Alaska Railroad 400/500 Class
by
Dick Morris
Wheel Arrangement – 2-8-0
Bore and Stroke – 21” x 26”
Driver diameter – 50”
Boiler pressure – 210 psi
Fitted with Coffin feedwater heaters (which were removed by the ARR)
Weight of engine in working order – 180,000 lbs
Weight of engine and tender loaded working order – 304,700 lbs
Fuel (1949) - ARR 403, oil, the rest of the class, coal
Purchase price from Quartermaster’s Corps (first two) - $69,600
These locomotives were the second of three designs of 2-8-0 Consolidations produced for the U.S. War Department. During WWI, it procured over 1,900 to the “Pershing” design. Most went to Europe. These locomotives were the second, a relatively obscure design produced early in WWII by Lima which the Alaska Railroad adopted as their 500 (later 400) class. The third and most widely produced was the WWII “S-160s” which the ARR designed as their 550 class.
In the late 1930s a design for a Consolidation was proposed for the military but then the design was left on the shelf in case of contingency. In 1941, the design was finalized. At that time the design of rail equipment for the Army was under the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1942 the only eight examples of this design were built by Lima under order number 1161. According to one author, these locomotives were purchased so the Army could “use or lose” budgeted funding before the end of the 1941 fiscal year.
Although the two WWII Consolidations were very different, they did have one thing in common; Mr. J.W. Marsh oversaw the design process, represented the War Department in a series of meetings with Lima Locomotive Works, and oversaw the final design in 1941. The next year, Major J.W. Marsh represented the War Department in working with the three major locomotive builders and overseeing the design of the S-160 locomotives.
For some reason, probably related to its standing as a federally owned railroad, the ARR was offered two of the early design in 1942 which they could purchase from the Army. (At this time the ARR had critical motive power shortages. Most of their locomotives were worn out, 35-year-old 2-6-0s obtained around 1918 as surplus following the construction of the Panama Canal). The two locomotives, USA 6998 and 6999, were renumbered ARR 501 and 502 by the ARR. After the War the ARR went shopping for additional Consolidation locomotives of either War Department designs through war surplus channels and obtained three more of the early Consolidations (as well as five S-160s). One of the surplus units obtained by the ARR was USATC #10 which they got following the wind down of the Claiborne and Polk military training railroad in Louisiana. It was numbered ARR 503. In 1949 the ARR obtained another of them when they swapped their 0-6-0 switcher ARR 314 with the Army at Ft. Richardson to get USA 6995, another of the early design Consolidations. This gave the ARR six of the entire class of eight locomotives built to this design.
Although none of the earlier design WWII Consolidations were preserved, some parts still exist. The former USA #10/ARR 503 was reported as destroyed in the Anchorage roundhouse fire, along with ARR-556. 556 actually arose from the ashes and was returned to operation. However, in photos taken after the fire, 556 no longer sported its original tender. Photos show it with a 400/500 class tender, which is displayed with 556 in an Anchorage park today. This tender probably came from the destroyed ARR 503/USA #10. A second piece can be found along the Matanuska River, just off of the abandoned Chickaloon branch. It is a steam locomotive cab which was deposited as rip-rap. With the cab are also several superheater elements which may have also come from ARR 503. Many years of sand blasting from the glacial silt of the Matanuska River have uncovered the original number 10 that the cab once wore on the Claiborne and Polk Railroad.
Acquisition and shipping of USA 6998 and 6999 (ARR 501 and 502)
Renumbering from 500 to 400 class
Dates 400 class locomotives were acquired
Incident report, ARR 401 fired without water in the boiler
Derailments of two 400 class locomotives on the same day
Exchange of USA 4074/ARR 314 to U.S. Army for USA 6995/ARR 506
Why the 500 class wasn’t fitted with stokers
Page created 3/24/23 and last updated 3/24/23
