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Class of American 2-8-0 locomotive built for service overseas during World War II From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United States Army Transportation Corps S160 Class is a class of 2-8-0 Consolidation steam locomotive, designed for heavy freight work in Europe during World War II. A total of 2,120 were built and they worked on railroads across much of the world, including Africa, Asia, all of Europe and South America.
USATC S160 Class China KD6, ÖBB Class 956, ČSD Class 456.1, SNCF Class 140U, SEK Class Θγ (THg), MÁV Class 411, FS Class 736, PKP Tr201 and Tr203, Russia class ШA, Renfe class 553, TCDD 45171 Class, JZ class 37, KSR 8000 series, KNR Sori2 class, SNCB/NMBS type 281 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Lima Locomotive Works builder portrait of USATC number 5740 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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During the 1930s, the United States Army Transportation Corps approved an update of a Baldwin Locomotive Works World War I design, to be used, if required, for war transportation. The result was the S159 Class loco. During the early period of World War II, when America was neutral, the government of Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the Lend-Lease supply to the United Kingdom of the S200 Class, a 2-8-2 configuration, designed specifically to fit into the restricted British loading gauge.[1]
With America's entry to World War II, the USATC needed a developed design from which a large number of locomotives could be constructed to run on the wrecked railways of Europe, deploying military hardware and civilian goods. Hence, the development of the S160 Class, designed by Maj. J. W. Marsh from the Railway Branch of the Corps of Engineers, which drew on previous locomotives, using austerity principles, and was built using methods which allowed for efficient and fast construction, and a long life,[1] including axlebox grease lubricators, and rolled plates in preference to castings.
With cast frames (a few had frames which were flame-cut from rolled steel slabs)[2] and cast wheels, the front two driving axles were sprung independently from the rear two driving axles, to cater for running on poor-quality track. The larger tender layout was derived from the similar design of the British WD Austerity 2-8-0, with an inset coal bunker above the water tank to improve visibility when running backwards.
Builders | Construction numbers |
Years | Quantity | USATC numbers |
---|---|---|---|---|
American Locomotive Company | 70431 – 70455 |
1942 |
25 |
1600 – 1624 |
70278 – 70302 |
1942 |
25 |
1625 – 1649 | |
70457 – 70483 |
1942 |
27 |
1650 – 1676 | |
Baldwin Locomotive Works | 67661 – 67685 |
1943 |
25 |
1677 – 1701 |
64641 – 64665 |
1942 |
25 |
1702 – 1726 | |
67561 – 67660 |
1942 |
100 |
1727 – 1826 | |
Lima Locomotive Works | 8058 – 8101 |
1942 |
44 |
1827 – 1870 |
8102 – 8157 |
1943 |
56 |
1871 – 1926 | |
American Locomotive Company | 70514 – 70531 |
1942 |
18 |
2032 – 2049 |
70532 – 70540 |
1942 |
9 |
2050 – 2058 | |
70541 – 70633 |
1943 |
93 |
2059 – 2151 | |
Lima Locomotive Works | 8158 – 8247 |
1943 |
90 |
2152 – 2241 |
Baldwin Locomotive Works | 69485 – 69574 |
1943 |
90 |
2242 – 2331 |
69589 – 69639 |
1943 |
51 |
2332 – 2382 | |
American Locomotive Company | 70749 – 70808 |
1943 |
60 |
2400 – 2459 |
Lima Locomotive Works | 8317 – 8376 |
1943 |
60 |
2500 – 2559 |
8262 – 8291 |
1943 |
30 |
2560 – 2589 | |
Baldwin Locomotive Works | 69818 – 69867 |
1943 |
50 |
2590 – 2639 |
69903 – 70038 |
1943 |
136 |
2640 – 2775 | |
Lima Locomotive Works | 8429 – 8456 |
1943 |
28 |
2776 – 2803 |
American Locomotive Company | 70959 – 71008 |
1943 |
50 |
2804 – 2853 |
71051 – 71186 |
1943 |
136 |
2854 – 2989 | |
71455 – 71459 |
1943 |
5 |
3200 – 3204 | |
71460 – 71634 |
1944 |
175 |
3205 – 3379 | |
Baldwin Locomotive Works | 70337 – 70516 |
1944 |
180 |
3380 – 3559 |
Lima Locomotive Works | 8473 – 8612 |
1944 |
140 |
3560 – 3699 |
American Locomotive Company | 71895 – 71944 |
1943 |
50 |
3700 – 3749 |
73394 – 73475 |
1945 |
82 |
4402 – 4483 | |
Lima Locomotive Works | 8814 – 8858 |
1945 |
45 |
5155 – 5199 |
8623 – 8662 |
1944 |
40 |
5700 – 5739 | |
8678 – 8699 |
1944 |
22 |
5740 – 5761 | |
8700 – 8707 |
1944 |
8 |
5762 – 5769 | |
8708 – 8797 |
1945 |
90 |
5770 – 5859 | |
Baldwin Locomotive Works | 72058 – 72112 |
1945 |
55 |
6024 – 6078 |
800 locomotives were constructed in 1942/3 in thirteen batches, split between ALCO, Baldwin and Lima Locomotive Works. Shipped to South Wales and dispatched from the Great Western Railway locomotive depot at Ebbw Junction, Newport, the first 43 locomotives were transferred to the London & North Eastern Railway's Doncaster Works for completion, and later running in over the East Coast Main Line. This started a pattern whereby each of the four British railway companies eventually deployed a total of 400 S160's under the guise of "running in," but factually replacing damaged stock and increasing the capacity of the British railway system to allow for shipping of military pre-invasion equipment and troops. The eventual deployment of S160's were:
The second batch of 400 S160's were prepared for storage by USATC personnel at the Great Western's Ebbw Junction locomotive depot in the immediate run-up to D-Day. After the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the locomotives deployed across Britain again began to be collected and be refurbished at Ebbw Junction in preparation for shipment to Europe.
