Louis and others,
Actually, most of the smoke box fronts were replaced on the O-4s as were most
of the 10 USRA heavy 2-10-2 M-3s. My theory is that smokebox fronts on steam
locomotives had a tendency to “burn out” due to the accumulation of hot cinders
that collected at the lower area of the front of the smokebox. If you look at
photos of many Q steam locomotives, you will see trapezoid patches in the lower
quadrant. The 4960, for instances, had no patch when it made it’s first fan
trip run in Dec., 1958. However, in later photos, there is a patch on the
smokebox front near the bottom. On the original USRA locomotives, the dished or
convex smokebox front may not have been as easy to patch, so new fronts were
made similar to other Q smokebox fronts when needed. The Q’s typical smokebox
front was simply a flat circular sheet of steel with a small access door in the
center. Whether the door was made in the Q shops or purchased, I don’t know,
but with the equipment they had in their backstops in those days, it would not
have been difficult. I am sure that when the burn out damage happened several
times, they simply made a new one. They were very capable craftsmen that where
well equipped to do almost any needed heavy construction.
A comment was made about the Elesco feed water heater on the 5506. When built,
USRA locomotives did not have feed water heaters. They were just being
developed at the time (1918) and the USRA designs were supposed to be simply
and reliable. So, assessory appliances were not included in the original
designs. The Q added feed water heaters to all of their USRA locomotives. On
the 15 O-4s, eight of them were equipped with Worthington BL side mounted feed
water heaters and seven with Elesco feed water heaters located on top of the
smokebox in front of the stack. The Elesco equipped O-4s were 5503, 5505, 5506,
5510, 5511, 5512 and 5514. Once it was decided to apply feed water heaters,
they were probably selected at random as they went through the backstop. On the
M-3 2-10-2s, only two, 6303 and 6308 received Elescos, while the rest had
Worthingtons.
As built, according to Corbin’s SLOTBR book, the O-4s were coal burners. I have
never seen a date for the application of oil burning equipment, but by the
June, 1935 assignment sheet, they were all converted to oil. At that time, they
were assigned to the Casper and Alliance Divisions except for two that were
leased to the Fort Worth & Denver. According to steam locomotive.com, none of
the original orders for USRA locomotives were oil burners. Later orders for
MoPac’s Texas lines and Western Pacific were apparently delivered as oil
burners. As Louis Zadnichek notes, I have never seen a photo of a Q O-4 as a
coal burner. I also have not seen a photo of them working east of Omaha.
However, it may have happened as there are a couple of photos of other oil
burners working on Lines East, mostly during WWII during the steam era, not the
fan trip season starting in 1955.
Bill Barber
Gravois Mills, MO
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