Wiki: USATC S160 Class (1/2)

The United States Army Transportation Corps S160 Class is a class of 2-8-0 Consolidation
steam locomotive designed for use in Europe during World War II for heavy freight work. A
total of 2,120 were built and they worked on railroads across the world, including Africa, Asia,
all of Europe and South America.

Contents:
1. Design
2. British deployment
3. Deployment
4. Variants
5. Preservation
6. Specification
7. Gallery
8. References
9. External links

USATC S160 Class

607 at the US Army Transportation Museum

Power type Steam
Designer Maj. J.W. Marsh
Builder American Locomotive Company (755),
Baldwin Locomotive Works (712),
Lima Locomotive Works (653)
Build date 1942-1946
Total production 2120
Configuration 2-8-0
UIC classification 1′D h2
Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Leading wheel diameter 2 ft 9 in (838 mm)
Driver diameter 4 ft 9 in (1,448 mm)
Wheelbase 51 ft 7¾ in (15.74 m)
Length 61 ft 0 in (18.59 m), including tender
Weight on drivers 140,000 lb (63.5 tonnes)
Locomotive weight 161,000 lb (73.0 tonnes)
Tender weight 115,500 lb (52.4 tonnes)
Fuel type Coal
Fuel capacity 20,000 lb (9.1 tonnes)
Water capacity 6,500 US gallons (25,000 l; 5,400 imp gal)
Boiler 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) maximum diameter
Boiler pressure 225 lbf/in² (1.55 MPa)
Fire grate area 41 sq ft (3.8 m2)
Heating surface: Tubes 1,055 sq ft (98.0 m2) (150 × 2 in (51 mm) diameter)
Heating surface: Flues 567 sq ft (52.7 m2) (30 × 5.375 in (137 mm) diameter)
Heating surface: Firebox 136 sq ft (12.6 m2)
Heating surface: Total 2,253 sq ft (209.3 m2)
Superheater area 313 sq ft (29.1 m2)
Cylinders Two, outside
Cylinder size 19 in × 26 in (483 mm × 660 mm)
Valve gear Walschaerts
Valve type 10 inches (254 mm) piston valves
Tractive effort 31,490 lbf (140.1 kN)
Class USATC S160 and country derivatives
Official name USATC S160 Class
Locale United States
European Union

1. Design

During the 1930s, the United States Army Transportation Corps approved update of a Baldwin
Locomotive Works World War I design in contingency for war transportation, to create the S159
Class. During the period of World War Two when America was neutral, the government of
Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the Lend-Lease supply to the United Kingdom of the S200
Class, designed specifically to fit into the restricted British loading gauge. [1]

With Americas entry to World War Two, the USATC needed a developed design from which to
create a volume of locomotive power for the wrecked railways of Europe, which they could use
to deploy military hardware and civilian goods. Hence the design created by Maj. J.W. Marsh
from the Railway Branch of the Corps of Engineers learnt from both previous locomotives,
designed on austerity principles and built using methods which created efficient and fast
construction speed over long life, [1] such as axlebox grease lubricators and rolled plates preferred
to castings.

With cast frames and cast wheels, the front two driving axles were sprung independently from
the rear two driving axles to allow for running on poor quality track. The larger tender layout
was derived from the similar design for the WD Austerity 2-8-0, with the coal bunker inset
above the water tank to improve visibility when running backwards.

2. British deployment
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 GWR
locomotive depot at Newport, Ebbw Junction, the first 43 locomotives were transferred to the
LNER works at Doncaster for completion, and later running in over the East Coast mainline to
replace damaged stock. This started a pattern where by each of the four British railway
companies eventually deployed a total of 400 S160's under the guise of "running in," but
factually replacing lost stock and increasing the capacity of the British railways system to allow
for shipping of military pre-invasion equipment and troops. The eventual deployment of S160's
were:

 174 to the Great Western Railway

 168 to the London and North Eastern Railway
 50 to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
 6 to the Southern Railway

The second batch of 400 S160's were prepared for storage by USATC personnel at Great
Western locomotive depot Ebbw Junction, in the immediate run-up to D-Day. Post the D-Day
invasion of Normandy, the locomotives deployed across Britain again began to collect and be
refurbished at Ebbw Vale in preparation for shipment to Europe.

