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=== Steamtown ===
=== Steamtown ===
After sitting idle for five years, No. 1278 was purchased in mid-1965 by [[F. Nelson Blount]], and it was moved to his [[Steamtown, U.S.A.]] collection in [[Bellows Falls, Vermont]].<ref name="CP1278" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=April 1966 |title=Steam News Photos |url=https://www.trains.com/trn/magazine/archive-access/trains-april-1966/ |url-access=limited |access-date=February 6, 2024 |magazine=Trains |publisher=Kalmbach Publishing |page=14 |volume=26 |issue=6}}</ref> During the summer of 1966, No. 1278 underwent an overhaul for use in pulling mainline excursion trains, and in the process, it was renumbered to 127.<ref name="CP1278" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite magazine |date=September 1966 |title=Steam News Photos |url=https://www.trains.com/trn/magazine/archive-access/trains-september-1966/ |url-access=limited |access-date=February 4, 2024 |magazine=Trains |publisher=Kalmbach Publishing |page=13 |volume=26 |issue=11}}</ref> Blount had planned to renumber all three of his CPR G5 locomotives in his collection from Nos. [[Canadian Pacific 1246|1246]], 1278 and [[Canadian Pacific 1293|1293]] to Nos. 124, 127 and 129, respectively, but only No. 1278 received the road number change. The new number remained on the locomotive from 1966 until 1973, when its former number was restored.<ref name=":02">{{Cite magazine |last=Kyper |first=Frank |date=November–December 1995 |title=Nelson Blount's Steamtown |magazine=Locomotive & Railway Preservation |publisher=[[Pentrex]] |page= |pages=38–39}}</ref>
After sitting idle for five years, No. 1278 was purchased in mid-1965 by [[F. Nelson Blount]], and it was moved to his [[Steamtown, U.S.A.]] collection in [[Bellows Falls, Vermont]].<ref name="CP1278" /><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=April 1966 |title=Steam News Photos |url=https://www.trains.com/trn/magazine/archive-access/trains-april-1966/ |url-access=limited |access-date=February 6, 2024 |magazine=Trains |publisher=Kalmbach Publishing |page=14 |volume=26 |issue=6}}</ref> During the summer of 1966, No. 1278 underwent a restoration to operating condition, and in the process, it was renumbered to 127.<ref name="CP1278" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite magazine |date=September 1966 |title=Steam News Photos |url=https://www.trains.com/trn/magazine/archive-access/trains-september-1966/ |url-access=limited |access-date=February 4, 2024 |magazine=Trains |publisher=Kalmbach Publishing |page=13 |volume=26 |issue=11}}</ref> Blount had planned to renumber all three of his CPR G5 locomotives in his collection from Nos. [[Canadian Pacific 1246|1246]], 1278 and [[Canadian Pacific 1293|1293]] to Nos. 124, 127 and 129, respectively, but only No. 1278 received the road number change. The new number remained on the locomotive from 1966 until 1973, when its former number was restored.<ref name=":02">{{Cite magazine |last=Kyper |first=Frank |date=November–December 1995 |title=Nelson Blount's Steamtown |magazine=Locomotive & Railway Preservation |publisher=[[Pentrex]] |page= |pages=38–39}}</ref>


The locomotive was also modified with an Elesco bundle-type feedwater heater mounted across the top of its smokebox.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 No. 1278 – Age of Steam Roundhouse |date=14 February 2019 |url=https://www.ageofsteamroundhouse.org/canadian-pacific-4-6-2-no-1278/ |access-date=2023-06-20 |language=en-US}}</ref> In October 1966, No. 127's overhaul was completed, and that same month, Nelson Blount collaborated with fellow steam enthusiast [[Ross Rowland]] to host a series of excursion trains on the [[Central Railroad of New Jersey]]'s (CNJ) mainline between [[Jersey City, New Jersey]] and [[Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania]], and No. 127 was used to pull the trains.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":02" /> In the spring of 1967, No. 127 pulled some more excursion trains on the [[New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad|New Haven]] mainline between [[Boston]], [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], and [[Providence, Rhode Island]].<ref name=":02" />
The locomotive was also modified with an Elesco bundle-type feedwater heater mounted across the top of its smokebox.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 No. 1278 – Age of Steam Roundhouse |date=14 February 2019 |url=https://www.ageofsteamroundhouse.org/canadian-pacific-4-6-2-no-1278/ |access-date=2023-06-20 |language=en-US}}</ref> In October 1966, No. 127's restoration was completed.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":02" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite magazine |date=March 1967 |title=Steam News Photos - Steam's Back! |url=https://www.trains.com/trn/magazine/archive-access/trains-march-1967/ |url-access=limited |access-date=February 27, 2024 |magazine=Trains |location=Kalmbach Publishing |page=13 |volume=27 |issue=5}}</ref> That same month, Nelson Blount collaborated with fellow steam enthusiast [[Ross Rowland]] to host a series of mainline excursion trains on the [[Central Railroad of New Jersey]]'s (CNJ) mainline between [[Jersey City, New Jersey]] and [[Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania]], and No. 127 was used to pull the trains.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":02" /><ref name=":3" /> In the spring of 1967, No. 127 pulled some more excursion trains on the [[New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad|New Haven]] mainline between [[Boston]], [[Worcester, Massachusetts]], and [[Providence, Rhode Island]].<ref name=":02" />


