Santa Fe 2-10-4s On The Pennsylvania Railroad in 1956

From the archives of the Western Railway Museum, we take a trip back in time to the end of steam on the Pennsylvania Railroad, in the Sandusky area a boost in coal traffic found the railroad short on power, as the Pennsy had retired their steam engines short of a traffic boost during 1956 and 1957. The PRR leased several ATSF 5011 class 2-10-4s to help with the increase in traffic to keep up with the demand. From the 8mm movie camera of Don Kehl, you will see these massive engines along side the massive PRR J1 2-10-4s, in these rare and exciting sequences.

[@JCBro-yg8vd]

This is not the only instance of railroads in the twilight of steam power borrowing power from other railroads due to unusual traffic demands, but this was by far the most unexpected.

[@isaacder3i121]

first time i heavy ever seen real footage of the illuminated class lights on any real locomotive from the 40s-50s era. Great footage and history. Love the whistle too.

[@PainesvilleRailfans]

Not only rare, but great footage, in color and has sound! Thanks for sharing!!!

[@patrickwamsley3284]

Sounds are all dubbed, not original.

[@Cessna-er4je]

Such shrill whistles, I really love the locomotives

[@frankmarkovcijr5459]

The Pennsylvania Railroad engine men thought the Santa Fe steamers rode well and were good engines Superior to their own J1 class of 2- 10-4

[@stephenshaw8466]

No doubt they were up to the task of hauling all that coal

[@lonewolfe31619]

We Need to Restore one of those 5011 class steam locomotives a few are still around.

[@norbertnierenberg8782]

I Hope too

[@Tonetwisters]

The neatest locomotive ever made. I still have both my older brother's Lionel version which he got for Christmas, 1953; and my version that I got the next Christmas.

[@JonAschenbrenner]

This is a very interesting insight into something that not many historians are aware of.

[@thomasavensjr.2790]

It is great to see footage of the final days of service of my favorite class of Santa Fe rr steam locomotive, the 5011 class (2-10-4) types.

[@unixbadger]

Interesting how clear the stack was in much of the footage. Okay, 3:28 they poured it on. Museum and excursion trains always pour it on for video appeal. Working crews back in the day had to keep the fire trim and run lean, or they could seek work elsewhere. One sees this in authentic footage. That's why it's is so awesome!

[@Aaronnanneman-c1q]

I love those favorite Santa Fe 2-10-4 steam locomotives with one short smokestack and probably those tall smokestack funnels on the Santa Fe 2-10-4 steam locomotives with atsf 4-8-4 4-8-2 4-6-4 and the atsf 2-10-2 steam locomotives cause they're awesome man

[@mitchcornacchia968]

Beautiful days of steam legends. Thanks

[@michaelbell9697]

Amazing footage of an era long passed, thanks for sharing!

[@matthewpowell2429]

I loved seeing this footage. In fact, all of these northerns that were leased to the PRR of characters in a series I'm writing.

[@SomeplaceOrAnother]

So neat to see this old train footage 🚂 😀

[@rogerw2101]

AWESOME FOOTAGE OF BEAUTIFUL MACHINE THE WHISTLE ON THAT ONE OH MY GOD IT JUST SCREAMS. THAT I'M ALIVE

[@markeverson5849]

Thanks for sharing guys 56 the year I was born you know my grandfather was an engineer on the locomotives in Altoona Wisconsin in that area Chippewa Falls during the Depression they jumped the rail cars went to Oregon later came the family that's why I was born in Portland 1956

[@nathancorcoran5347]

Another beautiful steam locomotive.

[@bertcresta6685]

Excellent footage!!!

[@cupcakeevolution2209]

Love this!

[@yusuframadhan9521]

Oke that its look gordon

[@nileadam7336]

Sounds realistic in this 1950s footage!

[@peteengard9966]

The crews, especially the firemen loved the big oil burners.

[@JohnDoesItAll]

Gold! 🎉❤

[@natejenkins8645]

Awesome!

[@SuperFoxyRailwayProduction6702]

1:23 that sounds like the AT&SF 3759 whistle

[@jayyy3_yt295]

Because these also have an ATSF 5 Chime like 3759

[@trainknut]

I wouldn't be surprised if it actually is 3759's whistle being dubbed into the film. It's not as if sound recording of steam is super common.

[@jayyy3_yt295]

@@trainknut tbh it probably is 3759’s whistle in the vid, because these vids didn’t even have sound in 1956 someone archived them probably

[@Voucher765]

They had the same whistles

[@mamarussellthepie3995]

Super sweet

[@carbidejones5076]

Spectacular

[@jamesbelcher8509]

1:03 [train whistle] 1:07 [train chugging]

[@TimThatTrainGuy]

Imagine being a Prr steam engineer that was laid off and then was called back a year or two later and told to take a falling apart Santa Fe engine out with a coal drag

[@frankmarkovcijr5459]

The Santa Fe engines were not falling apart they were freshly shop and leave to the Pennsylvania Railroad because they were first-class equipment

[@brianfalzon6739]

That’s epic!