2. 1. Operational failures

The S160's were designed for quick and efficient building not for long term operations, but the
compromises in design lead to some difficulties in operations. The axle box grease lubricators
were not as efficient as they needed, particularly when maintenance procedures lapsed or were
delayed for operational war reasons, and so axle boxes often ran hot. Braking was poor for
European standards, with a Westinghouse steam brake used for the locomotive, [1] but was
woefully insufficient due to the long distance from the driver's valve and the brake cylinder.

The major fault of the S160 were the three tubes used to hold up the brick arch crown in the
firebox. The bolts holding these stays were found to collapse under heat tension with low water
levels and with little warning, resulting in a boiler explosion. [2] 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.

3. Deployment

Judging accurately the actual deployment of 2120 locomotives is difficult, but the following
numbers are referenced: [2]

3. 1. Mainland Europe

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:
  Austria, ÖBB Class 956 - 30 examples, all scrapped [3]
 Czechoslovakia, ČSD Class 456.1 - 80 examples, last of them (456.173) withdrawn in
1972 and scrapped the following year
 France, SNCF Class 140U - 121 examples;
 Germany - 40 examples briefly used in 1947 in American and British zones, based in
Bremen. All sold to Hungary in August 1947;
 Greece, SEK Class Θγ (THg) - 27 examples received in 1947 (Θγ 521 to 537 and Θγ 551
to 560), plus 25 examples bought from Italian FS railways in 1959 (Θγ 571 to 595);
 Hungary, MÁV Class 411 - 510 examples, bought at $100,000 each, of which 484 were
put into use and allocated service numbers from 411.001 onwards, and 26 cannibalized
for spares [4]
 Italy, FS Class 736 - 244 examples, plus four salvaged from a sunken ship, all but eight
with oil firing. 25 sold to Greece in 1959, the rest were withdrawn in early 1960s
 Poland, PKP - received 75 S160s from UNRRA and numbered them Tr201.1 - 75; and a
further 500 from USATC as Tr203.1 - 500. [4] In PKP service, boiler pressure was
reduced to 13 bar and maximum speed was set at 65 km/h. Modifications included fitting
Trofimov piston valves, electric headlights and cab side doors. One engine was converted
to a Tank locomotive in 1957, and designated TKr55 [2]
 Soviet Union, Class ШA - 200 machines ordered from Baldwin (ШA 1 to 90) and ALCO
(ШA 91 to 200), designated S162s and S166s. ШA 52 to 55, 69 and 70 were lost en route
to Vladivostok and ШA 13 remained in the USA. In 1957, 50 of them were converted for
1067 mm track and used by South Sakhalin Railroad
 Spain, Class 553 - in 1959 the Alaska Railroad sold five S160's to FC de Langreo [5] [6]
 Turkey, TCDD 45171 Class - 50 units, numbered 45171 to 45220 [1]
 United Kingdom - none, after they were all exported post D-Day. Some now re-imported
for use by preserved railways
 Yugoslavia, JZ - Class 37 - 80 examples

3. 2. Africa

At the same time as S160's were being deployed into Britain, when General Patton led American
troops in Operation Torch in to the North African Campaign, their Transport Corps brought with
them S160's. 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 S160's moved with them.
These locomotives supplemented with direct importation 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.

 Algeria, Class 140-U - number unknown

 Morocco, Class 140-B - number unknown
 Tunisia, Class 140-250 - number unknown

3. 3. Americas
  Mexico, Class GR-28 - 10 examples purchased by FCM directly from Baldwin in 1946
and allocated service numbers 211 to 220, with different pilots and couplers (some
sources give 11 examples) - these were the last machines of the S160 type built
 Peru, Class 80 - 2 examples, probably directly from ALCO in 1943
 United States - an unknown number with USATC and then various military
transportation units. Five surplus to requirements of the Alaska Railroad later shipped to
Spain