In early February 1968, Ross Rowland sponsored a doubleheader excursion over the CNJ's mainline between Jersey City and [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania|Wilkes-Barre]], pulled by fellow G5 locomotives [[Canadian Pacific 1238|1238]] and [[Canadian Pacific 1286|1286]], while leasing them from George Hart. However, the latter two locomotives were on loan to the city of [[Reading, Pennsylvania|Reading]] for emergency warmth after a steam generator broke down. Since tickets for the excursion had already been sold, and Rowland was unwilling to pull Rowland's excursion with a diesel locomotive, he leased No. 127. However, since No. 127 lacked enough power to pull the train over the grades on the CNJ between [[Bethlehem, Pennsylvania|Bethlehem]] and [[Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania]] unassisted, Rowland also leased [[Strasburg Rail Road]]'s [[2-10-0]] [[Great Western 90|No. 90]] to assist No. 127. The locomotive returned to Steamtown soon after the excursion ended.
On February 18, 1968, Ross Rowland sponsored another excursion, and CPR G5 locomotives [[Canadian Pacific 1238|Nos. 1238]] and [[Canadian Pacific 1286|1286]] were originally planned to pull the train, but their owner, George Hart, had already moved them to [[Reading, Pennsylvania]] to provide emergency warmth to a power plant.<ref name=":4">{{Cite magazine |date=May 1968 |title=Steam News Photos |url=https://www.trains.com/trn/magazine/archive-access/trains-may-1968/ |url-access=limited |access-date=February 27, 2024 |magazine=Trains |page=13 |volume=28 |issue=7}}</ref> Rowland had to lease No. 127 and the [[Strasburg Rail Road]]'s [[2-10-0]] [[Great Western 90|No. 90]] as pinch-hitters for the excursion, and they operated on the CNJ, [[Lehigh Valley Railroad|Lehigh Valley]] (LV), and [[Penn Central Transportation Company|Penn Central]] (PC) mainline between [[Newark, New Jersey]] and [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania]].<ref name=":4" />


In 1970, the Cadillac and Lake City Railroad (C&LC) leased No. 127 to pull their tourist trains in [[Michigan]], since one of their own locomotives, Ex-[[Polson Logging Co. 2|Saginaw Timber Co. No. 2]], had developed a crack in its boiler shell.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=March 1971 |title=Steam News Photos |url=https://www.trains.com/trn/magazine/archive-access/trains-march-1971/ |url-access=limited |access-date=February 27, 2024 |magazine=Trains |publisher=Kalmbach Publishing |page=16 |volume=31 |issue=5}}</ref> The C&LC's lease for No. 127 ended the following year, when the railroad discontinued their Michigan operations, and the G5d was returned to Steamtown.
⚫
The G5d locomotive was leased to the Cadillac and Lake City Railroad in [[Michigan]] to pull tourist trains from 1970 to 1971. After some repair work, the locomotive was returned to Steamtown, U.S.A. in [[Bellows Falls, Vermont]] where it served on [[Excursion train|excursion runs]]. During the [[sesquicentennial]] of the [[Delaware and Hudson Railway]], the 1278 was fitted with [[Smoke deflectors|elephant-eared smoke deflectors]] to masquerade as D&H P-1 4-6-2 No. 653, and it performed one doubleheader with [[Reading 2102|Reading T-1 4-8-4 No. 2102]], which masqueraded as D&H No. 302 at the time. No. 1278 also performed a doubleheader as No. 653 with No. 1246—which masqueraded as [[Rutland Railroad]] No. 82—to [[Rutland (city), Vermont|Rutland, Vermont]].<ref name=":02" /> No. 1278 pulled her last excursion train for Steamtown in 1980, before it was removed from service when its flue time expired, and it was subsequently put on static display.

