Hol,
This discussion about leased power and, in directly, about oil burning locomotives brings up several questions that I have had for some time. First, when did the Q start converting locomotives to oil fuel? I know that the USRA O-4 mikes were converted some time in the 1920's. Second question: did the Q ever purchase a new steam locomotive originally equipped for burning oil? Third, did the C&S and the FW&D use oil for fuel before the Q or did all three make the decision about the same time. I would assume that the oil conversion decision would have been made in Chicago. Finally, was the decision to convert to oil on the west end of the RR due to a lack of good coal in that region of the RR or a lack of supply?
Bill Barber Gravois Mills, MO Wed Feb 18, 2015 8:18 am (PST) . Posted by:I'm finally getting back to this topic, and I'll start off with the four R-4-A and R-5-A Prairies that were leased to the Texas subsidiaries in the late 1920s and 1930s. First was R-4-A 2015, leased to the FW&D along with S-2-A Pacific 2900 in 1929, then replaced by the 2005 in 1930 or '31. By the end of 1931 the 2005 was back on the Q, and that ended the brief use of 2-6-2s by the Denver. Then in 1933 the Burlington-Rock Island, which had been created from the bankrupt Trinity & Brazos Valley in 1930, leased R-5-A 2189 but soon returned it and replaced it with the Four Deuces -- R-5-A 2222. The 2222 would remain in south Texas until the summer of 1938 and would be joined there by the returning 2189 in early 1935, that engine staying in Texas through the end of 1939.
I have no idea where the FW&D used its two Prairies, but the B-RI used its pair primarily on local freights between Teague and Houston and between Houston and Galveston over the Santa Fe trackage rights it utilized, servicing the locomotives at the Southern Pacific (T&NO) roundhouse on Galveston island. (The Houston Belt & Terminal roundhouse was used in Houston and the former T&BV roundhouse at Teague.)
All four of these Prairies were oil-burners, converted by the Q for service on the Casper and Sterling divisions, which were 100% oil-burning by 1930.
I've found no shots of the two R-4-As leased to the Denver, but there are a good many shots of the 2189 and 2222 on the B-RI.
Hol
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Posted by: William Barber <clipperw@gmail.com>
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