Railroad Equipment Pages at Spirit of America Bookstore

The equipment used by railroads in America has evolved over time, from tiny steam-driven locomotives to giant diesel-electric units,
from wooden passenger cars to Amtrak train sets, and from horse-powered trolleys to high-speed light rail.

               The first commercial steam engine was invented by James Watt [1736-1819] in Great Britain in 1781; his machines produced ten horsepower. The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was built by Richard Trevithick of Britain in February 1804. Britain's Stockton & Darlington Railway [1825-63] was the first public railway to use steam locomotives. The 1829 Rainhill Trials contest was won by 'The Rocket', built by George Stephenson.
               In the United States, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was founded in 1827 to carry freight & passengers from Baltimore's busy harbor westward to the Ohio River; the B&O at first used horse-drawn cars, but then imported the test locomotive 'Stourbridge Lion' from Britain and demonstrated the American-built 'Tom Thumb' in August 1830.
               Philadelphia jeweller and silversmith Matthias W. Baldwin [1795-1866] made a small steam locomotive for his own use; word spread and the Baldwin Locomotive Works began filling orders for new railroads, including the Cambden & Amboy Railroad in New Jersey, starting in 1832. (B.L.W. built 70,000 railroad locomotives before closing in 1972 due to competition from diesel-electric power.)
               Railroad technology improved and was standardized - the track gauge of 4 feet 8½ inches, couplers, steel rail - as more railroads were constructed from the East Coast toward the Mississippi River. The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi was built at Rock Island, Illinois and opened in April 1856. The secession of the Southern states in 1861 prompted Congress to pass the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 (plus changes in 1863, 1864, 1865 & 1866) which encouraged private development of the First Transcontinental Railroad from Council Bluffs, Iowa to Sacramento, California; the Golden Spike completion ceremony took place in Utah on 10 May 1869. The Southern route of the Second Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1881.

By the time of the American Civil War [1861-65], the railroads were an important segment of the national economy and of military strategy. Many of the 'robber barons' of the latter XIXth Century were railroad tycoons. The Silver Rush to the Comstock in Nevada and a gold rush to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado pushed rapid development of railroad technology, including many narrow-gauge lines. The needs of small logging and mining railroads brought development of geared steam locomotives beginning in the 1890s.
Up until the Turn of The Century, locomotives were fueled by either wood or coal (depending on local availability), but with parallel development of the petroleum and automobile industries, the railroads began converting to oil fuel (from around 1910). The United States nationalized the railroads during World War I, which included more efficient and safer operation, standardization of railroad equipment, and increases in wages and rates. The U.S. Railroad Administration existed from December 1917 to March 1920; the U.S.R.A. ordered 1,930 steam locomotives and 100,000 railroad cars at a cost of $380 million; the equipment was leased to the railroads, then sold off in 1920.

The Great Depression and the end of the gold standard affected the railroad industry; some railroads prospered, many small railroads closed down. Bigger locomotives were built for the national freight lines and then preparation for World War II swelled business on the railroads for the aircraft and war supplies industries. After World War II, the railroads looked for more efficient motive power, and electric locomotives and diesel-electric locomotives (especially for freight) moved to the forefront. (The steam locomotives reached the limits of physical size; double-heading of steamers still required two men per engine; two and three and even four diesels required only one employee.) By 1960, almost no steam locomotives were operating in Class I service, having been replaced by diesel power. AT&SF began Super Chief streamliner passenger service from Chicago to Los Angeles in May 1937, using iconic F-3 diesels built by General Motors’ Electro-Motive Division and painted in 'warbonnet' colors. Competing railroads followed suit.
After the wartime breakthroughs in aircraft technology, long-distance passengers took to the airlines; the availability of personal automobiles and the new interstate freeway system shifted commuter and short intercity traffic away from the railroads. All United States passenger train service was taken over by Amtrak™ in May 1971.

