TANDING AGAINST A BACKDROP of Lake Erie’s Conneaut (Ohio) harbor, where giantlakeboats were moored at piers laden with complicated unloading machinery,Bessemer & Lake Erie’s sprawling yard teemed with activity. Filling the lakefrontyard was a sea of red hopper cars carrying coal northward for loading into boatsand iron ore southward for rail movement to the mills of Pittsburgh. Five decadesand more ago, a frequent sight here was that of 100-car, 13,000-ton ore drags get-ting laboriously under way with three ponderous H1 class 2-10-4’s. With onepulling and two pushing, the Texas types worked strenuously, climbing out of the

Lake Erie basin up to Albion, Pa.B&LE’s fleet of 47 powerful 2-10-4’s, the third-largest fleet in America (behind Pennsy’s

125 and Texas & Pacific’s 70), came to the road in seven groups built by Alco and Baldwinover 15 years from 1929 to 1944. They carried numbers 601-647 and were classified H1athrough H1g. Aside from slight differences in weights, all featured standardized mechani-cal specifications which included 250 PSI steam pressure, 31x32-inch cylinders, 64-inchdriving wheels, and a hefty tractive force of 96,700 pounds, with an additional 13,100pounds produced by trailing-truck booster engines. With all this power came a handsomeand rugged appearance, set off by the expansive flanks of huge tenders.

Coal and iron ore comprised three-quarters of the Bessemer’s total traffic, and the mon-strous 2-10-4’s were well suited to the difficult task of moving these heavy commodities overmajor grades. Out of Conneaut, ore drags followed the valley of Conneaut Creek as theypassed under lofty bridges that carried the parallel main lines of the Nickel Plate and NewYork Central, plus a highway. Beginning at an elevation of 572 feet above sea level at thelake, B&LE’s tracks almost immediately hit an ascending grade of 0.9 percent, then an even1.0 percent. The grade continued for 13 miles, gradually lessening as the line neared Albion,elevation 905 feet.

Albion was the site of the Bessemer’s largest engine terminal, which included two round-houses. One of these cared for engines running north to Conneaut and on the 24-milebranch to Erie, Pa. The other roundhouse handled power running south to the end of theline at North Bessemer, in Pittsburgh’s northern suburbs. This unusual arrangement hadevolved back in the days of 2-8-0 locomotives. In that era, the Conneaut-Albion hill wastreated as a slow drag operation of greatly diminished tonnages. Upon reaching Albion,smaller trains were combined for movement southward. By the 1940’s, a sufficient numberof Texas types were on hand to permit full 13,000-ton trains to be lifted out of Conneaut,with three of these mighty beasts pulling and pushing.

Proceeding southward from Albion over B&LE’s heavily built, double-track line, the2-10-4’s trudged confidently along with their massive loads. The gently undulating profiletook advantage of valleys paralleling the mountains in its 126-mile route to North Bessemer,the north end of B&LE’s U.S.-steel-owned cousin Union Railroad, which directly served

Tough Texans of

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Bessemer H1d Texas type 627, built in 1937 by Alco, walks a southbound train up the .6 percent grade near Green-ville, Pa., sometime in the 1940’s. Out of view, another 2-10-4 lends a hand on the rear end of the 11,400-ton train.

Little Bessemer & Lake Erie once operated America’s third-largest fleet of 2-10-4 type steam locomotives

By Bert Pennypacker

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2 4 C L A S S I C T R A I N S | W I N T E R 2 0 0 0© 2010 Kalmbach Publishing Co. This material may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. www.ClassicTrainsMag.com

the Bessemer

many of the steel mills in the Pitts-burgh area. The relatively short 139-mile route from Conneaut to NorthBessemer was indicative of the com-pact Bessemer, a Class 1 railroad withonly 224 route-miles and 597 track-miles. But the road’s tonnage figureswere impressive—in 1940, it hauled 11million tons of iron ore, all south, and7.5 million tons of coal, mostly north.Moreover, B&LE’s traffic mix showed awhopping 47 percent ore and 29 per-

cent coal, vs. only 24 percent generalfreight. (One of a handful of “classicera” roads which has kept its nameand route system, B&LE is still haul-ing mostly iron ore and coal betweenLake Erie and the Pittsburgh area.)

