first test runs by pulling one passenger car toward downtown Austin to take part in a celebratory festival. It wasn't until July 25, 1992, when No. 786 pulled its first official passenger excursion train between Burnet and the ASTA's location in Cedar Park.

After its first official inaugural run, No. 786 has pulled several excursion trains over the Austin Western Railroad (AWR), including the occasional Hill County Flyer train.^[1] For the next seven years, the locomotive had operated for the ASTA for over 60,000 miles while carrying thousands of passengers. No. 786 was also featured in the video, "What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up? The Railroaders Edition". On May 27, 1997, No. 786’s tender, which had been uncoupled from the locomotive for a drawbar inspection, was toppled onto its side by a tornado that struck Cedar Park.^[2] The locomotive remained upright and intact, and a subsequent inspection revealed that the tender received only minor superficial damage.^[2] Crews used a crane to reposition the tender, and then four days later, on June 1, No. 786 returned to service with its tender repaired.^[3] In July 1999, No. 786 was removed from excursion service after crews discovered cracks in its cylinder saddles.

21st century rebuild

In October 2000, the city of Cedar Park began donating thousands of dollars to the ASTA, with $205,658.61 to rebuild No. 786.^[4] The locomotive was soon disassembled, with the boiler being lifted onto wooden blocks, and the sections of the frame were separated to be sandblasted before all of the locomotive's components were shipped by truck to the Steam Operations Corporation (SOC) of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The ASTA had contracted SOC and the Strasburg Rail Road to help construct two brand new cylinder saddles for No. 786, since the original saddles were found to be corroded beyond economical repair. The locomotive's boiler was also being rebuilt at the Historic Machinery's shop in Steele, since the firebox had been worn out and needed to be refurbished, and the flues, tubes, superheaters, and staybolts needed to be replaced. By the end of 2008, New cylinder saddles had been cast, and they were machined in order to fit onto the frame. The driving wheels were sent to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee to be fitted with new tires. During the spring of 2009, a new smokebox section has been fabricated, a new trailing axle has been cast, and every remaining original part that was still in good condition was sandblasted and machined. By the beginning of 2010, the rebuild on the locomotive's boiler has been completed, and it has passed a hydro test. In December 2011, the cylinder saddles have been permanently mounted onto the rest of the locomotive frame.

In the spring of 2013, all of No. 786's components have been shipped by truck back to Cedar Park with the hopes of beginning the reassembly process of the locomotive's class 5 rebuild. As the 2010s progressed, the smokebox door was reinstalled onto the boiler, the frame was covered to be protected from the weather and elements, the wheels were painted black, and any corroded component on No. 786's tender was replaced. As of 2023, the rebuilding process on No. 786 is still in progress. The frame has been completely painted, the cab is being rebuilt, and the boiler has been re-primed. The locomotive will likely be operational again within a few years.

Related Research Articles

A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material to heat water in the locomotive's boiler to the point where it becomes gaseous and its volume increases 1,700 times. Functionally, it is a steam engine on wheels.

A tender or coal-car is a special rail vehicle hauled by a steam locomotive containing its fuel and water. Steam locomotives consume large quantities of water compared to the quantity of fuel, so their tenders are necessary to keep them running over long distances. A locomotive that pulls a tender is called a tender locomotive. Locomotives that do not have tenders and carry all their fuel and water on board the locomotive itself are called tank locomotives or tank engines.

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-8-4 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type was first used by the Northern Pacific Railway, and initially named the Northern Pacific, but railfans and railroad employees have shortened the name since its introduction. It is most-commonly known as a Northern.

Main components found on a typical steam locomotive include:

The M1 was a class of steam locomotive of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). It was a class of heavy mixed-traffic locomotives of the 4-8-2 "Mountain" arrangement, which uses four pairs of driving wheels with a four-wheel guiding truck in front for stability at speed and a two-wheel trailing truck to support the large firebox needed for sustained power. Although built for both passenger and freight work, they spent most of their service lives hauling heavy high-speed freight trains. Many PRR men counted the M1 class locomotives as the best steam locomotives the railroad ever owned.

