Great Northern used retired Mikados to thaw frozen ore from hopper cars, well into the 1960's. A CB&Q 2-10-4 was once a stationary steam source in Sterling, Ill., until it blew. Pennsy had four L1 Mikados stationed in Long Island City, cab to cab, oil fired to provide steam heat for passenger cars. As previously noted, Reading T1's were used a great deal for this purpose. The list is almost interminable.

Greetings:
Norfolk & Western No.2050, now displayed at the Illinois Railway Museum was used (along with two more Ys) by ARMCO steel at Middletown, OH as stationary boilers while some major plant improvements were being made in the early 1960s'. Steam was taken via a large hole cut in the steam dome cover and 6' (?) pipe.
2050 was initially saved by a group of ARMCO employees who wanted to put it in a company park. "The rest of the story" can be found in IRM's "Rail & Wire", back issues of which are online.
Northwestern Steel & Wire Co. at Sterling, IL (think ex-GTW 0-8-0s) had three ex-CB&Q 2-10-4s (boilers, frames & cylinders only) which they bought for scrap but used a stationary boilers. They were in a building sort of in the middle of the plant near the "continuous caster". They were still being used in the summer of 1981 when I was moving 0-8-0s out to IRM and Amboy, IL.
One day I drove in and the building (and 2-10-4s) were gone, the site leveled. I asked our contact in the office, Wendy Davis, what happened. He said that the automatic water feed to one of the boilers had failed, the boiler ran low of water, exploded, did a summersault and ended up 100 feet away, tearing down the building as it went, Fortunately, the boiler watchman was in the locker room at the time and was relatively uninjured. All three boilers were cut up that night before anyone from the state ever heard about the incident. Wendy had a few Polaroids of the aftermath, but he wouldn't let me copy them.
J.David

CB&Q 5629 which is at the Colorado Railroad Museum was used as a stationary boiler in Lincoln, NE during 1960-61 before being donated to CRRM.

The boilers from last two (I don't know the engine numbers) Midland Terminal 2-8-0's were installed in the Carleton Gold Mill in the Cripple Creek mining district, when it was built in the early 1950's. When the mill was torn down, there was an attempt made to save them, but I believe that the mill scrappers damaged them to badly to make them worth saving.

In the 1950s, the Long Island famously used surplus PRR L1 2-8-2s as stationary boilers to provide steam heat for passenger cars stored in the Wheelspur Yard in Queens, New York. Here is a well known Art Huneke photo of these engines from 1955, taken from the last ever Long Island steam run (headed by G5 4-6-0 No. 35) as it crossed the "M" lift bridge over Dutch Kills on October 16 1955:


Photo from http://arrts-arrchives.com/LIC4.html

-Philip Marshall

Maine Central 2-8-0 #519 (now at Steamtown) was once used to supply steam to the Waterville Maine depot. It was taken from the dead line in the Waterville yard, and pushed up to the depot by a diesel because it's rods were disconnected from the pistons.

519 was actually the last Maine Central locomotive to be under steam, even though it was not in motion, and that happened after 470 made it's "Farewell to Steam" run.

Sorry Dick!

But the truth is what it is.

Brian

[CENTER][/CENTER]

Slightly off-topic but in the same ballpark: Didn't the Jersey Central use one of the dual-cab Baldwin Babyfaces as some sort of air compressor/generator in one of the shops for a few years after all of its sisters were cut up?

Regarding MEC 519; Brian, I knew 519 was stored by the Waterville shops, but not as an operational steam locomotive. It was also used in the making of the Ralph Bellamy film, Sunrise at Campobello", where it was pushed by a Diesel to simulate a passing locomotive, as Franklin Roosevelt was loaded onto his private car, having been stricken by polio.

The story is, RR President Spencer Miller was going to cut 519 up, but telephoned Nelson Blount and asked him if he wanted the Consolidation for his collection. Blount accepted, having sister 501 as part of his giant safe-haven for steam. I saw 519 at Scranton, a few months ago, squirreled away behind dead cars and looking like a good candidate for at least cosmetic refurbishment.

Pacific 470 made the final steam powered movement over MEC rails.

I don't have my copy handy, but IIRC, there's a photo in "the Twilight of Steam Locomotives" or maybe "The Twilight of World Steam" showing a bank of 4 or so new, all-welded locomotive boilers being used in stationary service on a railway- maybe the Great Northern? I'll post the pic if I can find it.

Back in the '60s, High Iron had a CNJ trip scheduled with George Hart's 1238 and 1286. Shortly before the trip, they got called into service as emergency boilers in Reading PA. HICO had to scramble for power, and ran the trip with Steamtown's 127 (1278) and Strasburg's 90.

Here's probably the most relevant question not yet asked:

Does anyone know of any locomotive boiler STILL in stationary service (with or without frame/wheels/etc.) anywhere in North America? I'm asking both in active service and out-of-service but still installed.

Here's the pic I mentioned earlier; it's on page 75 of "The Twilight of Steam Locomotives" by Ron Ziel.

I got my details mixed up: The top photo shows a CB&Q 2-8-2 in stationary boiler service in the background, and a brand-new, all-welded boiler in the foreground that was never used. The middle photo shows a couple of narrow gauge 2-8-0 boilers in stationary service in Chama, New Mexico. The bottom photo shows 6 Mikados used in stationary boiler service on the Great Northern in Allouez, Wisconsin.

Hugh -

Wish Mr. Ziel had mentioned the road number of the Burlington Mike being used as a stationary boiler. Some of the Q's 2-8-2's survived of course, and it would be interesting to know if the one in his photo was one that ended up being preserved.

Les

EDM, here you go...photos of 1238 and 1286 being used in stationary steam service in Reading. Bonus pic of two T-1’s...not sure of the location. Photos courtesy of my dad who worked at the Reading Eagle newspaper circa 1968-69.

Two more...

A photo of two Alaska Railroad (former Panama Canal) Moguls which were pressed into stationary service after the Anchorage power plant burned in 1921 is at http://alaskarails.org/pix/former-loco/AMHA-247.html