[@RandomRetroTrainGuy82]

1:03 Whistle 🔊

[@Timken1111]

3:20 the bell is stuck

[@jwrailve3615]

The people of the transitional eras mindset on what to do with steam locos after dieselization makes me super mad. Ya let’s just scrap all of it nobodies gonna appreciate the beauty of our work they just want sd70’aces t4 gevos and sd40-3’s. Nothing else just the same engines different schemes on every railroad with less and less variety yearly. Starting to miss seeing ac4400’s at this point.

[@jacksalvin364]

1:01

[@SuperFoxyRailwayProduction6702]

Yep ATSF #3759 whistle

[@jacksalvin364]

☺😉

[@danielboone3770]

😍😍😍😍😍😍🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@alecbutler2450]

Where did those sounds used in this film come from?

[@HunterLohseRRVideos]

Vinyl, and my own library of audio from videos I have taken

[@alecbutler2450]

@@HunterLohseRRVideos Really? I do love to collect vinyl and CDs of steam locomotive sounds too. Also, I like to mention that there is a podcast called "Living with Steam. You might want to check that out.."

[@milehirail8877]

@@HunterLohseRRVideos Can you share the name of the album where the bell starting at 1:30 comes from? Sounds identical to a train sounds cassette I used to have that I'm trying to track down a copy of.

[@imperfectivnz]

oh to live in a time when these behemoths roamed the country. i’m forever jealous.

[@BenBensonStudios]

Didn't the PRR also lease some Reading T1's around this time?

[@HunterLohseRRVideos]

Yes they leased 9 of them, 2107, 2111-2115, 2119, and 2128

[@theUP844]

The Pennsy did lease a T1 in the 1940s, but it wasn't a Reading T1. The railroad leased a T1 class 2-10-4 from the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad to see if it would be a suitable locomotive to create their own version of to handle the wartime traffic. They also leased a Norfolk & Western A class 2-6-6-4 as part of the project. After testing both locomotives, the railroad decided to go with the C&O T1 as the design base for their new locomotive, this resulted in the creation of the J1 class.

[@lennyhendricks4628]

@@HunterLohseRRVideos -- I understand that some of the RDG T-1' 4-8-4's came back in such poor shape that they were immediately sent to the scrappers. Luckily there were at least four that were still in good shape, 2100, 2101, 2102 and 2124. This enabled the Reading's Iron Horse Rambles (2100, 2102 and 2124) as well as later events such as the eastern American Freedom Train (2101), the Chessie Steam Specials (2101) and the 2102 on the Reading and Northern among others. 2124 is in Steamtown, 2101 is at the B&O railroad museum painted as America Freedom Train 1, as mentioned, 2102 is on the R&N and last I heard, a group in Ohio is working on the 2100. Of the ATSF 2-10-4, David P Morgan said that only the Santa Fe had the audacity to specify a 74 inch wheel for a ten coupled locomotive.

[@ricklong]

PRR also leased a group of N&W Y-3 Locomotives and used them on the Sandusky Branch about 1952-53. They never required double heading like the J-1 and ATSF 5000's did. It was unusual in that when the PRR leased these locomotives, N&W was retiring the last of the Y-3s and was using their Y-5s and Y-6s to bring the trains to Columbus, only too exchange the train to their own retired Y-3s for the rest of the trip to Sandusky docks. Also, the train noted as northbound at Attica is actually southbound at Attica Junction, north of crossing the B&O main. The interchange tracks were on the NW corner of the crossing and are seen in the foreground.

[@jkmocs]

I really wish they did not scrap this train Edit.they didn't scrap it, I did not know about this

[@berkeleygang1834]

So how did PRR fuel these beasts? I don't think they had any infrastructure for oil burners, and they don't appear to be converted to coal.

[@trainknut]

I would assume tank cars, number 5 oil wasn't exactly hard to come by in 1956

[@csxguy3002]

How do we know the guy who shot those scenes?

[@HunterLohseRRVideos]

His collection is part of the archives where these films came from

[@rossbryan6102]

LOL LOL OIL FIRED STEAM ROLLING COAL TRAINS!!

[@BillP-kg1yp]

Shots are very low def so usually it's impossible to count the wheels as the locomotive goes by..

[@GmanftpG59]

well then you must be blind, bc you can usually see the wheel arrangement, or at least tell that these locomotives are of a similar build

[@ぎぼしょうた-u8z]

1:25 タイガー きいろおしっこ