The Pennsylvania Railroad's class K5 were experimental 4-6-2 "Pacific" types, built in 1929 to see if a larger Pacific than the standard K4s was worthwhile. Two prototypes were built, #5698 at the PRR's own Altoona Works, and #5699 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Although classified identically, the two locomotives differed in many aspects, as detailed below. They were both fitted with a much fatter boiler than the K4s, but dimensionally similar to those of the I1s 2-10-0 "Decapods". Most other dimensions were enlarged over the K4s as well; the exceptions being the 70 square feet (6.5 m²) grate area and the 80 in (2.032 m) drivers.

A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, in some steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There are three types of superheaters: radiant, convection, and separately fired. A superheater can vary in size from a few tens of feet to several hundred feet.

The NZR A^B class was a class of 4-6-2 Pacific tender steam locomotive that operated on New Zealand's national railway system for New Zealand Railways (NZR). Originally an improvement on the 1906 A class, 141 were built between 1915 and 1927 by NZR's Addington Workshops, A & G Price of Thames, New Zealand, and North British Locomotive Company, making the A^B class the largest class of steam locomotives ever to run in New Zealand. An additional eleven were rebuilt from the tank version of the A^B – the W^AB class – between 1947 and 1957. Two North British-made locomotives were lost in the wreck of the SS Wiltshire in May 1922.

Southern Pacific 2479 is one of six 4-6-2 heavy "Pacific" type steam locomotives built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1923 for the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), designated the P-10 class. No. 2479 was retired from service in 1956. The locomotive is currently undergoing restoration to operating condition by the Pacific Locomotive Association at Brightside, California.

Pennsylvania Railroad 1361 is a 4-6-2 K4 "Pacific" type steam locomotive built in May 1918 by the Pennsylvania Railroad's (PRR) Juniata Shops in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It hauled mainline passenger trains in Pennsylvania and commuter trains in Central New Jersey on the PRR until its retirement from revenue service in 1956. Restored to operating condition for excursion service in 1987, No. 1361 and its only surviving sister locomotive, No. 3750, were designated as the official state steam locomotives by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. In 1988, it was sidelined due to mechanical problems and was currently owned by the Railroaders Memorial Museum (RMM) in Altoona, Pennsylvania, who were currently getting No. 1361 back to operation.

Canadian National 3254 is a class "S-1-b" 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive built by the Canadian Locomotive Company for the Canadian National Railway as the fifth member of the Canadian National class S-1-b.

Southern Pacific Railroad 1673 is a standard gauge 2-6-0, Mogul type of the M-4 class, steam locomotive built in 1900 by Schenectady Locomotive Works; the engine was delivered in November of that year, and by early 1901 it was based in Tucson, Arizona and operated primarily in southern Arizona hauling freight trains.

Chicago and North Western 1385 is a preserved R-1 class 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" steam locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in March 1907 for the Chicago and North Western Railroad (C&NW). The locomotive was mainly used to operate the C&NW's freight trains until 1956, when it was retired from service. In 1961, the original members of the Mid-Continent Railway Museum (MCRM) purchased No. 1385 for $2,600 scrap value, and the locomotive was moved to the museum's original location in Hillsboro, Wisconsin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Railway 630</span> Preserved American 2-8-0 locomotive (SOU Ks-1 class)

Southern Railway 630 is a 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive built in February 1904 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Richmond, Virginia for the Southern Railway as a member of the Ks-1 class. It is currently owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) in Chattanooga, Tennessee where it resides today for use on excursion trains.

Southern Railway 722 is a class "Ks-1" 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive built in September 1904 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works to run on the Murphy Branch, where it hauled freight trains between Asheville and Murphy, North Carolina for the Southern Railway (SOU). In 1952, it was purchased by the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC), alongside its sister locomotive No. 630, where they were served as switchers around Johnson City and Elizabethton, Tennessee.

