builder..

railroad class..

builder number..

built..

wheel arrangement..

boiler pressure..

cylinders..

drivers..

operational weight..

starting tractive effort..

length..

width..

wheelbase of drivers..

NEW YORK (ROME)

TF-18

672

January 1891

4-6-0

160 lbs.

18" x 24"

60" diameter (later 55")

114 800 lbs (engine only)

18 000 lbs (later 19 228)

58 ft 1 in

 ft  in

11 ft 8-½ in

TS second 1 was built in 1891 as Rio Grande Western 55.  According to an article in the Salt Lake Daily Tribune, the 55 (along with sister 56) was delivered on February 11, 1891 and was renumbered RGW 39 on February 15 to correct a mix-up at the factory.  She was built by the New York Locomotive Works, also known as the Rome Locomotive Works.  During 1891, the Rio Grande Western was in the thick of standard gauging its former narrow gauge mainline.  The 39 and her sisters were purchased as part of the line's upgrading.  When delivered, RGW 39 was equipped with 60" drivers and was listed as exerting 17,075 lbs. of tractive effort.   These stats would later change under WP and TS ownership.  In 1908, the RGW was merged into the Denver and Rio Grande Railway and 39 became D&RG 546.

It was purchased by the Western Pacific on August 9, 1917 along with sister engine D&RG 549. The locomotives cost the WP $4000.00 each.  Exactly why these locomotives were purchased is unknown, but it is likely that the WP, which had recently ended its first receivership and was rapidly building branches and acquiring feeder lines (including the Tidewater), needed extra motive power fast and found a good deal with the Rio Grande. Several months earlier, the WP had purchased a sister engine, former RGW 36, from the D&RG and assigned it as Deep Creek 1 (the Deep Creek was a WP subsidiary running south from the WP mainline right on the Nevada-Utah border).  Both WP engines were shipped from Salt Lake City with the D&RG 546 (former RGW 42, renumbered WP 126) heading to Elko for shopping. The 549 (WP 127) went to Jeffrey Shops in Sacramento.

Records indicate that WP 126 was shopped at a cost of $3256.00. On August 27, 1917, it was sent to Burmester, UT for use on the recently opened Toole Branch. This service did not last long. The Tidewater Southern was seeking additional motive power and the WP, which now controlled the road, looked in house to supplement the roster. On January 23, 1918, after just over five months as a WP engine, the 126 was sold to the Tidewater for $7500.00. It was converted to oil firing at Elko in February and shortly after delivered to the TS in Stockton. WP 126 thus earned the distinction of having the shortest service life of any Western Pacific locomotive, steam or diesel. There are no known photos of it as a WP locomotive.

On the Tidewater, however, the engine would be well documented and become a fan favorite.  Second 1 earned her purchase price many times over for the next 28 years.  She was the primary power on the road until 32, an ex-Sierra Railway 2-6-2, arrived in 1940.  Before 1932, she likely worked alongside electrics 100 and 106 and borrowed WP power on the Stockton-Modesto mainline.  After that time, the electrics would tow second 1 and her trains through Modesto, leaving her to run the mainline in the company of her WP compatriots.

Although built with 60" driving wheels, at some point she received 55" drivers and an increase in tractive effort.  When this change was made is unknown.  She received a major shopping around 1930.  Sister engine WP 127, which had also worked around Burmester, UT in her early WP days, came to the California's Central Valley in 1918, shortly after WP 126 was sold to the Tidewater.  WP 127's career was not as successful, however, and she was set aside in December, 1923 and scrapped in June, 1930 (around the same time as Deep Creek 1), at the Jeffrey Shops in Sacramento.  Her driving wheels were salvaged and placed under TS 1 as part of a major shopping for the Tidewater engine.

By 1946, the war rush was over and the TS took delivery of their first diesel.  New 44 tonner 135 spelled the end of the venerable 4-6-0, which was now over 55 years old.  Only WP 124, built in 1882 and regularly seen on the TS, was older.  TS 1 steamed her last in April, 1947 and was scrapped in Sacramento in September, outliving the last of her Rio Grande Western sisters in service by almost 20 years.  Her tender, lettering intact, was placed behind WP 124, which continued to sporadically work the Tidewater and the WP branches out of Stockton over the next several months with her new tender before also being shoved into the deadline.

TS second 1 evolved quite a bit during her years of service.  Sometime between 1935 and 1937, she was shopped and traded her single stage air compressor for a cross-compound style.  By the early 1940's, her large, old headlight had been replaced with a smaller, "Sunbeam" style light at her classic "cowcatcher" pilot had been removed in favor of footboards.  For most of her service life, she sported the Tidewater Southern name on her tender in capital Roman style lettering, with her number on the cabside as a bolt on plate in typical WP fashion.  One photo has surfaced, however, that shows her wearing a variation of the WP's lettering style from the 1910's, with a large numeral on the tender side and TS initials on the cabside.  In a break from WP standards, Tidewater Southern is spelled out on the tender in small lettering, flanking the large number 1.  This lettering style lasted until 1927, with the familiar Feather medallion on the tender being adopted in 1929.  It is unknown when TS 1 was relettered, but the shopping where she received the drivers from WP 127 is a likely possibility.

Surviving shop records show TS second 1 was regularly in and out of Jeffrey Shops on the WP after the 1930's, perhaps indicating difficulty in keeping the old and outmoded engine running well.  (These records are still being searched to determine the nature of the work.)  If so, then the engine's survival into the mid 1940's is even more remarkable.

OVERVIEW                                  

. Built for Rio Grande Western.

. Became WP 126 in 1916.

. Shortest service of any WP locomotive: 5 months and 2 weeks.

. Sold to TS in 1918.

. Scrapped in late 1947 after nearly 56 years of service.

Tidewater Southern Railway

New York 4-6-0 1:2