The S160's were designed for quick and efficient building, not long-term operations, thus compromises in design led to some difficulties in operation. The axle-box grease-lubricators were not very efficient, particularly when maintenance procedures lapsed or were delayed for operational war reasons, and so axle-boxes often ran hot.[3][4] Braking was poor by modern standards, with a Westinghouse steam brake used for the locomotive,[1] which was woefully insufficient, due to the long distance from the driver's valve to the brake cylinder.
A major fault of the S160 was use of a single water gauge of a Klinger design, unfamiliar to U.K. crews; it was necessary to open the top and bottom cocks slowly or the check valves would close, trapping water in the gauge and giving a false reading.[5] If the valves were not fully open, the crews could be misled into thinking that the water level was adequate, even though it was becoming dangerously low. When a low water condition allowed the crown sheet to overheat, the stay bolts holding the crown sheet would fail with little warning, resulting in a boiler explosion.[6] In a space of ten months, three UK S160s suffered a collapse of the firebox crown, with the first leading to the death of a GWR fireman on No. 2403 in November 1943. Although there are claims that the stay bolts or firebox design were less than for domestic locomotive boilers, the locomotives were equipped with a "boiler built to comply in all aspects with the A.S.M.E. Boiler Code, except that the shell shall have a factor safety of 4."[7]
Judging accurately the actual deployment of 2120 locomotives is difficult, but the following numbers are referenced:[6]
The British locomotives, together with those shipped direct from America were also similarly deployed first with troops reclaiming Europe, and then subsumed throughout European national railways as replacements for their destroyed stock after the war:
At the same time as S160s were being deployed into Britain, when General Patton led American troops in Operation Torch into the North African Campaign, their Transport Corps brought the S160s with them. These locomotives moved across the north of the continent as Patton's troops waged war, and when the troops moved to Italy the majority of their S160s moved up with them. These locomotives, supplemented with those directly imported from America, were eventually to create a group of 243 locomotives, subsumed by the Italian State Railway's to become the FS Class 736 class.
Under the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, a number of S160s were deployed to China and South Korea.[18] In addition to this, a 1944 batch of 60 from Baldwin were sent to India and locally assembled.
![]() | This section possibly contains original research. (May 2015) |
Although "S160" has been popularly adopted as the class identification for this design of War Department Consolidation, it can not be verified as an official designation despite considerable research. The S160 designation is not found in 1942 and 1943 Baldwin drawing indexes,[24][25] the Lima drawing index for the class,[26] nor in meeting minutes[27] in which representatives of the War Department and the three builders made several design decisions prior to production. It is also not found in any of approximately 900 engineering drawings which are still in existence. The Baldwin designation for the design, 2-8-0-19S, is found in their drawing indexes, on some drawings, and is stamped onto major locomotive components on examples built by Baldwin.