The Chicago and North Western R-1 class was a class of 325 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler" steam locomotives built by the Schenectady Locomotive Works, the American Locomotive Company, and the Baldwin Locomotive Works from 1901 to 1908. The R-1 locomotives were so large and so heavy that the Chicago and North Western (C&NW) Railroad had to extensively rebuild their trackage, bridges, tunnels, turntables, and enginehouses to accommodate them.

Grand Canyon Railway 4960 is a preserved O-1A class 2-8-2 "Mikado" type steam locomotive built in August 1923 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CB&Q) Railroad. It was used by the CB&Q to pull freight trains, until 1958, when the locomotive pulled its first excursion fantrip, as part of the railroad's steam excursion program.

Southern Pacific No. 1744 is a preserved American class "M-6" 2-6-0 "Mogul" type steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Southern Pacific Railroad in November 1901. Originally equipped with Vauclain compound cylinders, it was rebuilt with conventional cylinders in 1912. It operated for many years out of Oakland, California on the Southern Pacific's Western Division and in California's Central Valley where the locomotive and its classmates were fondly called “Valley Mallets” by their crews. The locomotive was made famous in later years by pulling some of the last steam excursions on the SP alongside other steam locomotives, including 4-8-4 4460. In 1959, No. 1744 was donated to the Sons of Utah Pioneers in Corinne, Utah where it remained on static display, until 1980. That year, it was restored by New London Railroad and Village Incorporated to operate on the Heber Valley Railroad in Heber City for the rest of the decade.

Buffalo Creek and Gauley Railroad No. 4 is a preserved 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotive. It was constructed by Baldwin in 1926 as the only locomotive to be bought-new by the Buffalo Creek and Gauley Railroad. It served the railroad by pulling coal and lumber trains throughout Clay County, West Virginia until it was retired in 1965. No. 4 was restored to operating condition by the Quakertown and Eastern Railroad for excursion service in Pennsylvania, and it made its way to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in 1978. No. 4 was subsequently used to pull tourist trains across the museum's property in Spencer, North Carolina from when its multi-year overhaul was completed in 1986 to when its flue time expired in 2001. The locomotive spent fourteen years in storage, waiting for a rebuild that never came to fruition. In 2015, No. 4 was purchased by the Durbin and Greenbrier Valley Railroad, who moved it to their shops with the hopes of restoring it to run it on their trackage between Durbin and Cass, West Virginia.

Copper Range Railroad No. 29 is the sole survivor of the C-2 class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type steam locomotives. Built by ALCO in 1907, No. 29 was primarily used to pull loaded copper trains out of copper mines in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, as well as occasional passenger trains between Houghton and McKeever, until it was removed from service in 1953. In 1967, it was leased to the Keweenaw Central Railroad, who used it to pull excursion trains between Calumet and Lake Linden, until 1971.

References

↑ "Steam in Texas". kohlin.com. Retrieved 2022-02-12.
1 2 "Railroad News - Texas tornado topples 2-8-2's tender" . Trains. Vol. 57, no. 8. Kalmbach Publishing. August 1997. p. 17. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
↑ "Railroad News Photos - Remarkable Recovery" . Trains. Vol. 57, no. 9. Kalmbach Publishing. September 1997. p. 31. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
↑ Perrone, Caitlin (2016-11-16). "Austin Steam Train looks for funds after agreement with Cedar Park falls through". impact. Retrieved 2022-02-15.

External links

Austin Steam Train Association website

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Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
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[1] "Steam in Texas". kohlin.com. Retrieved 2022-02-12.

[:0-2] 1 2 "Railroad News - Texas tornado topples 2-8-2's tender" . Trains. Vol. 57, no. 8. Kalmbach Publishing. August 1997. p. 17. Retrieved May 16, 2024.

[3] "Railroad News Photos - Remarkable Recovery" . Trains. Vol. 57, no. 9. Kalmbach Publishing. September 1997. p. 31. Retrieved May 16, 2024.

[4] Perrone, Caitlin (2016-11-16). "Austin Steam Train looks for funds after agreement with Cedar Park falls through". impact. Retrieved 2022-02-15.

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