B&LE’s role as a major hauler ofmineral freight was strongly empha-sized by its fleet of 9353 hopper carswhich represented 90 percent of itstotal car ownership. The average Bes-semer hopper car boasted a capacity of90 tons, employed clasp brakes on allwheels, and had a self-adjusting brakesystem that allowed for weight differ-ences between empty and loaded cars.

Coal and ore traffic rode upon heavy-duty rail of 152 to 155 pounds peryard, with which the entire 139.5-mileConneaut-North Bessemer main linewas laid.

From 2-8-0’s to 2-10-2’sIn the first decade of the 20th cen-

tury, the Bessemer’s heaviest engineswere 2-8-0 Consolidation types having200 PSI steam pressure, 24x32-inchcylinders, 54-inch driving wheels, and

An unidentified 2-10-4 rolls a limestone train overthe pride of the B&LE’s physical plant, the 2351-foot-long, 165-foot-high Allegheny River bridge.

No. 601, first of Bessemer’s 2-10-4’s, is seen in anofficial portrait. Note twin sand domes, and sandpipe for the trailing-truck booster. B&LE photo.

B&LE

63,829 pounds tractive force. Suchsmall power could not begin to handlethe steadily increasing coal and oretraffic, so in 1916 the railroad acquiredfrom Baldwin 20 husky 2-10-2 SantaFe types. Classified D1a and numbered501-520, the 2-10-2’s quickly becamethe backbone of the heavy tonnagework. They had rather small drivingwheels of 60 inches diameter and acommendable tractive force of 85,680pounds.

In 1919, B&LE acquired fromBaldwin five more 2-10-2’s. Built toUSRA heavy 2-10-2 plans, class D2a(Nos. 521-525) had somewhat larger

driving wheels of 63 inches, but only190 PSI steam pressure, which provid-ed a relatively modest 73,829 poundsof tractive force. This gave B&LE atotal fleet of 25 Santa Fe types, its onlybig drag freight power through the1920’s.

During the 2-8-0 and 2-10-2 era, theBessemer made substantial improve-ments to the Conneaut Harbor ore-handling facilities. The first boatloadof iron ore had arrived there as early as1892 and, by 1896, the Pittsburgh,Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad hadcompleted its through route and be-come a part of Andrew Carnegie’s

growing steel empire. A better way oftransferring ore from a ship’s hold tohopper cars came along in 1899 whenGeorge H. Hulett designed the amaz-ing ore-handling machine that wouldbear his name. These steam-operateddevices could move along the dock astheir scooping arms dipped into a boatand came up with 15-ton bites. TheHuletts greatly increased the speedwith which ore could be transferredfrom boat to shore.

Engine 647 (below) begins the hard climb up Con-neaut Hill with an iron-ore train; smoke from twosisters pushing on the rear is visible beyond theNickel Plate Road bridge. Nos. 602 and 628 (left)help a different train up the hill in 1950.

No. 647, last-built of the B&LE Texas fleet, showsthat few changes were made over the locomotives’15-year production period. Baldwin photo.

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The year 1901 saw two notablechanges in company names as thePB&LE became the Bessemer & LakeErie and Carnegie Steel assumed thenew U.S. Steel Corp. identity.

On the lakes, the early years of the20th century brought forth the reallygiant ore carrying lakeboats, withlengths of 500 to 640 feet and capaci-ties ranging from 15,000 to 20,000tons. To keep pace, unloading spaces atConneaut Harbor were increased withfour docks, and unloading times werecut to 10 hours for even the largestboats. This was achieved by replacingthe four original steam-powered Hulettmachines with five new electricallyoperated ones whose fast-movingscoops could come up with a 17-tonbite of ore every two minutes.

