The Ms class 2-8-2s are a fleet of 182 2-8-2 mikados that were built for the Southern Railway (U.S.).
History[]
In the early 1910s, the Southern Railway was looking for a new freight locomotive to replace some of the aging 2-8-0s. William N. Finley, a Southern Railway official authorized the purchase of the first of 182 Mikado type locomotives. In October 1911, locomotive 37085 (Southern 4501), a class 12-48 1/4 E 2-8-2, rolled out of the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and became the first of her 182 siblings. These locomotives were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works and the American Locomotive Company from 1911 - 1914, plus an extra 5 engines built by Lima Locomotive Works in 1917. They had 63-inch driving wheels, a 175 psi boiler, 27" x 30" inch cylinders, a tractive effort of 51,638 lbs, and each weighed in at 134 - 136 tons (211 - 212 tons with tender). Their tenders could hold up to 8,000 gallons of water and 12 tons of coal. All of this class had Walschaerts gear except the following engines, which had Southern gear: 4579-4623, 4634-4635, and 6605. One interesting fact was that the Mobile & Ohio, the Wabash, and the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad also ordered similar locomotives to these.
Beginning in 1915, at least seven of the Southern engines—4535-4539 and 4576—were fitted with a "tractor" on the tender, essentially converting the tender into a 2-8-0 with 18x24" cylinders. In place of the usual two bogie trucks, the design placed the tender tank and bunker on a frame that held the cylinders, Four evenly spaced axles holding 50" (1,270 mm) wheels and a single axle at the front with 30" (762 mm) wheels. (The Erie and Virginian Triplexes used similar tender engines.) Thus equipped, the tender weighed 230,000 lb (104,326 kg( fully loaded and developed 23,100 lb (10,478 kg) starting tractive effort. (4561 received a 2-6-0 tender engine set up.)
The July 1917 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine described the result as a "duplex" engine and said the design was a response to congestion on the 68-mile (109.5 km), notoriously adversely graded, single-tracked Saluda grade in western North Carolina. In service, the PM article claimed, the duplex could move 30% more tons per train than could its non-duplex duplicate. A moment's thought will show that as the boiler and grate weren't enlarged, this bonus had limited duration before the whole assembly ran out of puff. Another problem, which to a lesser extent also affected Beyer-Garratt locomotives, was that as the tender used up its water and coal, its factor of adhesion dropped considerably with greater slipping and loss of traction. It's also not clear to Locobase how steam admission was coordinated between the large cylinders forward and the smaller cylinders behind. As might be expected, the tender tractors were removed in a few years.
#4523 at an unknown location.
In the 1930s, these locomotives were rebuilt to a more USRA style with the headlight being moved from the top of the smokebox in front of the smokestack, to the middle of the smokebox door. Between 1939 and 1940, 14 engines were retired as a result when the Southern purchased it's first diesel locomotives. However, when the United States entered World War 2 on December 7, 1941, all retirements of this class stopped to help keep the war machine going. Some of these locomotives were also given modifications, such as a feedwater heater, bigger tenders, a shorter cab to conserve space which gave them a brutish look, and a mechanical stoker. After the war, these locomotives continued to serve the Southern with glory for a few more years. However, with the promise of dieselization, these engines couldn't compete with the new technology.
The first locomotives to be retired were engines #4546, #4603, #4616, and #6282 between June and October 1947, after that, the official retirements of the class began. The AGS based engines were retired between 1949 and 1951 while the V&SW based engines went down between 1939 and 1952. Between 1949 and 1952, the CNO&TP and Southern based engines were dropping like flies and by June 1953, only a few of these machines were left on the Southern's active roster. In September 1953, the last Ms class 2-8-2s, #4577 and #4613, were sold for scrap to the Granite City Steel Company of Granite City, Illinois.
