Well this Y6b was in service in April of 60' and I know they had S1a's in service at Williamson in December of 59' I could believe they had some in service into the 60's.
Y6b April 1960.
S1a in December of 59'
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If this N&W thing can be proved, it will turn the RR community on it's ear! For aeons the last accepted date for N&W revenue steam operation has been the end of second shift, May 6, 1960. She was an S1 or S1a, who's #, I can't remember this instant. Earlier that day, Y6b 2190 completed a road job, tying up at Williamson as well. Anyway, I've heard (and so have you! ), all the tales of N&W steamers occupying the hollows of West Virginia waaaaay past this time, and sneaking around at night so that nebby foamers can't photograph them. Heard enough of this stuff to fill a book, and yet always wrote it off as too much moonshine! I've even heard hooter whistles far in the distance, down there, and figured it was just sticky truck brakes. Part of me says...total fantasy...and part says ...find me the proof !!!
Depending on the definition of "major carrier", the Iowa Interstate doubleheaded QJ freights in 2007 and 2011 would probably be the most recent.
Kevin wins the Kewpie doll with revenue steam on a Class 2 in the 21st century.
The IAIS Chinese built QJ steam engines 6988 and 7081 pull a freight EB thru Walcott, IA. Getting a little tune up for a busy weekend of excursions at Train Festival 2011 in Rock Island, IL. On the rear, IAIS 701 and the Hawkeye and Abraham Lincoln passenger cars. Filmed July 20th, 2011.
Jaygee has this right and I love it!
The last revenue steam run in the USA has not happened yet!
Originally Posted by Rusty Traque:
OK, here's one to throw into the mix, but it's not class one:
Northwestern Steel and Wire used ex-GTW 0-8-0's to switch their plant in Sterling, IL until Dec. 3, 1980, when the fire was dropped on the last locomotive.
No excursions, no tourist trains, no photo freights, no spit-shine. Just good old-fashioned back-and-forth grunt work.
Rusty
You beat me to this,Rusty Traque.I always thought it was cool I got to see the last daily operating steam owned by a business.My Dad(Tinplate Bob)took me to see the yard shifting in Sterling when he picked me up from a Boy Scouts camping trip in the late 1970s.I took the photos posted above from a car overpass bridge.I remember this was my first clue as a boy that work is not fun.It must have been a 100 degrees that day,and I thought the sun beating on the black engine,no shade,and the fire heating the boiler must be miserable for the engineer all day.I think my Dad said the steam engines at Sterling were ended for the same reason as the Norfolk & Western steam excursion program.The owner that kept them running died and that was it for steam power.
Dan
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There really isn't an answer, because it depends on what exactly is being asked. Most large railroads stopped regular steam engine use by 1960, a few small railroads continued using steam until the late sixties/very early seventies. However, UP (and some other railroads at different times) have/had steam engines that they used on excursions but that once in a while were used to haul freight (like travelling to a train show).
Crab Orchard & Egyptian used steam in the seventies and eighties, but had only come into existence around 1970, so it wasn't a holdover from the old days of steam power. Technically the % of freight hauled by steam for each year in the US has never quite gotten down to zero AFAIK, there's always some tiny (relatively speaking) amount of freight being moved by steam each year.