Since the Great Lakes shipping sea-son lasted but eight months a year,approximately April 15 to December15, a fair percentage of ore received atConneaut was sent to ground storagescattered over vast nearby acreage tobe shipped south later for winter use.In order to carry off a 20,000-ton boat-load of ore, some 225 of B&LE’s 90-tonhopper cars were required. Under2-10-2 operation, this meant a bit more

than three trains of 70 cars each, withabout 6300 net tons of the heavy redmineral aboard each consist.

Throughout the 1920’s, Bessemer’splodding 2-10-2’s were adequate tohandle the road’s short-haul, high-vol-ume mineral traffic. But elsewhere inthe railroad industry, this decade was atime of great increases in locomotivesizes and capacities. So it was that twolocomotive developments by Baldwinwere destined to directly influence thedesigning of a giant 2-10-4 that becamethe successor to the Bessemer’s SantaFe types.

B&O and Burlington cousinsIn 1923, Baldwin and Baltimore &

Ohio mechanical engineers planned atruly heavy and powerful new 2-10-2type having a weight of 426,510pounds and a tractive force of 84,300pounds. By 1926, Baldwin and Limahad built a combined fleet of 125engines carrying B&O numbers 6100-6224 in classes S1 and S1a. They had220 PSI steam pressure and 30x32-inch cylinders, with 64-inch drivingwheels, somewhat unusual but previ-ously used on B&O’s fleet of 135 heavyMikados in several Q4 classes.

Texas types comparedRailroad AT&SF B&LE CPR PRRClass 5001 H1g T1b J1Wheel arrangement 2-10-4 2-10-4 2-10-4 2-10-4Road Nos. 5001-5005 638-647 5920-5929 6150-6174

6435-6474Builder Baldwin Baldwin Montreal PRRYears built 1938 1943-44 1938 1942-44Cylinders (in.) 30x34 31x32 25x32 29x34Driver dia. (in.) 74 64 63 70Steam pressure (PSI) 310 250 285 270Grate area (sq. ft.) 121.5 106.5 93.5 121.7Heating surface (sq. ft.) 6075 5912 5054 6558Superheaters E-2675 E-2366 E-2032 E-2930Total heating surface 8750 8278 7086 9498Weight on drivers (lbs.) 371,680 372,277 309,900 377,800Total weight (lbs.) 545,260 524,440 447,000 572,640Tractive force (lbs.) 93,000 96,700 76,905 93,750Tractive force, booster None 13,100 12,000 15,000Tender fuel capacity 23 tons 25 tons 5400 gal. (oil) 30 tons

Following construction of the out-standingly successful B&O S1 fleet,Baldwin and the Burlington Route col-laborated in 1927 on a new locomotiveto replace CB&Q’s aging 2-10-2’s incoal service on the carrier’s Beards-town Division linking Galesburg, Ill.,with southern Illinois mines andPaducah, Ky. This, in effect, practicallyduplicated the coming needs for newheavy-duty power on the Bessemer.

In order to fill the Burlington’s needfor a heavy duty, two-cylindered designthat would be superior to its 2-10-2’s,Baldwin looked to the 2-10-4. Thiswheel arrangement had been intro-duced two years earlier by Lima andfirst built for the Texas & Pacific, whichchristened it the Texas type. Beginningwith the basics of the B&O S1 design,Baldwin increased the boiler size andtotal engine weight by 86,000 poundsto reach a total figure of 512,110pounds. Steam pressure rose by 30 PSIto the 250 mark, and cylinder diameterwas increased by one inch to become31 inches with the 32-inch stroke re-maining unchanged. But the really in-teresting feature (and a clue to thewhole design formula) came in the re-tention of those 64-inch drivers takenfrom previous B&O designs. The newBurlington class M4 of 1927 carriedroad numbers 6310-6321 and boasteda husky tractive force of 90,000 pounds.These engines did so well that Burling-ton in 1929 went back to Baldwin forfive more M4’s.

Also in 1929, Bessemer, looking forsomething better than its World War I-era 2-10-2’s, ordered a single duplicateof the Burlington M4 class to evaluatethe design. It became B&LE 601, classH1a, and had two changes, whichbrought a noticeable increase in haul-ing power. Steam cutoff in the cylin-ders was increased to provide a trac-tive force of 96,700 pounds, and a trail-ing-truck booster added an additional13,100 pounds tractive force.

