Steam Generator Cars In Passenger Consists

This is a steam generator car from the Rio Grande Zephyr:

Thanks for the photo. I was curious as to what they looked like and if they blended into the consist..some of them like the CN version looked more like boxcars..which I had a hard time imagining streamlined roads would be satisfied with that look. I just found the UP version...

The UP Steam Crew still uses one of the former "Boiler/Dormitory" passenger cars, UPP#208 named "Howard Fogg". The 208 is normally coupled right behind Tool Car "Art Lockman", and is used for external steam supply when either 844 or 3985 was out on long trips and a boiler wash was required enroute, i.e. out for more than 30 days. After the boiler was was complete, the "Boiler/Dormitory" car would be coupled directly behind the locomotive tender and the steam generator in the front of the "Boiler/Dorm" would be fired up and thus provide steam to preheat the locomotive boiler water and add steam for firing up.

The UP seemed to roster quite a few of those "Boiler/Dormitory" cars for use in very long passenger trains, such as the "City of Everywhere" trains, after some long distance trains were combined in the 1960s.

Its interesting to see they had a use after the demise of passenger service. Thanks for the interesting back story.

The Western Pacific had three steam generator cars for the California Zephyr.  The cars were bought used from the Great Northern in 1968. The Great Northern used them on their electrified district over the Cascades.  The cars look like 40-50 foot "Madison" baggage cars, with one door and two axle trucks. 

If a person wants to see what one of those former GN "heater cars" looks like now, I'll bet doing a Google search for the heater car used to fire up SP4449, will provide some photos of the "Little Boy". The heater car for SP4449 is kept there at the new ORHF facility in Portland, OR.

The 4449 and 700 crews in Portland have a former GN baggage car converted to steam use by the WP, now painted in SP Daylight colors. I talked with Doyle McCormack two weekends ago about it and I was told that they regularly use it to prep either locomotives for movement but as far as I know, it's never been taken on the road on any of their trips:

Correct. The heater car "Little Boy" has never had to go on the road with 4449, besides the car is not Amtrak "certified" anyway. 

GN Heater Car 1 (now DLMX 8645) is NOT a converted baggage car.  It was ordered and built originally as a 40 foot heater car (along with heater cars 2,3,4) by St. Louis Car Co. in 1928, to serve on the Stevens Pass electrified district including the 7.79 mile Cascade Tunnel which opened in 1929.  As originally delivered, these cars had vertical upright boilers. It was the fireman's job to "turn it off" en route during passage through the tunnel, then restart it when the train emerged.  He had to be careful not to "over-fire" it, however, such that heat and flame emerging from the exhaust stack damaged the catenary.  In later modifications, deflectors were added.  These cars eventually received Vapor-Clarkson flash steam generators (similar to those in diesels).

A "Little Boy"model would really be a unique addition to a consist. I imagine this is the only type of car in a passenger consist that's never been done in O before or at least that I know of.  A shame. I can imagine a smoke generator in it which makes more sense to my mind than a diesel...unless it's an Alco.

electroliner,

   Neat historical stuff, thanks for starting the thread.

PCRR/Dave

I'll go with what the 4449 website says on "Little Boy", in regard to it being something before it was a steam boiler car:

DLMX 8645 - "Little Boy" Steam Generator Car

The Little Boy was built as a short GN steel Rail Post Office (RPO). It was converted into a steam heater car and later purchased by the Western Pacific Railroad. Now owned by Doyle McCormack, the number 8645 and name Little Boy is an acknowledgment to armed Americans and WWII.

I know some boiler cars were made out of steam locomotive tenders as well and I'm pretty sure these had bene tenders at some point. The white ones used to be used on the original "Auto Train" when it was a private enterprise:

Saw a Burlington Northern F3/7/9 (?) B unit being used as a stationary boiler at the "Zephyr Pit" in Chicago in Winter, 1982. Don't know if it was a passenger boiler being employed or if a full-fledged horizontal boiler had been placed in the B unit. Also saw an ex-Hiawatha F7 Hudson tender by the Milwaukee Road Madison, WI roundhouse which had been converted into a "heater car", Summer, 1969.

Lee..those are some incredible prototypes..hybrids..part passenger consist, part steam locomotive tender, part portable boiler...I wouldn't have imagined all of those aspects rolled into one unit...I had no idea that the Autotrain used them.

Much Thanks..

I'll go with what the 4449 website says on "Little Boy", in regard to it being something before it was a steam boiler car:

DLMX 8645 - "Little Boy" Steam Generator Car

The Little Boy was built as a short GN steel Rail Post Office (RPO). It was converted into a steam heater car and later purchased by the Western Pacific Railroad. Now owned by Doyle McCormack, the number 8645 and name Little Boy is an acknowledgment to armed Americans and WWII.

Lee, as much as I respect Doyle and the 4449 group, that statement about their heater car being built from an RPO is simply wrong.  GN heater cars 5, 6 and 7 were built from 50 ft. RPOs, but 1 through 4 were originals.  My info is from GNRHS Reference Sheet 358 and the official GN passenger car diagrams.  Your picture of the NP heater car above interestingly includes a sky blue GN heater car (either #8 or #9) that was built from a boxcar.

Even the NYO&W had 2 steam generator cars, only they called them "Heater cars". The railroad decided they did not want to buy steam generator equipped F3s, so they took a pair of tenders from retired 2-10-2 Bull Moose engines and built heater cars HT-1  and HT-2. The  thought was they could be put behind either the FTs or the F3s when the weather got cold enough. Actually, they were only used behind the F3s, as the FTs did not have the requisite controls to operate them. AFAIK, both were scrapped.

Here is a shot of one connected to an F3. They did a nice job of blending it into the train.

Chris

LVHR

Thanks for clearing that up. I would believe the GN Historical Society information before I would believe the info posted by someone on the 449 website. I'm sure Doyle actually knows the history of "Little Boy", however the person/persons who wrote up that description on the website may just have made an assumption.

The Algoma Central was a regular user of steam generator cars:

Rusty

They did, indeed. Sure looks nice like that!

Here's the CN version, similar to the Algoma Central ones:

http://bp1.blogger.com/_IPZX1n...0-h/CN15403_BLOG.jpg

New York Central had steam heat trailers which were used with R-2 electrics when it was necessary to use them on passenger trains as the R class motors were typically freight locomotives and not equipped with steam generators.

Bob

The Milwaukee avoided the need for that by putting steam boilers in their passenger electric motors...