3. 4. Asia

After World War Two, the reconstruction of the world required transportation. The S160's were
deployed to Asia under the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, to China
and South Korea. [7]

 China, Class KD6 - number unknown. Many were modernized with larger cabs, higher
stacks, some fitted with large smoke lifters with horizontal riffles. They were later
transferred to industrial operators, mainly coal mines. The last example thought to be
KD6 487 withdrawn probably in 1997
 North and South Korea, Class Sori2 - it is not known how many or from where the SI60s
were deployed to North Korea, but their 2,210 sister decapods were shipped from
Portland to Vladivostok under "Lease-Lend" in 1944/5. After the War, these locomotives
called "Soyusnitzys" (i.e., from the Russian for "Allies"), were moved to Siberia. They
moved to North Korea during the Korean War, carrying 8xxx numbers. Ironically, the
S160's fought on both side of the conflict. [8]

4. Variants

There were three major variants of the S160 class, excluding inlife design development:

 S161 - designed for deployment in Jamaica on British military railways used by the
United States. Later subsumed by the Jamaica Railway Corporation [2]
 S162 - designed for Russian broad gauge track
 S166 - designed for Russian broad gauge track

5. Preservation

Mainly due to their numbers, rather than the design or build quality, some 23 examples of the
S160 have survived into preservation, making them one of the most numerous survivors of all
Mainline Steam Locomotives:

No. Builder Post WW2 Owner Current Owner Location Notes

6996 Lima 7877 Alaska Railroad 504 Langreo Mining Co Langreo, Spain One of eight prototypes classes as S159
(later 404)
1631 Alco 70284 MÁV 411.388 Nottingham Transport Awaiting restoration
Heritage Centre
2627 Baldwin 69855 Alaska Railroad 556 City of Anchorage Anchorage, Alaska
3523 Baldwin 70480 Alaska Railroad 557 Monte Holm Moses Lake, Washington
5846 Lima 8784 US Army 606 Crewe Railroad Crewe, Virginia
Museum
5187 Lima 8846 US Army 2627; US US Army Fort Eustis Military
Army 607 Transportation Museum Railroad
2628 Baldwin 69856 US Army 611 Tennessee Valley Chattanooga, Tennessee Fitted with Franklin Poppet valve gear [9] used
Railroad Museum as a part source for 610
2630 Baldwin 69858 US Army 612 Cass Scenic Railroad Cass, West Virginia
1702 Baldwin 64641 Reader Railroad Great Smoky Dillsboro, North Operational
Mountains Railroad Carolina
5197 Lima 8856 Funshum Industrial Churnet Valley Railway awaiting overhaul
Railway, #KD6.463
6046 Baldwin 72080 MÁV 411.144 Churnet Valley Railway Under restoration
2253 Baldwin 69496 PKP Tr.203.208 North Yorkshire Moors
Railway
5820 Lima 8758 PKP Tr.203.474 Keighley and Worth
Valley Railway
3278 Alco 71533 FS 736.073; SEK Mid Hants Railway #701
Θγ575 Franklin Roosevelt
5164 Lima 8823 PKP Tr.201.51 Polskie Koleje Jaworzyna Śląska
Państwowe
3540 Baldwin 70497 MÁV 411.118 Hungarian Railway Operational but no boiler licence
Museum, Budapest
2781 Lima 8434 MÁV 411.264 Hatvan railway station Plinthed
6056 Baldwin 72090 MÁV 411.358 Hegyeshalom railway Plinthed
station
2206 Lima 8212 SEK Θγ 525 OSE Thessaloniki Depot stored
2524 Lima 8341 TCDD 45172 Turkish State Railways Çamlık Railway Museum
2879 Alco 71076 TCDD 45174 Turkish State Railways Ankara Railway Museum
3324 Alco 71579 FS 736.114 FS Pietrarsa railway
museum
— Baldwin-Lima- US Army 610 Tennessee Valley Chattanooga, Tennessee Operational. 610 is technically not an S-160 but
Hamilton 75503 Railroad Museum classified as a type A, constructed in 1952

http://wapedia.mobi/en/USATC_S160_Class