Since this particular 2-10-4 designhad been selected because of its provenperformance on the Burlington, thesuccess of B&LE 601 was practicallyassured. Thus her trial runs were madein large part to determine tonnage rat-ings and average operating speeds.Indeed, No. 601 posted extremely fa-vorable increases over what the lethar-gic D1a 2-10-2’s could manage. Oncethe 601 had settled these operating

From top: B&LE replaced its turn-of-the-century2-8-0’s with 2-10-2’s like D1a 508 and USRA-design D2a 521. B&O’s S1 2-10-2’s led to Burling-ton’s 2-10-4’s, the basis of B&LE’s Texas types.

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details, Bessemer went to Baldwin fornine near-duplicates, delivered in 1930as class H1b. The 2-10-4’s gradually be-came Bessemer’s standard coal and orehaulers, and the road acquired sixmore groups between 1936 and 1944.

Anatomy of the TexansIn presenting its mechanical de-

scription of B&LE class H1c locomo-tives, Baldwin Magazine first toldabout the water-heating properties ofthe large boilers and the overall powerwhich was produced. The huge boilercould evaporate as much as 84,300pounds (about 10,500 gallons) of waterper hour and, with a steam pressure of250 PSI and 250 degrees of superheat,the potential boiler horsepower was4690. The boiler was of the straight-top, wagon-bottom type, its firstcourse having an outside diameter of92 inches and the last course next tothe firebox had an outside diameter of104 inches.

The room-size firebox of radiallystayed construction had generous di-

mensions of 1501⁄16 inches in lengthand 1021⁄4 inches in width, with a gratearea of 106.5 square feet. Its depth atthe front was 951⁄2 inches and at theback, 763⁄4 inches. The combustionchamber extended 491⁄2 inches into thebarrel of the boiler, and there werethree thermic syphons, two in the fire-box and one in the combustion cham-ber. An American firebrick arch wassupported on two siphons and three31⁄2-inch tubes.

Cylinders were made of close-grained cast iron, each cast with a halfsaddle. Valve motion was actuated byWalschaerts gear designed for a maxi-mum cutoff of 68.75 percent. Baldwintype T power reverse gear was appliedto two H1c engines, 614 and 620, whilethe remaining eight were equippedwith Franklin type E gear.

The locomotive underframe was ofcast steel-bar construction bolted toback frame cradles, which were sup-plied by General Steel Castings Corp.Pedestal wedges were of steel, but thepedestal shoes were bronze. The

Alemite system of lubrication was ap-plied to connecting rods, valve motion,driving spring rigging, crosshead wristpins, travel lever work, expansion padat front end of firebox, radial buffermechanical lubricator mechanism,stoker gear case, and drawbar pinsbetween engine and tender.

The 64-inch driving wheels wereconsidered quite adequate to meetheavy-load and moderate-speed re-quirements encountered in B&LEservice. Main drivers had Baldwin disctype centers made by Standard SteelWorks Co. from special Anchor high-tensile steel. The frame of the ponytruck was cast steel made by GeneralSteel Castings Corp., while the wheelsthemselves were of wrought steel witha diameter of 33 inches. The four-wheel trailing truck of the Delta typealso came from GSC, with cast steelwheels of the spoked center type hav-ing diameters of 36 inches. The truckwas fitted with a Franklin limited cut-off booster used only at low speeds.

Brake equipment was WestinghouseAmerican outside equalized and com-bined automatic straight air applied toall driving and tender wheels. Thisincluded Westinghouse Schedule 8ETwith two 81⁄2-inch cross-compoundcompressors (one on each side, underthe running board) and AmericanFoundation Schedule WU6BC. Thissomewhat complex braking systemwas employed to handle the extremelyheavy train tonnages common on theBessemer.

