Delaware and Hudson K-62 Class
Delaware & Hudson K-62 Class | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Delaware & Hudson K-62 Class was a class of fifteen 4-8-4 steam locomotives built by the American Locomotive Company's Schenectady Works in 1943. They were intended as dual-service locomotives, hauling both freight and passenger trains until dieselization in 1953.[1]
Design
[edit]The K-62s had a semi-streamlined sort of look to them. This was due to the fact that they used elephant-ear smoke deflectors and the use of side skirts along the running board.[2] The dome and sandboxes were both housed in the same casting, while the headlight was recessed within the smokebox door. This was a feature that could be commonly found on other D&H locomotives such as their P Class and P-1 Class Pacifics and J-95 Class Challengers. Although laid out according to orthodox American design, these engines had a British look in their clean boilers, thick and wide face shield below the smokebox, and plain smokebox face with headlight centered.
Similarity to Alco's Later 4-8-4s
[edit]In 1944, Alco took the boiler from the K-62s and tweaked them, resulting in the boilers on the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad R-67B Class, Milwaukee Road S3 Class, and Union Pacific FEF-3 Class all being of similar designs.[3] The three later designs all shared the same valve gear, except the FEF-3s had a larger grate area at 100.2 square feet. The R-67Bs and FEF-3s also had similar cylinders as the K-62s, with the boiler being very closely related to those on the S3s. The K-62s and S-3s also had very similar tenders and similar driving wheels, with those on the K-62s being only slightly larger than those on the S3s. All four classes also had Walschaerts valve gear and roller bearings on their driving axles.
Service and Withdrawal
[edit]The K-62s were assigned to freight work all over the D&H. However, their large 6 ft 3 in (1,905.000 mm) drivers with roller bearings meant that the class were well-equipped to handle passenger trains between New York and Montreal.[4] The class was eventually retired between 1952 and 1953, and like all steam locomotives on the D&H, none were preserved.
Brief Revival
[edit]Although none of the K-62s survive, one member did return for a short while. To commemorate the sesquicentennial of the opening of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company, Reading Railroad T-1 No. 2102 masqueraded as No. 302 between 1973 and 1974.
Surviving Alco 4-8-4s
[edit]There are four other Alco 4-8-4s that were built during World War II. These are Milwaukee Road S3s Nos. 261 and 265 and Union Pacific FEF-3s Nos. 838 and 844 (8444 between 1962 and 1989). Nos. 261 and 265 are the closest that a preservationist can get to a K-62, having similar boiler dimensions and similarly sized tenders.
References
[edit]- ^ "Delaware & Hudson 4-8-4 "Northern" Locomotives in the USA". www.steamlocomotive.com. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
- ^ http://users.fini.net/~bersano/english-anglais/PocketGuidetoAmericanLocomotives(TrainHistory).pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Richard Leonard's Random Steam Photo Collection -- Delaware & Hudson 4-8-4 309".
- ^ "Delaware & Hudson Alco built class K-62 dual purpose 4-8-4 northern steam locomotive # 313, is seen at Whitehall, New York, 09-02-1950". 24 December 2011.