⚫
After some repair work, the locomotive was returned to Steamtown, U.S.A. in [[Bellows Falls, Vermont]] where it served on [[Excursion train|excursion runs]]. During the [[sesquicentennial]] of the [[Delaware and Hudson Railway]], the 1278 was fitted with [[Smoke deflectors|elephant-eared smoke deflectors]] to masquerade as D&H P-1 4-6-2 No. 653, and it performed one doubleheader with [[Reading 2102|Reading T-1 4-8-4 No. 2102]], which masqueraded as D&H No. 302 at the time. No. 1278 also performed a doubleheader as No. 653 with No. 1246—which masqueraded as [[Rutland Railroad]] No. 82—to [[Rutland (city), Vermont|Rutland, Vermont]].<ref name=":02" /> No. 1278 pulled its last excursion train for Steamtown in 1980, before it was removed from service when its flue time expired, and it was subsequently put on static display.


=== Gettysburg Railroad ===
=== Gettysburg Railroad ===

Revision as of 02:10, 27 February 2024

Canadian Pacific 1278
Type and origin
References:[1][2][3]
Power typeSteam
BuilderCanadian Locomotive Company
Serial number2435
Build date1948
Rebuild date1965–1966
1987–1988
Specifications
Configuration:
​
 • Whyte4-6-2 "Pacific"
 • UIC2'C1'
Gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Driver dia.70 in (1,778 mm)
Trailing dia.45 in (1,143 mm)
Wheelbase:​
 • Drivers15 ft (4.6 m)
Length76 ft 4+1⁄8 in (23.3 m)
Height14 ft 10 in (4.5 m)
Axle load50,333 lb (22,830.7 kg; 22.8 t)
Adhesive weight151,000 lb (68 t)
Loco weight229,500 lb (104,099.4 kg; 104.1 t)
Tender weight191,000 lb (86,636.1 kg; 86.6 t)
Total weight420,500 lb (190,735.6 kg; 190.7 t)
Fuel typeCoal
Fuel capacity28,000 lb (13,000 kg; 13 t)
Water cap.11,529 US gal (43,642 L; 9,600 imp gal)
Firebox:​
 • Grate area45.6 sq ft (4.24 m2)
Boiler pressure250 psi (1.72 MPa)
Heating surface:​
 • Firebox199 sq ft (18.5 m2)
 • Total surface3,320 sq ft (308.4 m2)
Superheater:
​
 • Heating area744 sq ft (69.1 m2)
CylindersTwo, outside
Cylinder size20 in × 28 in (508 mm × 711 mm)
Valve gearWalschaerts
Performance figures
Tractive effort34,000 lbf (151.2 kN)
Factor of adh.4.44
Career
OperatorsCanadian Pacific Railway
Steamtown, U.S.A.
High Iron Company
Cadillac and Lake City Railway
Gettysburg Railroad
ClassG5d
Number in class7 of 30
Numbers
  • CP 1278
  • Steamtown 127
  • D&H 653
  • GRR 1278
Retired1960 (1st retirement)
1980 (2nd retirement)
June 16, 1995 (3rd retirement)
PreservedMay 1965
RestoredOctober 13, 1966 (1st restoration)
July 3, 1988 (2nd restoration)
2016–2017 (cosmetically)
Current ownerAge of Steam Roundhouse
DispositionOn static display

Canadian Pacific 1278 is a class "G5d" 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotive built by the Canadian Locomotive Company for the Canadian Pacific Railway. After being retired from revenue service, the locomotive was purchased in 1965 by F. Nelson Blount for excursion trains at his Steamtown, U.S.A. collection. The locomotive was sold to Gettysburg Railroad in 1987, and it pulled excursion trains between Gettysburg and Biglerville, but it was subject to shoddy maintenance by inexperienced crews. The locomotive was retired from excursion service in 1995, after suffering a firebox explosion in June. As of 2024, the locomotive is on static display at the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio.[4]

History

Canadian Pacific

1278 was built by Canadian Locomotive Company in 1948 and is a type 4-6-2 class G5d light weight "Pacific" locomotive.[2][3] The No. 1278 was one of thirty such G5d locomotives to be built. The No. 1278’s relatively lightweight construction and very sound design made the locomotives the perfect engines for light-rail, branch line duty on both CP’s passenger and freight trains. The development of this class of locomotive enabled the CP to retire many smaller, older and less powerful locomotives.[5] The engine worked most of its career hauling freight and passenger trains throughout the Canadian Pacific Railway until it was retired from revenue service in 1960.[2]