Batches[]
These were the batches of locomotives that were built
- #4501 - 4533 (built by Baldwin in October 1911)
- #4534 - 4552, (built by Baldwin in 1912)
- #4553 - 4578, (built by Baldwin in January 1913)
- #4579 - 4603, (built by Baldwin in 1914)
- #4604 - 4623, (built by ALCo in 1914)
- #4623 - 4630, (built by Baldwin in 1911) (assigned to the V&SW subsidiary)
- #4631 - 4633, (built by Baldwin in 1913) (assigned to the V&SW subsidiary)
- #4634 - 4635, (built by ALCo in 1914) (assigned to the V&SW subsidiary)
- #6250 - 6261, (built by Baldwin in October 1911) (assigned to the CNO&TP subsidiary)
- #6262 - 6274, (built by Baldwin in November 1911) (assigned to the CNO&TP subsidiary)
- #6275 - 6284, (built by Baldwin in February 1913) (assigned to the CNO&TP subsidiary)
- #6600 - 6604, (built by Baldwin in 1913) (assigned to the AGS subsidiary)
- #6605, (built by ALCo in 1914) (assigned to the AGS subsidiary)
- #6606 - 6611, (built by Lima in 1917) (assigned to the AGS subsidiary)
Years Retired[]
Still under construction......
1939 - 4502, 4504, 4582, 4588, 4589, 4593, 4604, 4612, 4633
1940 - 6258, 6264, 6269, 6273, 6281
1947 - 4546, 4548, 4603, 4616, 6282
1948 - 4501
1949 - 4506, 4508, 4509, 4510, 4512, 4514, 4515, 4516, 4518, 4521, 4522, 4524, 4531, 4532, 4533, 4538, 4539, 4540, 4542, 4543, 4549, 4553, 4554, 4555, 4556, 4559, 4560, 4573, 4574, 4575, 4581, 4585, 4591, 4594, 4599, 4601, 4608, 4609, 4614, 4615, 4617, 4620, 4622, 4625, 4627, 6252, 6253, 6255, 6261, 6263, 6265, 6267, 6276, 6277, 6600, 6603, 6606, 6607, 6608, 6609
1950 - 4503, 4511, 4530, 4550, 4563, 4567, 4568, 4572, 4578, 4580, 4583, 4587, 4595, 4597, 4611, 4623, 4630, 6250, 6268, 6271, 6279, 6283, 6284, 6604, 6605, 6610, 6611
1951 - 4507, 4513, 4519, 4520, 4525, 4529, 4534, 4535, 4536, 4537, 4545, 4547, 4557, 4558, 4562, 4565, 4569, 4570, 4576, 4584, 4586, 4598, 4600, 4605, 4606, 4607, 4624, 4628, 4634, 4635, 6256, 6259, 6262, 6266, 6270, 6272, 6274, 6275, 66001, 6602
1952 - 4505, 4517, 4526, 4527, 4541, 4544, 4551, 4552, 4561, 4564, 4566, 4571, 4579, 4590, 4592, 4596, 4602, 4618, 4619, 4621, 4631, 4632, 6251, 6254, 6260, 6280
1953 - 4523, 4528, 4577, 4610, 4613, 6278
Preservation[]
After retirement from the Southern's roster in October 1948, 4501 was sold to the Kentucky & Tennessee Railroad for $8,225.75 and became the K&T's #12. It continued to work on the line hauling coal down from the mines at Oz to the Southern Railway interchange at Stearns. When the K&T purchased 3 ALCO S-4 diesels from the D&RGW in February 1964, it was sold to Paul Merriman for $5,000 of his own money and it arrived at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in June 1964 and underwent a restoration. In 1966, #4501 was restored and painted up in the famous Southern green and gold paint scheme and became the first locomotive to take part in the Southern Railway's steam program. It returned to its black livery in October 1996 and was taken out of service on September 20, 1998. On September 5, 2014, after a 16 year absence 4501 was back in operation and continues to give rides at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum today.
During the restoration, 4501 was given a few modernizations, such as a replica Worthington Type SA feedwater heater from a China Railways QJ, a mechanical stoker from a Canadian National 4-6-2 and automatic lubricators from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in England; its boiler pressure was also re-certified from 200 psi (1.38 mPa) to 205 psi (1.41 mPa), which gives a slight boost to its tractive effort.