The Reading T-1 is a class of 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotives owned by the Reading Company. They were rebuilt from 30 "I-10sa" class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type locomotives between 1945 and 1947.
By the turn of the 20th century, the Philadelphia and Reading Company had approximately 800 Reading I Classes 2-8-0 "Consolidation" types constructed by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as well as the Reading's own locomotive shops in Reading, since it was introduced for them in 1880. The Vaulcain compound "culm" burners built in the early 1890s were followed by the anthracite coal burners, which the company decided to use anthracite as their steamer's primary fuel source, thus they would be built with wider fireboxes. Those 2-8-0s built in the 20th century included eighty-five I-8a class locomotives built between 1910 and 1914, numbered 1501-1533 and 1566-1617, and then eighty I-9a class locomotives in 1918 and 1922, numbered 1625-1637, 1650-1660, 1670-1684 and 1900-1924, and then the I-10sa class locomotives between 1923 and 1925, numbered 2000-2049. In the latter group, a tractive effort of 71,000 pounds is attained, as compared with 19,390 pounds of the 19th century-built 2-8-0s. The husky consolidations were solely used for heavy freight service on the Reading's Branch lines, and sometimes, on the Main line.
Before World War II came to a close, the Reading was looking for even heavier and more powerful locomotives than their M class 2-8-2 "mikados" or their K class 2-10-2 "Santa Fe" types for the ever so heavier trains, as well as replacing their N class 2-8-8-2 Mallets. However, just as the case with other railroads, the Wartime Production Board denied the company from building a new locomotive design, but allowed them to rebuild or modify their existing locomotives. Thus, between 1945 and 1947, just as the war was over, the Reading brought twenty of their mallets Nos 1811-1830 and thirty of their consolidations Nos 2020-2049 into their locomotive shops in Reading. There, the mallets were converted into simple expansion locomotives, with some turning into 2-8-8-0s, and the 2-8-0s were heavily rebuilt into 4-8-4 "Northerns", and they were reclassified as T-1s and renumbered to 2100-2129. Their four-axle tenders were replaced with larger six-axle tenders, their driving wheel diameter was increased, they received two extra pilot wheels, and they received four trailing wheels to support their enlarged fireboxes.
The T-1 class entered service between 1945 and 1947 and were used primarily in fast freight service. Their operating territory encompassed most of the Reading system and they were frequently used in pool service with the Western Maryland Railway and became the basis for that road's "Potomac" class of 4-8-4s.
Assigned to freight service, these 4-8-4s primarily saw use on time-sensitive mixed freights as well as coal trains and also saw use in pusher service. In regular service, the T-1s were cleared to pull trains up to 150 cars in length. Despite being assigned to freight service, the T-1s were capable of powering passenger trains if needed, and the last 10 were equipped with steam heating for this purpose; cab signals were also added to 10 for use on the Bethlehem Branch in 1948. In actual service however, the T-1s rarely handled passenger trains outside of post–World War II troop trains.
The working lives of the T-1s were relatively brief, with all being out of service by 1954. A traffic surge in 1955 brought some back in service. In June 1956, 9 T-1s (2107, 2111-2115, 2119, and 2128) were leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad, while others ran upstate in Pennsylvania on the RDG until early 1957. Some T-1s were also loaned as steam generators to Steel mills (Like 2102 being leased to Carpenter Steel Corporation). Upon returning to the Reading a year later, the PRR-leased engines, with the exception of 2128, were cut up for scrap.
Beginning in 1959, the Reading Company began operating a series of excursions throughout its system using two of the T-1s. The first Ramble, pulled by T-1 2124, ran between Wayne Junction in Philadelphia to Shamokin. Four T-1s were held by the Reading for the Iron Horse Rambles: 2100 and 2124 would be used to pull the excursions, 2101 would be kept as a backup, and 2123 was used as a source of parts and eventually scrapped in 1966. The 2102, which had recently been loaned to Carpenter Steel Corp., joined the Rambles in 1962 to replace the 2124, which had developed a list of needed repairs, and it had been the first locomotive of the Rambles to be retired, and it was sold of to F. Nelson Blount for his Steamtown U.S.A. collection in Bellows Falls, Vermont. The Iron Horse Rambles lasted until 1964, and the three remaining T-1s were sold off by January 31, 1965.
Out of the 30 rebuilt, 4 survive in preservation today, those being Nos. 2100, 2101, 2102 and 2124.
Trivia[]
- To fit the new cast steel engine beds supplied by General Steel Casting Corporation, the boiler was lengthened. This was done by replacing the first two boiler courses and adding a 187 in extension in addition to adding a new 111 in smokebox. The firebox was modified by adding thermic syphons and a combustion chamber.
- Roller bearings supplied by Timken or SKF were used on the four wheel pilot and trailing trucks as well as the six wheel tender trucks. The first 20 examples (2100–2119) used plain (journal) bearings on the eight driving wheels, while the final 10 (2120–2129), intended for both freight and passenger service, had roller bearings throughout. The driving wheels themselves used the Boxpok design with a diameter of 70 in.
- In January 2022, the Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad announced a return of the Iron Horse Rambles for 4 dates in 2022, pulled by 2102.
- On July 28, 1949, the 2101 suffered a catastrophic derailment, supposedly while pulling a freight train. The specific location is unknown, and it is unknown if the engineer, fireman, or leading brakeman were injured or killed.
- In 1968, the 2102 was pulling an excursion train on the Grand Trunk Western when a minor derailment damaged its hennessey oil lubricators on the second driving axle, and the lubricator was subsequently converted to a grease block. The locomotive sat idle for the next three years.
- In March 1979, a roundhouse at Stevens Yard in Silver Grove, Kentucky caught fire with the 2101 inside, causing the locomotive to be damaged beyond mechanical repair. Afterwards, it was traded to the B&O Railroad Museum in exchange for Chesapeake and Ohio 614, and it was cosmetically restored back to its American Freedom Train livery.
Stock list[]
| Photograph | Loco No. | Status | Notes | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2100 | Undergoing restoration to operational condition. | Mis-converted to burn oil by Thomas Payne, retired from excursion service and is undergoing restoration to operational condition and being reverted back to burning coal. | First member of the class |
|
2101 | On static display at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum | Involved in a roundhouse fire which lead to its retirement | Second member of the class |
|
2102 | Operational, based at the Reading and Northern Railroad | Third member of the class | |
|
2103 | Scrapped | Fourth member of the class | |
|
2104 | Scrapped | ||
|
2105 | Scrapped | ||
| 2106 | Scrapped | |||
|
2107 | Scrapped | ||
| 2108 | Scrapped | |||
| 2109 | Scrapped | |||
|
2110 | Scrapped | ||
| 2111 | Scrapped | |||
| 2112 | Scrapped | |||
| 2113 | Scrapped | |||
| 2114 | Scrapped | |||
| 2115 | Scrapped | |||
| 2116 | Scrapped | |||
| 2117 | Scrapped | |||
| 2118 | Scrapped | |||
| 2119 | Scrapped | |||
| 2120 | Scrapped | |||
| 2121 | Scrapped | |||
| 2122 | Scrapped | |||
|
2123 | Scrapped | Cannibalized for other T-1s (used as a source of spare parts) and scrapped | |
|
2124 | On static display, based in the Steamtown National Historic Site. | ||
|
2125 | Scrapped | ||
|
2126 | Scrapped | ||
|
2127 | Scrapped | ||
| 2128 | Scrapped | |||
| 2129 | Scrapped |