Once relieved of the 'burden' of passenger service, the mainline railroads organized intermodal traffic - piggyback cars, containers, whole trains of automobile transport cars, mile-long trains of uncovered coal hoppers - and reduced the romance. All that civilians now see is a hundred near-identical cars (except for the spray-painted graffiti) pulled by two to five boxy diesel units. Diesels have their fans, but for the public, the romance of the railroad locomotive ended with the Steam Era.
We cannot expect much further in the way of new railroad equipment technology in the near future – except maybe nuclear power, but that is very much a long shot.

Whyte's Notation System
Frederick Methvan Whyte [1865-1941] was a mechanical engineer for the New York Central Railroad; he devised a notation system in 1900
to describe the different wheel arrangements of steam locomotives. There are several suffixes in use: T for tank engine (sometimes ST for saddle tank),
CA for compressed air, and F for fireless. Listed here are some of the more common wheel configurations.
Whyte notation chart at Steam locomotive website • Whyte notation page at Wikipedia

	diagram	Whyte	name/s
		0-4-0	Porter 0-4-0T switcher
		2-4-0	Virginia & Truckee RR 2-4-0 #9 'I.E. James'
		2-4-2	Columbia
		2-4-4	2-ft. SR&RL #10 2-4-4T
		4-4-0	American
		4-4-2	Atlantic
		0-6-0	switcher
		2-6-0	Mogul
		2-6-2	Prairie
		4-6-0	Ten-Wheeler
		4-6-2	Pacific
photo?		4-6-4	Hudson, Baltic
photo?		0-8-0	switcher
photo?		2-8-0	Consolidation
photo?		2-8-2	Mikado, MacArthur
		2-8-4	Berkshire
photo?		4-8-0	Twelve-Wheeler
photo?		4-8-2	Mountain, Mohawk
photo?		4-8-4	Northern, Niagara
photo?		2-10-0	Decapod
		2-10-2	Santa Fe
photo?		2-10-4	Texas, Selkirk
photo?		4-10-0	Mastodon, Gobernador
photo?		4-10-2	Southern Pacific
photo?		2-12-0	Centipede
photo?		4-12-2	Union Pacific
		2-4-4-2	articulated locomotive
photo?		0-6-6-0	B&O Mallet articulated
photo?		2-6-6-0	Titan articulated
		2-6-6-2	articulated locomotive
		2-6-6-4	articulated locomotive
photo?		4-6-6-2	Mallet S.P. cab forward
photo?		4-6-6-4	Mallet U.P. Challenger
photo?		2-8-8-4	Mallet Yellowstone
		4-8-8-2	Mallet S.P. cab forward
photo?		4-8-8-4	Mallet U.P. Big Boy
		2-10-10-2	Mallet AT&SF (10 units) and Virginian RR (10)
		2-8-8-8-2	Mallet Erie Triplex (3 units)
		2-8-8-8-4	Mallet Virginian Railway XA-class Triplex #700

Steam Locomotives
In 1835, there were 175 steam locomotives in service in the United States; by 1900, that number had increased to 37,663.
Fewer than 30 full-size steam locomotives built prior to 1880 exist in the United States; the California State Railroad Museum has five of them.

New York Central System Presents "The Steam Locomotive" short film [1938]
b&w promotional film featuring Hudson-type locomotives, including #5226, #5235, #5238, #5252, #5262, #5281, #5302 & #5314
watch full movie [18:46] online at YouTube

