Transcription
Terminal Railroad Assn. Engine 318 is missing the scrap heap to become a museum piece because it is the first engine in the world to have its frame and cylinders cast in one piece.
It will go on permanent display at the Museum of Transport near Kirkwood, Mo., after presentation ceremonies to be held at 12:30 p.m. Monday at the St. Louis Union Station.
The 30-year-old switch engine, the only "steamer" TRRA didn't scrap, was painted and sold to General Steel Castings Corp. That company will make the presentation to the museum. The frame was cast in 1926 at General Steel's old Commonwealth plant at Granite City.
The engine was built at the TRRA "backshop" east of Brooklyn. Not only did the cast steel frame become standard on the Terminal, but it revolutionized locomotive building.
Dr. John Roberts, president of the Museum and an authority on motive power, said General Steel just has received an order for 120 of these engine beds for delivery to England, Germany and South America. Foreign railroads haven't gone all-diesel as they have in the United States.
After Engine 318 had been rolled outside the Brooklyn shops Friday, TRRA Assistant General Foreman E. R. Coggins made a hasty inspection of its frame and reported that it never was cracked or broken in service.
Not only are cast frames more rugged, but the integral cylinders do not slip on the frame as the bolted ones do.
Eight-wheeler 318, which was among the 180 steam engines TRRA operated at its peak, has been out of service about a year. One hundred seven diesel units, which aren't in the shop so much, do all the Terminal's work.
No. 318 is one of 20 engines TRRA built itself. The two built before her had fabricated frames with separate cylinder blocks. Engine 318 also was equipped with a single-piece "water-bottom" tender casting, also something new in her day when standard practice was to place a separate water tank on a fabricated tender frame.
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GOODBYE OLD FRIEND
Engine 318, the first in the world with a cast steel frame, will be a museum piece. From the left in rear are Thomas Fierce and A. L. Jamieson, machinists; J. A. Johnson, machinıst-welder; Marion Mink, carpenter foreman; foreground are C. J. McGuire, general shop foreman; E. R. Coggins, assistant general foreman; R. C. Musick, paint shop foreman; B. J. Schonhoff, blacksmith.
(Journal Staff Photo.)Language
English