Steamtown

After sitting idle for five years, No. 1278 was purchased in mid-1965 by F. Nelson Blount, and it was moved to his Steamtown, U.S.A. collection in Bellows Falls, Vermont.[2][6] During the summer of 1966, No. 1278 underwent a restoration to operating condition, and in the process, it was renumbered to 127.[2][7] Blount had planned to renumber all three of his CPR G5 locomotives in his collection from Nos. 1246, 1278 and 1293 to Nos. 124, 127 and 129, respectively, but only No. 1278 received the road number change. The new number remained on the locomotive from 1966 until 1973, when its former number was restored.[8]

The locomotive was also modified with an Elesco bundle-type feedwater heater mounted across the top of its smokebox.[9] In October 1966, No. 127's restoration was completed.[7][8][10] That same month, Nelson Blount collaborated with fellow steam enthusiast Ross Rowland to host a series of mainline excursion trains on the Central Railroad of New Jersey's (CNJ) mainline between Jersey City, New Jersey and Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, and No. 127 was used to pull the trains.[7][8][10] In the spring of 1967, No. 127 pulled some more excursion trains on the New Haven mainline between Boston, Worcester, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island.[8]

On February 18, 1968, Ross Rowland sponsored another excursion, and CPR G5 locomotives Nos. 1238 and 1286 were originally planned to pull the train, but their owner, George Hart, had already moved them to Reading, Pennsylvania to provide emergency warmth to a power plant.[11] Rowland had to lease No. 127 and the Strasburg Rail Road's 2-10-0 No. 90 as pinch-hitters for the excursion, and they operated on the CNJ, Lehigh Valley (LV), and Penn Central (PC) mainline between Newark, New Jersey and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.[11]

In 1970, the Cadillac and Lake City Railroad (C&LC) leased No. 127 to pull their tourist trains in Michigan, since one of their own locomotives, Ex-Saginaw Timber Co. No. 2, had developed a crack in its boiler shell.[12] The C&LC's lease for No. 127 ended the following year, when the railroad discontinued their Michigan operations, and the G5d was returned to Steamtown.

After some repair work, the locomotive was returned to Steamtown, U.S.A. in Bellows Falls, Vermont where it served on excursion runs. During the sesquicentennial of the Delaware and Hudson Railway, the 1278 was fitted with elephant-eared smoke deflectors to masquerade as D&H P-1 4-6-2 No. 653, and it performed one doubleheader with Reading T-1 4-8-4 No. 2102, which masqueraded as D&H No. 302 at the time. No. 1278 also performed a doubleheader as No. 653 with No. 1246—which masqueraded as Rutland Railroad No. 82—to Rutland, Vermont.[8] No. 1278 pulled its last excursion train for Steamtown in 1980, before it was removed from service when its flue time expired, and it was subsequently put on static display.

Gettysburg Railroad

After Steamtown moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania, Steamtown decided that their G5 locomotives were inadequate for service as they were deemed too light for the heavy grades and sharp curves of their Ex-Lackawanna mainline, hence why No. 1278 never operated in Scranton. In June 1987, in an effort to have a second operable steam locomotive by their grand reopening of that year, Steamtown struck a deal with the Gettysburg Railroad to trade No. 1278 and $100,000 in exchange for Canadian National 3254.[13][14] After extensive repairs were made to the G5d, No. 1278 pulled its first train for the Gettysburg Railroad on July 3, 1988, when it carried passengers to the rededication ceremony of a Civil War veterans memorial.[15] The locomotive was subsequently used to pull the railroad's tourist trains between Gettysburg, Biglerville, and Mount Holly Springs alongside Mississippian Railway 2-8-0 No. 76, until 1995.[2][3][16]

1995 boiler explosion

On June 16, 1995, No. 1278 was pulling a six-car dinner excursion for the Gettysburg Railroad with 310 passengers, but at 7:20 pm near Gardners, the locomotive suffered a crownsheet failure, creating an explosion inside the firebox.[16][17][18] At the moment of impact, one of the two fireman on board the locomotive that day was sticking a shovel through the firebox door, and it consequently released fire and steam into the cab.[18] The two firemen jumped out of the cab, while the engineer, 48-year-old Jim Cornell, remained inside to bring No. 1278 to a safe stop, before following suit.[16][18]

All three crew members sustained burns from the explosion, along with injuries from jumping out of the cab, and the two firemen were taken to area hospitals, while Cornell was taken to a burn center in Philadelphia.[17][18] While the railroad continued to run their excursions using only diesel locomotives, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) launched an investigation to discover the cause of the explosion.[16][18] The chief mechanical officer of the Valley Railroad, J. David Conrad, was brought in to help aid the NTSB’s evaluation of the Gettysburg’s operations.[16][18]

