June 25, 2014
Art and List - Here's another image from Ottumwa Division trainmaster Don
Seegar taken at Red Oak, IA, in 1939. It shows Class B-1-A No. 7012 with an
unknown train paused at the depot. 7012 was assigned at the time to Lines West
as it had an extended smoke box for burning lignite coal. Plus, you can see the
yellow square painted on the bottom back of the tender coal bunker
signifying the engine was a lignite burner.
Collection of M.L. Zadnichek
The 7012 may've been working her way west following repairs at the West
Burlington Shops, or was temporarily reassigned to Lines East due to a power
shortage. Lignite burning engines from Lines West could burn regular
bituminous coal if necessary. In later years, several B-1-A's were modernized
with roller bearings on the valve linkage and main drivers, along with box
pox wheels on the main drivers.
These 4-8-2 type locomotives were design wise basically a "stretched"
Class S-3 4-6-2 type and could be considered a transition from the Pacific
to the later renowned Class S-4 Hudson type. The lanky long boilered
7000s are remembered as not a particularly successful design. They
were notorious for slipping when starting. However, once in motion, they
could run with the wind across the Burlington Route.
The B-1-A's and their earlier sisters the Class B-1 4-8-2's were among the
first causalities of the Q's dieselization of Lines East and West
passenger trains. All were bumped by new EMD E units in the early
1950s. Despite their slipperiness, the few surviving B-1-As that had been
modernized, including several converted to oil firing, lasted in freight
service out of Lincoln, NE, until 1955. Best Regards -
Louis
Louis Zadnichek II
Fairhope, AL