Top 15 Extinct American Steam Locomotives slideshow/video

"Top 15 Extinct American Steam Locomotives" [2015]
very educational slideshow/video written, narrated & edited by Christopher Kovacs; featuring #15) 1939 Pennsylvania RR Class S1 6-4-4-6 duplex #6100; #14) Norfolk & Western RR Class Y6b 2-8-8-2; #13) 1914 Erie RR and Virginian RR 2-8-8-8-2 triplexes; #12) 1939 Southern Pacific RR Class AC-9 2-8-8-4; #11) Pennsylvania RR Class J1 and Chesapeake & Ohio RR Class T1 2-10-4; #10) New Haven RR Class I-5 4-6-4; #9) Milwaukee Road 'Hiawatha' streamliner Class F-7 4-6-4 & Class A 4-4-2; #8) 1923 Florida East Coast Rwy 4-8-2 Mountain; #7) Western Maryland RR Class J1 4-8-4 Potomac; #6) Baltimore & Ohio RR Class EM-1 2-8-8-4; #5) Reading RR G-class & Central RR of New Jersey 4-6-2 Pacific; #4) Pennsylvania RR shark-nose Class T1 4-4-4-4 duplexes; #3) New York Central RR 1927 4-6-4 Hudson & 4-8-4 Niagara; #2) 1943 Central of Georgia RR Class K 4-8-4 Big Apple; and #1) steam turbine locomotives of the Union Pacific, Chesapeake & Ohio, Norfolk & Western, and Pennsylvania railroads • watch full 8/2015 video [32:12] online at YouTube

number plate from Baldwin Locomotive Works

Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, PA [1831-1972]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_Locomotive_Works
http://www.amazon.com/Baldwin-Locomotive-Works-Catalogue-Locomotives/dp/1935700022/
http://www.amazon.com/Baldwin-Locomotive-Works-Illustrated-Catalog/dp/1935327437/
http://www.amazon.com/History-Baldwin-Locomotive-Works-1831-1920/dp/193570009X/
http://www.amazon.com/History-Baldwin-Locomotive-Works-1831-1920/dp/1935327542/
"History of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1831-1923" (Old Line Publishers, 1971)
"The Story of Eddystone: The Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia" (Glenwood Publishers, 1974)

American Locomotive Works [1901-1969]
The American Locomotive Company was founded in 1901 by the merger of eight manufacturers (including Schenectady, Brooks & Cooke) and was based in Schenectady, New York; ALCO purchased Montreal Locomotive Works in 1904, and Rogers Locomotive Works of New Jersey in 1905, and became the second largest manufacturer of locomotives in the United States, behind Baldwin. ALCO built and sold steam locomotives (over 75,000 engines), diesel-electric locomotives, diesel engines & generators, specialized forgings, high quality steel, armed tanks, automobiles (1905-13), and produced nuclear energy (1954-62). Renamed Alco Products, Inc. in 1955, purchased by the Worthington Company in 1964, and defunct in 1969.
American Locomotive Works entry at Wikipedia
"Illustrated Treasury of the American Locomotive Company" by O. M. Kerr (Delta Publications, 1980)

H.K. Porter Company, Inc. of Pittsburgh, PA [1866-1950]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._K._Porter,_Inc
http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/porter.Html
http://www.over-land.com/rrporter.html = LH's H.K. Porter Locomotives fansite
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/lists/searchdb.php?str=porter&country=USA

	"Illustrated Guide To Locomotives of The World: A Comprehensive History of Locomotive Technology From The 1950s To The Present Day, Shown In Over 300 Photographs" [2000] by Colin Garratt Southwater 12x9¼ pb [4/2011] for $14.80 Lorenz Books 12x9¼ hardcover [12/2013] for $13.16 Anness Books 12x9¼ hardcover [3/2000] out of print/used
	"The World Encyclopedia of Locomotives: A Complete Guide To The World's Most Fabulous Locomotives" [2000] by Colin Garratt Anness Books 12x9½ hardcover [4/2000] out of print/many used
	"Modern Marvels: Locomotives" Season 14, Episode 11 [History April 2008] 50-minute color documentary, details absent A&E Direct color DVD [5/2009] for $24.98 credits at IMDb • watch full episode [44:56] free online at History Channel
	"The Complete Encyclopedia of Locomotives" [2009] by Micro De Cet & Alan Kent Organized by country, lots of photos with some text. CAVEAT: Not as 'complete' as title suggests; one Amazon reviewer cites as missing the GG-1 electrics, U.P. Mallet articulated Big Boys, E.M.D.'s SD70/80/90 series, and G.E.'s Evolution Series units. Rebo 9½x7¼ hardcover [1/2009] out of print/50+ used
	"Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Railway Locomotives" [2012] Edited by P. Ransome-Wallis Kindle Edition from Dover Publns [4/2013] for $21.49 {sic} Dover Publns 11x8 pb [8/2012] for $31.62
	"Classic Locomotives: Steam and Diesel Power in 700 Photographs [2013] by Brian Solomon Voyageur Press 8¼x6½ pb [10/2013] for $17.01