The determined cause of the failure was from the crownsheet overheating, due to a lack of a sufficient water level being obtained, and the crownsheet softened and ruptured away from the crown staybolts.[16][17][18] Due to Canadian Pacific’s policy of alternating the row design of the crown stays in their locomotives to intentionally control such a catastrophe, the firebox was the only part of No. 1278 that received major damage from the explosion.[16][17] The NTSB also discovered that many of No. 1278’s components were subject to shoddy maintenance; the water glass, which was intended to display the correct water level inside the boiler, was plugged with hard scale from not being cleaned out, and the water injector was leaking from an incorrect part installation.[16][17]

The investigation also revealed that the workforces of the Gettysburg Railroad, including the two firemen on No. 1278, had insufficient training and knowledge of how to correctly maintain steam locomotives; the railroad’s training program was found to be incomprehensible for the workforces.[16][17] Upon releasing its final report in 1996, the NTSB recommended the FRA to reinforce regulations for steam locomotive operations; the FRA introduced the 1,472-day inspection process for every operable steam locomotive in the United States, and the process became law in 2000.[16][17][19]

Disposition

After the incident, much of the equipment from the Gettysburg Railroad was auctioned off. The Gettysburg Railroad also stopped using steam locomotives for the excursions and only used diesel locomotives. No. 1278 was indefinitely retired from excursion service after its boiler incident, and it was subsequently purchased by Jerry Joe Jacobson at an auction in 1998.[2] Since 1999, it sat in an Ohio Central Railroad storage facility in Morgan Run, Ohio for several years.[2][1] In 2016, No. 1278 was moved inside the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Sugarcreek, Ohio, safely out of the weather.[2] The damage from the firebox incident is repairable, and the engine could be restored to operation if desired,[3] however, the engine remains on static display within the roundhouse as of 2024.

Surviving sister engines

References

  1. ^ a b "CP 1278 - Ex Canadian Pacific 4-8-2 No. 1278". Age of Steam Roundhouse. Age of Steam Roundhouse, LTD. Archived from the original on March 23, 2012. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Canadian Pacific #1278 4-6-2 – The Unheralded Hero of Modern-day Steam – Age of Steam Roundhouse". May 2020. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  3. ^ a b c d "Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 No. 1278". 14 February 2019. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  4. ^ "Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 No. 1278 – Age of Steam Roundhouse". 14 February 2019. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  5. ^ "Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 No. 1278 – Age of Steam Roundhouse". 14 February 2019. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  6. ^ "Steam News Photos". Trains. Vol. 26, no. 6. Kalmbach Publishing. April 1966. p. 14. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
  7. ^ a b c "Steam News Photos". Trains. Vol. 26, no. 11. Kalmbach Publishing. September 1966. p. 13. Retrieved February 4, 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d e Kyper, Frank (November–December 1995). "Nelson Blount's Steamtown". Locomotive & Railway Preservation. Pentrex. pp. 38–39.
  9. ^ "Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 No. 1278 – Age of Steam Roundhouse". 14 February 2019. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  10. ^ a b "Steam News Photos - Steam's Back!". Trains. Vol. 27, no. 5. Kalmbach Publishing. March 1967. p. 13. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  11. ^ a b "Steam News Photos". Trains. Vol. 28, no. 7. May 1968. p. 13. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  12. ^ "Steam News Photos". Trains. Vol. 31, no. 5. Kalmbach Publishing. March 1971. p. 16. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  13. ^ "Steamtown NHS: Special History Study". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
  14. ^ "The Road of Anthracite". Railfan & Railroad. Carstens Publications. September 1987. p. 32.
  15. ^ "Railroad News Photos". Trains. Vol. 49, no. 1. Kalmbach Publishing. November 1988. p. 15. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cupper, Dan (October 1996). "NTSB issues findings in Gettysburg blast". Trains. Vol. 56, no. 10. Kalmbach Publishing. p. 18. Retrieved January 19, 2024.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g "Special Investigation Report; Steam Locomotive Firebox Explosion on the Gettysburg Railroad near Gardners, Pennsylvania; June 16, 1995" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. November 15, 1996. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 11, 2023. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g "Railnews - Tourist Line Catastrophes - Boiler explosion". Railfan & Railroad. Vol. 14, no. 9. Carstens Publications. September 1995. p. 34.
  19. ^ Hadder, Eric (May 2013). "Critical checkup for steam". Trains. Kalmbach Media. p. 30. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
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