March 31, 2016
Part Two
CB&Q Way Car 14231 and Dead Locos, Lincoln, Neb., c.
8-1950
Way car 14231, with a drawing of a horse chalked on its side, coupled to a
string of dead locomotives, the first of which is an Elesco-equipped S-1-A or
S-2-A with a roll-top tender. The only Elesco-equipped light Pacifics
assigned to Lincoln at this time and retired within six months of the presumed
August 1950 date are the 2809 and 2901, both sold for scrap in February
1951. The only other possibilities, two S-2-A engines with Elesco
feedwater heaters, weren't sold for scrap until December 1952. The
locomotive beyond the Pacific appears from its tender to be an O-1-A, and none
of them that weren't seriously wreck-damaged were retired until 1952, or an O-3,
and while the first O-3s were sold for scrap in early 1951, none of those on the
Lincoln and Omaha Divisions left the roster until 1954. So this may simply
be a stored locomotive, which may or may not have been put back in service
before eventually being retired.
CB&Q 2829, Lincoln, Neb., c. 8-1950 (SFS 1-1951)
S-1-A 2829 with a lignite square on its tender and coupled to another light
Pacific (based on the tender and its Commonwealth trucks). The 2829 was
sold for scrap in January 1951.
That's my take on this group of images, the prints being only 2-3/4 inches
wide and the camera having a pretty poor quality lens with virtually no depth of
field, leaving everything in the distance quite fuzzy.
Hol
- - - -
I still wonder "why" way car 14231 was coupled to the S-1-A or S-2-A? Seems
strange to me for a way car to be spotted at such a location. Perhaps, this was
a "funeral train" in the making and the rear end
crew had not yet arrived to hang the marker lamps. I speculate
that since the retired locomotives were relatively low weight when compared to
other larger steam motive power, the dispatcher or mechanical department
didn't think it was necessary to spread out the weight by adding idler cars as
per AAR guidelines. But, the locomotive coupled to the way car is facing "the
wrong way" unless towing it dead tender first didn't present any operating
problems. And, of course, it's unknown as to what scrap company all these
locomotives were sold to. Thoughts on this subject are appreciated, too.
Best Regards -
Louis