There were several major variants of the S160 class, excluding in-life design development:
Mainly due to their numbers, rather than the design or build quality, at least 26 examples of the S160 have survived into preservation, making them one of the most numerous survivors of all Mainline Steam Locomotives:
USATC No. | Builder | Post World War II Owner | Current Owner | Location | Image | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1631 | Alco 70284 | ![]() |
Great Central Railway (Nottingham) | ![]() |
under restoration[29] | |
2138 | Alco 70620 | ![]() |
Great Central Railway (Nottingham) | ![]() |
Source of strategic spares for 1631[29] | |
2364 | Baldwin 69621 | ![]() |
Great Central Railway (Nottingham) | ![]() |
Chassis only, source for strategic spares for 1631[29] | |
2627 | Baldwin 69855 | ![]() |
City of Anchorage | ![]() |
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Restored for static display in 2015.[31] |
3523 | Baldwin 70480 | ![]() |
Engine 557 Restoration Company[32] | ![]() |
Under restoration for operation from August, 2012 through present (as of February 2024).[33] | |
5846 | Lima 8784 | ![]() |
Crewe Railroad Museum | ![]() |
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Re-lettered to Norfolk and Western #606 |
5187 | Lima 8846 | ![]() |
US Army Transportation Museum | ![]() |
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|
2628 | Baldwin 69856 | ![]() |
Bill Miller Equipment Sales | ![]() |
Fitted with Franklin Type B Rotary Cam Poppet valve gear,[citation needed] which is intended for use on the PRR 5550 project, undergoing restoration. Tender supposedly used behind Pershing No. 28 in Texas. | |
2630 | Baldwin 69858 | ![]() |
Age of Steam Roundhouse | ![]() |
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From Southeastern Railway Museum, Duluth, Georgia |
1702 | Baldwin 64641 | ![]() |
Great Smoky Mountains Railroad | ![]() |
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Operational |
5197 | Lima 8856 | ![]() |
Churnet Valley Railway | ![]() |
![]() |
Overhaul began 2013, returned to service February 2017. |
6046 | Baldwin 72080 | ![]() |
Churnet Valley Railway | ![]() |
![]() |
Overhaul finished July 2012, Returned to service December 2012. |
2253 | Baldwin 69496 | ![]() |
Peter Best | ![]() |
6 June 2019 Full restoration completed by Steam Powered Services in Stockton. Renamed Omaha Beach (shortened to 'Omaha') honouring the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. | |
5820 | Lima 8758 | ![]() |
Keighley & Worth Valley Railway | ![]() |
![]() |
Returned to service in January 2014 following overhaul |
3278 | Baldwin 70340 | ![]() ![]() |
Richard Stone | ![]() |
![]() |
#701 Franklin D. Roosevelt, under overhaul at Churnet Valley Railway, last steamed at Watercress Line in 1999[34] |
5164 | Lima 8823 | ![]() |
Polskie Koleje Państwowe | ![]() |
![]() |
|
2438 | ALCO 70787 | ![]() |
Polskie Koleje Państwowe | ![]() |
![]() |
|
5801 | Lima 8739 | ![]() |
Polskie Koleje Państwowe | ![]() |
![]() |
|
3540 | Baldwin 70497 | ![]() |
Hungarian Railway Museum | ![]() |
![]() |
Operational, wore incorrect builders plate from ALCO 70587. Correct builder's plate restored in July, 2020.[citation needed] |
2781 | Lima 8434 | ![]() |
Railway station | ![]() |
![]() |
Plinthed |
6056 | Baldwin 72090 | ![]() |
Railway station | ![]() |
![]() |
Plinthed |
1786 | Baldwin 67679 | ![]() |
Unknown | ![]() |
Boiler only.[35] | |
2206 | Lima 8212 | ![]() |
OSE | ![]() |
stored | |
2524 | Lima 8341 | ![]() |
Turkish State Railways | ![]() |
||
2879 | Alco 71076 | ![]() |
Turkish State Railways | ![]() |
||
3292 | Alco 71547 | ![]() |
Museo Ferroviario Piemontese | ![]() |
Awaiting restoration | |
3324 | Alco 71579 | ![]() |
FS | ![]() |
![]() |
|
— | Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton 75503 | ![]() |
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum | ![]() |
![]() |
Out of service for its 1472 inspection & rebuild. 610 is technically not an S-160 but classified as a type A, constructed in 1952 |
3524 | Baldwin 70481 | ![]() |
OSE | ![]() |
![]() |
stored |
2226 | Lima 8232 | ![]() |
OSE | ![]() |
stored | |
3299 | ALCo 71554 | ![]() ![]() |
OSE | ![]() |
stored. Oil burner, bought from Italian FS (Class 736) in 1959 | |
3420 | Baldwin 70377 | ![]() ![]() |
OSE | ![]() |
![]() |
stored. Oil burner, bought from Italian FS (Class 736) in 1959. Has tender from Θγ 689 |
3698 | Lima 8611 | ![]() ![]() |
OSE | ![]() |
stored. Oil burner, bought from Italian FS (Class 736) in 1959 | |
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