Santa Fe Steam Power

Santa Fe Steam Power

By Lloyd E. Stagner and TRAINS Magazine

At 9:15 am., Tuesday, August 27, 1957, at the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway engine terminal at Belen, N. Mex., 4-8-4 No. 3780 was called to help a four-unit EMD F7 diesel on an eastbound freight train up the 1.25 per cent grade through Abo Canyon to Mountainair, 41 miles away. An hour earlier, 2-10-4 No. 5021 had been called to help an earlier freight. No. 5021 returned at 1:15 p.m. At 2:15 p.m., Engineer G. 1. Riley and restricting Fireman M. E. Key brought the 1941 Baldwin 4-8-4 back to Belen, ending the usage of steam power in revenue service on the Santa Fe System 88 years, 4 months, and 1 day after it began in Kansas.

This last trip of No. 3780 also ended over 30 years of Santa Fe operation of 4-8-4's. The pioneer engine of this type, No. 3751, had been delivered by Baldwin Locomotive Works in May 1927. During three decades, 65 4-8-4's set records for speed, dependability, and long-distance engine runs. The 51 engines of the later 3765, 3776, and 2900 classes can be ranked at or near the top of 4-8-4's built for North American service.

No. 3751, Baldwin's construction number 60004, costing $99,712.77, was the 13th 4-8-4 built for North American service, following the late 1926 and early 1927 delivery of 12 for the Northem Pacific. At the end of 1927, No. 3751 remained the only Baldwin 4-8-4, but the American Locomotive Company had delivered 12 4-8-4's to Grand Trunk Western and five to Delaware, Lackawarma & Western, plus the NP engines. Interestingly, 3751 was labeled a Mountain type in the AT&SF diagram book in common with predecessor 3700-class 4-8-2's.

Designed jointly by Santa Fe Mechanical Engineer H. H. Lanning and his staff in Topeka, Kans., and Baldwin, 3751 was not a revolutionary locomotive. The newly developed Type E superheater was applied; however, the boiler pressure was set at only 210 pounds, although the remaining 4-8-4's delivered in 1927 had either 240 or 250 pounds, pressure. Lanning extrapolated the 28 x 28-inch cylinders and 69-inch drivers of the railroad's 3700-class 4-8-2's to 30 x 30-inch cylinders and 73-inch drivers on the 4-8-4. Starting tractive force was estimated at 66,000 pounds. The high back pressures from the big 30-inch diameter cylinders proved troublesome, resulting in a loss of power at higher speeds. Many years later, a retired Santa Fe master mechanic who knew the 3751 class well, remarked that as built, "they smelled of lemon," due to the inability of the 15inch piston valves to get rid of the exhausted steam efficiently.

No. 3751 was equipped with one-piece cast steel cylinders which were keyed and bolted to a one-piece locomotive bed. Appliances included American multiple throttle, Elesco feedwater heater mounted on the pilot deck, Nicholson thermic syphons, Ragonnet power reverse gear, Walschaerts valve gear with a multiplying lever to provide 9 inches maximum valve travel, Santa Fe's patented Layden four-ported exhaust nozzle, and Duplex stoker. The tender was equipped with a Commonwealth one-piece cast steel underframe with six-wheel trucks, accommodating 15,000 gallons of water and 20 tons of coal. The main drivers were cross-counterbalanced with static wheel load of 67,350 pounds, restricting No. 3751 to main lines. Total engine weight was 421,900 pounds; the loaded tender weighed 283,000 pounds.

On road tests between La Junta, Colo., and Albuquerque, N. Mex., with dynamometer car No. 29, the new 4-8-4 demonstrated it could start 26 all-steel cars on level track and 15 cars on a 1.13 per cent grade, and accelerate that load to 25 mph in a distance of 15 car-lengths. On a 2 per cent grade, 3751 could handle 15 cars without a helper, and on the severe 3.5 per cent westbound grade over Raton Pass, it could handle nine cars by itself. In comparative tests with 4-8-2 No. 3714 on this territory, the 4-8-4 bandled 1037 tons compared with 782 tons for ' the Mountain type, saving 19.4 per cent in coal. The pounds of water evaporated per pound of coal were 6.74 for the 4-8-4 and 4.70 for the 4-8-2, or an increase of 43.4 per cent. Maximum drawbar horsepower of No. 3751 was 3220, at 40 mph, compared with a maximum of 2380 for No. 3714 at 35 mph. The test report cautioned that since the 4-8-2 was not equipped with a feedwater heater, its performance was about 10 per cent less favorable than one of the 3700 class so equipped.

It was obvious to management that it would be desirable to equip the eight daily through passenger trains operated over the New Mexico Division, between La Junta and Albuquerque, 347.5 miles, with 4-8-4 power. This engine district was the most difficult on the Chicago-Los Angeles route, encompassing maximum grades of 3.5 per cent westbound and 3.3 per cent eastbound over Raton Mountain between Trinidad, Colo., and Raton, N. Mex., and a 3 per cent eastbound grade from Lamy to Glorieta, N. Mex. The westbound grade from Las Vegas, N. Mex., to Glorieta reached a maximum of 1.7 per cent with curvature of 10 degrees. The Raton-Las Vegas territory had 1.4 per cent grades in both directions, and westbound from La Junta to Trinidad there was only one short break in a continuous 1.1 per cent pull.

Nine more 4-8-4's, Nos. 3752-3760 (construction Nos. 60328-60334 and 60385-60386) were ordered, with delivery in January and February 1928. Dupont stokers with Butterfly firedoors were applied to Nos. 3752-3756; the Duplex model with vertical firedoors were used on Nos. 3757-3760. Otherwise, the locomotives were duplicates of the 3751.

The 3751 class was rounded out with Nos. 3761-3763 (construction Nos. 60764-60766) delivered by Baldwin in April 1929 and No. 3764 (61091) following in September. These last four engines were equipped with Standard stokers. The delay in the delivery of No. 3764 was due to a decision to equip it with Caprotti poppet valve gear.