B&LE’s biggest engines had big ten-ders with a capacity of 23,000 gallonsand 25 tons of coal for a weight of304,000 pounds when two-thirdsloaded. Cor-Ten alloy steel plates androlled shapes were used throughoutthe tender construction to fashion thewelded water bottom underframe andentire body structure. The stoker en-gine was housed in a blocked-off com-partment of the left water leg of thetank. Frames and bolsters of the six-

Among the 18 2-10-4’s that went to the MissabeRoad after B&LE dieselized were No. 621 (right),seen helping a freight up Minnesota’s Proctor Hillas DM&IR 700 in May 1957, and 631 (DM&IR710), being cleaned at the Proctor roundhouse.

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wheel trucks were of cast steel, whilethe wheels had a diameter of 33 inch-es. Mounted upon the water tank was acabin for the head-end brakeman.

All of Bessemer’s Baldwin 2-10-4’swere delivered under their own steamas they ran from the Eddystone (Pa.)plant near Philadelphia via the PRR toreach the Bessemer at Butler, Pa. Theirpaint scheme was all black with alu-minum leaf numbers on the cabs andthe Bessemer name with rail-head em-blem on the tenders. There were specialtimes when certain engines appearedwith white edging of their runningboards and driving-wheel tires. Theiroverall appearance simply was big andhusky, with boilers cluttered by pipingand topped with two sand domes. Buton the side of good esthetics, the left-hand running board was straight whilethe right one had two levels. The en-gines’ classic front end featured a belloverhanging a centered headlight.

Short careers, and a sole survivorThe booming exhausts and massive

stature of these powerful machinesmade an awesome spectacle as theytrudged confidently through the hillsand small towns of rural western Penn-sylvania. As examples of their greatsize, just consider that the overall totalheating surface of their monstrousboilers, including firebox, tubes, flues,and superheater, came to a whopping8390 square feet, while the weight perdriving axle amounted to 74,000pounds. Moreover, the combined totalweights of engine and tender came to901,340 pounds, more than that ofmany articulateds. The B&LE Texanshad a rigid driving-wheel base of 22feet, 4 inches and, to get them around13-degree curves, particularly on looptracks at Conneaut, the rails there werespaced 4 feet, 91⁄2 inches apart.

Tucked away in western Pennsyl-vania where they ran over a short routeon a steel-company railroad that hadstrict rules against photography, theB&LE 2-10-4’s labored in obscurity.Most had relatively short lives, thanksto Bessemer’s early dieselization withBaldwin road-switchers and EMD F7’s.The last 2-10-4 known to depart Con-neaut was the 642, which, on Novem-ber 26, 1952, pushed an ore drag head-ed by a four-unit diesel to Albion.

Not all the Bessemer Texans met anearly end, though. In 1951, the roadsold 18 of them to sister U.S. Steel car-

rier Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range innorthern Minnesota. As DM&IR 700-717, they worked several more years.Moreover, the 643 was among threesteamers saved by the B&LE and storedin the Greenville roundhouse (alongwith 2-8-0 154 and Union 0-10-2 604).The railroad exhibited the 643 oc-casionally throughout the 1960’s, thensold it in 1983 to the Steel City RailwayHistorical Society, which now keeps itin a warehouse in McKees Rocks, Pa.

While plans to operate “the King,” assome call it, have never come together,the engine is in excellent condition,thanks to regular maintenance and al-most continuous indoor storage. y

BERT PENNYPACKER, 76, has writtendozens of articles and books on steamlocomotives. He lives in Philadelphia.

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Bessemer’s family of TexansClass Road nos. Builder, year Weight (lbs.) Tractive forceH1a 601 Baldwin, 1929 502,630 96,700H1b 602-610 Baldwin, 1930 503,300 96,700H1c 611-620 Baldwin, 1936 523,540 96,700H1d 621-630 American, 1937 520,000 96,700H1e 631-635 Baldwin, 1941 519,740 96,700H1f 636-637 Baldwin, 1942 524,440 96,700H1g 638-642 Baldwin, 1943 523,600 96,700H1g 643-647 Baldwin, 1944 523,600 96,700

Sole survivor of Bessemer’s 2-10-4 clan is No. 643,“the King.” Stored indoors for most of its retire-ment, 643 is reported to be in excellent condition.

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