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Author Topic: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?  (Read 3585 times)

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sirenwerks

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B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« on: August 10, 2009, 10:31:34 AM »
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SkipGear's weekend update pics of his B&O 0-6-0 got me to looking @ B&O's switchers, dreaming of a switching layout set in downtown Charm City. I had no idea the B-man switcher could look that good. But I came across this beast...



What in the world drove the B&O to make a loco so ugly only a mother could love it? Seriously, why the strange cab design? Did have special switching duties, like in a steel mill? I could see the bullet-proof nature if the switcher were operating in Baltimore today but...

It reminds me of the jacketed shay the NYC ran in downtown Gotham, which was made to look 'docile' so as not to scare the horses, only in reverse. Like they had an ugliest steam switcher contest and this was an entry. Maybe the winner?
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Ed Kapuscinski

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #1 on: August 10, 2009, 10:34:29 AM »
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It's funny, we often don't realize all the crazy stuff that RRs used to do back in the steam days.

Like that insane ATSF 2-10-10-0 thing with the articulated boiler...

I wonder what the engineer's side looked like.

BTW, with a cab that looks like a bunker, that thing would be PERFECT to power the B&O Museum's trips out to the west end (ie, through The Wire)...
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Philip H

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2009, 10:34:52 AM »
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Definitely an oddball.  The lack of windows facing the boiler makes me think the switcher ran cab forward and didn't do alot of backing moves.  The saddle tank over the boiler looks like a definite add-on.

Hum . . . hopefully some of our B&O freinds can hlep out, because now I'm intrigued too.
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Philip H.
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wm3798

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #3 on: August 10, 2009, 10:57:11 AM »
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They were obviously trying to conceal the decoder.  Which in those days would have been as big as a refrigerator.

Lee
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asciibaron

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #4 on: August 10, 2009, 02:15:47 PM »
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Quote from: wm3798 on August 10, 2009, 10:57:11 AM
They were obviously trying to conceal the decoder.  Which in those days would have been as big as a refrigerator.

winnar
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BOK

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #5 on: August 10, 2009, 06:59:38 PM »
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I could be wrong, but it may have been a shop switcher for moving locomotives around a large roundhouse or shop area.

The Soo Line and other roads had similar looking,"ugly" shop "goats" which without a tender allowed them to fit on a turntable while coupled to a road engine to move them in and out of the house dead. They were normally operated by one man so they didn't require full visability hence the wierd cab.

Barry
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Ed Kapuscinski

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #6 on: August 10, 2009, 07:57:30 PM »
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And it's not like there's great visibility out of a steam locomotive's cab anyway.
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Bob Bufkin

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #7 on: August 10, 2009, 08:05:24 PM »
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I can't quite read the number.  Someone give it to me and I'll go over to the Yahoo B&O group and asked for info.
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asciibaron

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #8 on: August 10, 2009, 08:17:30 PM »
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Quote from: Bob Bufkin on August 10, 2009, 08:05:24 PM
I can't quite read the number.  Someone give it to me and I'll go over to the Yahoo B&O group and asked for info.


looks like 1120 and i've asked that group - awaiting a reply
« Last Edit: August 10, 2009, 08:22:28 PM by asciibaron »
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Chris333

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2009, 09:44:35 PM »
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That pic was taken in Cincinnati OH.
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SkipGear

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #10 on: August 10, 2009, 11:51:43 PM »
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I found another shot of it in 'B&O Power' numbered as 320. No reference at all to what it was used for.
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Tony Hines

Nelson

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #11 on: August 11, 2009, 08:18:15 AM »
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I'm thinking maybe they were using it where their coal loader was not close at hand and wanted to enlarge the coal bunker for less trips to refill.

But after reading Lee's post, it's pretty hard to think seriously about anything. I'll be laughing about that for days, thanks Lee!

Nelson
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sizemore

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2009, 10:12:05 AM »
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wm3798

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #13 on: August 11, 2009, 10:26:54 AM »
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Nice article!  I bet that Bachmann 0-6-0 could be fitted with that wooden cab pretty easily...

Lee
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SkipGear

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Re: B&O Steam Switcher WTH?
« Reply #14 on: August 11, 2009, 10:35:24 AM »
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Sizemore,
 Unfortunately that story is about a different class of engine. The loco pictured doesn't have angled pistons and the D-1's mentioned in the story never left Baltimore. This loco, as Chris mentioned, is in Cincinnati. In the B&O power book, it is classed as D-odd. On the N.E. Rails site where the picture is available it is classed as a D-3. The other D-3 pictured is more conventional.

 Being that it is converted to a tank loco, it looks like the shop thought the easiest way to make a coal bunker was to close up the windows and fill the cab full of coal. It looks like it has a chute or opening in the top to load it. It would sure make firing the loco easier, maybe as simple as opening a door or chute from the bunker above the fire box and letting some coal fall from above.

I wish we could fid more history on this as it is definitely an odd duck.
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Tony Hines
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