Richmond Locomotive Works

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ALCO

Richmond Locomotive Works was a steam locomotive manufacturing firm located in Richmond, Virginia.

It began operation in 1887, and produced upward of 4,500 engines during its 40 years of operation.

Norfolk & Western. In 1901 the works merged with several others to form the American Locomotive Company
, which continued production at the Richmond works until 1927.

Among the locomotives Richmond produced was

Russian Revolution of 1917, and Southern Railway 1401
, which pulled President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Funeral Train.

History

Built at American Locomotive Company's Richmond works in 1926, Southern Railway 1401 seen in the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

The Richmond Locomotive Works grew out of Tredegar Iron Works to become a nationally known manufacturer of steam locomotive engines and an integral part of the industrial landscape of the city of Richmond.[3] The engines it produced were shipped across America, as well as several countries in Europe, Asia and the South Pacific.[4]

Most Richmond Locomotive engines were sold to Southern carriers.

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway; the Rio Grande and Western Railroad; the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad; and the California and Northeastern Railway.[7]

Richmond locomotives also had a significant market in the Midwest as well. Midwestern purchasers included the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad purchased several engines, including two specifically constructed for carrying passengers to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair
.

One 4-6-0 locomotive was shipped to New Zealand in 1901 as a sample for the New Zealand Railways to try. It was classed in the 'Ub' family (along with a fellow ALCO product - a Brooks 4-6-0) and given the road number of #371. It was considered too light for mainline running, steaming poorly on New Zealand's ungraded coals but found a home on a local Canterbury Plains branchline serving it for 30 years. It was dumped in 1933 but has been rediscovered for possible restoration.

Sale and merger

In 1901, the Richmond Locomotive Works was purchased by Joseph Leiter for $3 million.[8] At the time, the company employed about 1,600 workers and was producing two locomotives a day.[9]

Later that year, Richmond and seven other manufacturing companies merged to form American Locomotive Company (ALCO). Locomotive production at Richmond Locomotive Works ceased in September 1927.

Preserved Richmond locomotives

Russian Revolution of 1917
.

The following locomotives (in serial number order) built by Richmond before the ALCO merger have been preserved.[1] All locations are in the United States unless otherwise noted.

Serial number Wheel arrangement
(Whyte notation) 		Build date Operational owner(s) Disposition
2957 2-8-0 1900 Santa Fe 769 Old Coal Mine Museum, Madrid, New Mexico
2991 4-6-0 1900 Finnish Railways 293
St-Petersburg, Russia

The following preserved Richmond locomotives were built post-merger:

Serial number Wheel arrangement
(Whyte notation) 		Build date Operational owner(s) Disposition
28446 2-8-0 1904 Southern Railway 630 Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, Chattanooga, Tennessee
N/A 2-6-4T 1907 China Railway DB1-28 Shenyang Railway Museum, Shenyang, China[10]
46831 4-6-2 1910 Norfolk and Western 578 Ohio Railway Museum, Worthington, Ohio
59314 4-6-2 1919 Atlantic Coast Line 1504 U.S. Sugar, Clewiston, Florida
61769 4-6-2 1920 Florida East Coast Railway 148 U.S. Sugar, Clewiston, Florida
63262 4-6-2 1922 Florida East Coast Railway 153
Miami, Florida
64070 2-8-8-2 1923 Norfolk and Western Railway 2050 Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois
66555 4-6-4 1926 Chesapeake and Ohio 490 B&O Railroad Museum, Baltimore, Maryland
66888 4-6-2 1926 Southern Railway 1401 Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

References

  1. ^ Steam Locomotive Builders, American Locomotive Company
  2. ^ U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Richmond Locomotive and Machine Works, March 15, 2007
  3. ^ U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Richmond Locomotive and Machine Works, March 15, 2007
  4. ^ U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Richmond Locomotive and Machine Works, March 15, 2007
  5. ^ U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Richmond Locomotive and Machine Works, March 15, 2007
  6. ^ U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Richmond Locomotive and Machine Works, March 15, 2007
  7. ^ U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Richmond Locomotive and Machine Works, March 15, 2007
  8. ^ New York Times, Buys Locomotive Works, May 6, 1901
  9. ^ New York Times, Buys Locomotive Works, May 6, 1901
  10. ^ "Railography : Chinese Locomotive Lists : Shenyang Railway Museum".

Notes

  1. ^ Sunshine Software, Steam Locomotive Information. Retrieved October 4, 2005.
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