	"Catechism of The Locomotive" [1874] by M.N. Forney, Mechanical Engineer Univ California Libraries (Blue Cover) 8½x5½ pb [1911 facsimile] for $20.89 Hard Press 1874 edition 9x6 hardcover [11/2007] for $25.56 Univ Michigan Library 2nd edition 9x6 hardcover [2001] for $35.96
	"Locomotive Dictionary: An Illustrated Vocabulary of Terms Which Designate American Railroad Locomotives" [1906 classic] by George L. Fowler Nabu Press 690-page 9¾x7½ pb [3/2014] for $48.75 Periscope Film LLC 10x8 pb [2/2010] for $37.46 N.K. Gregg facsimile hardcover [1972] out of print/used
	"The Locomotive Catechism" [1908] by Robert Grimshaw, Mechanical Engineer Kessinger Publng 1911 edition 9x6 pb [9/2010] for $40.28 Kessinger Publng 1911 edition 9x6 hardcover [9/2010] for $51.08
	"The Engineman's Manual: The Classic Locomotive Text From 1919 - Intended For The Engineer, Fireman, or Mechanic Who Wishes To Extend His Knowledge of The Locomotive" [1919] by W.P. James Periscope Film LLC 10x8 pb [12/2009] for $29.96
	"Iron Horses: American Locomotives, 1829-1900" [1941] by Edwin P. Alexander Kindle Edition from Dover Publns [12/2012] for $9.99 Dover Publns 11x8¼ pb [1/2003] out of print/used W.W. Norton & Co. 11x8½ hardcover [1941] out of print/many used
	"American Locomotives: A Pictorial Record of Steam Power, 1900-1950" [1950] by Edwin P. Alexander Bonanza Books 10x7½ hardcover [1950] out of print/many used
	"The Steam Locomotive In America: Its Development In The 20th Century" [1952] by Alfred W. Bruce W.W. Norton & Co. hardcover [1952] out of print/used
	"100 Years of Steam Locomotives: Collectors Edition" [1957] by Walter A. Lucas Simmons Boardman 11¾x9 hardcover [6/57] out of print/used
	"The Collector's Book of The Locomotive" [1966] by Edwin P. Alexander with over 150 b&w illustrations and 44 in full color Bramhall House 11x8¾ hardcover [1966] out of print/60+ used
	"American Locomotives: An Engineering History, 1830-1880" [1968, rev 1997] by Prof. John H. White, Jr. Johns Hopkins Univ Press 10¼x9½ hardcover [12/97] out of print/used Johns Hopkins Univ Press 9¾x8 hardcover [5/68] out of print/used
	"The Steam Locomotive: An Engineering History" [2013] by Ken Gibbs Kindle Edition from Amberley Publng [8/2013] for $9.99 Amberley Publng 9¾x6¾ pb [8/2013] for $25.63
	"Loco Motion: The World's Oldest Steam Locomotives" [2014] by Michael R. Bailey covers pioneer railroad equipment from 1809 to 1850, with visits to museums in Britain, Europe, and North & South America The History Press 9x9¾ hardcover [8/2014] for $30.56

Spirit of America BookstoreRailroad Equipment

Spirit of America Bookstore
Railroad Equipment