At Charlotte, VA in 1933:

http://southern.railfan.net/images/arch ... te733.html

And at Alexandria, VA in 1953, I presume being saved for eventual display or donation somewhere. Don't know if the Smithsonian exhibit had been planned yet.

http://southern.railfan.net/images/arch ... va753.html

From the January, 1962 "TIES" article on moving 1401 to the Smithsonian:


"In September 1952 a letter arrived in the office of Southern's President, Harry A. DeButts. It was written by Walter H. Thrall, Jr., of Whittier, Calif., whose father was an assistant in the engineering department of Southern. As a young railfan, Thrall had photographed some of the railway's steam locomotives in 1937 and 1938. He remembered the Pacifics, and the plea which he made on their behalf was simply stated. 'Once these famous and handsome locomotives are gone,' he wrote, ' they are gone forever, never to be replaced.'

Thrall suggested the Smithsonian Institution might be interested in preserving one.

Through Robert V. Fleming, a Southern Railway director who was then the president of the Riggs National Bank of Washington, D.C., and a member of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian, and Chairman of the Board's Executive Committee, inquiry was made. The Smithsonian was indeed interested. But there was a major problem. The Institution had no building large enough to house such an exhibit as a huge Pacific.

But the Smithsonian did have uncertain plans for the eventual construction of a special building big enough to hold such exhibits as the Pacific.

So Southern elected to put one aside.

And the one chosen was no. 1401.

On February 10, 1953 - four months before the fire was doused in the last steam locomotive to operate on the by-then completely dieselized Southern System - the 1401 was taken from Salisbury to Alexandria, Va., for storage until the Smithsonian's new building could be erected."

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I know they ran a few fans trips with her. The Smithsonian for years sold a record of 1401 under steam in the gift shop, still have a copy of it with my parents.

The SR never ran "fan trips" with the 1401 after her selection for preservation.

If you read the liner notes on your Semaphore-produced 7" 33 1/3 record, you'll find that the sounds recorded on the one side of the record were recorded on a fan trip with SR's first excursion loco, SR 2-8-2 4501, on a trip where the 4501 was outfitted with the whistle from the 1401 specifically for the purposes of making audio recordings for the Smithsonian's display hall and souvenir shop. I believe that specific trip was an Alexandria-Charlottesville RT sometime in 1964 or so. (I own several copies of that record; I just don't have them handy.)

From the book "Locomotive 4501" by David P. Morgan -

"For her Front Royal trips the 4501 exchanged her regular whistle for that of the steamboat chime worn by the Smithsonian's Ps-4 exhibit, No. 1401. Next time you are in Washington, visit the Institution and pause until the whistle recording plays in the hall occupied by the Pacific. You'll hear the 1401's whistle, courtesy of the 4501's steam and Walter Dove's wrist with a marble."

The year was 1966.

Ron Ziel once told me that Grahame Claytor offered the 4501 to the Smithsonian in exchange for the 1401, building repairs and all. Smithsonian absolutely refused to consider the trade.

Can anyone here speculate as to which locomotive-1401 or 4501-would be better for the late, lamented NS excursion program? Yes, I realize that if Graham Claytor wanted 1401, one would consider his expertise to be the answer in and of itself. Just wanted to see if anyone else had an informed opinion. By "better for excursion service", I'm not talking about fan appeal. I'm talking about ability to haul an excursion-length train at appropriate speeds, given the variety of track conditions on NS (some flat and straight; some grades; i.e. a gamut of operating conditions).

Neither Southern nor NS has owned 4501 since she was sold to the K&T. K&T sold the locomotive to Paul Merriman who later donated it to TVRM. Southern and NS only leased 4501. Mr. Claytor could not have traded a locomotive the railroad did not own.

John Bohon

The quick and dirty answer: it depends.

As I've read the history (and experienced the last decade of it myself), the early SR steam excursions were moderate passenger trains, operating reasonably short out-and-back or ferry trips with 8-12 cars. They had the capacity to operate at track speeds, but seldom did, because the point was to enjoy the trip--much like most excursion lines. Thus, either 1401 or 4501 was up to the task, augmented as needed by 630 and 722.

In the later days, insurance and economic pressures increased average train length substantially--to 15-20 cars, which would have taxed the 1401 or even the 4501 to some extent. The top-heavy N&W 611, which took over a lot of the duties in 1983 or so, came with its own speed restrictions which kept the trains' speeds in check. Later on, after the Great Dismal Swamp derailment, it wouldn't have mattered: all steam was restricted to 40 mph maximum, as per the NS employee timetable.

I think that, had the Smithsonian made the trade with Claytor as alleged to have been proposed, the Tennessee Valley Ry. Museum or Spencer might have ended up with a retired-to-the-sidelines 1401 in the 1980s, retired when itb was deemed incapable of getting the new longer trains over the road as fast as dispatchers wanted.

Of course, as long as we're fantasizing, the SR/N&W merger never occurred, and insurance remained affordable..........

Not so fast here. Remember the history of the N&W 1218? They made it legal before they stuck $1.5 mil into it, but they basically acted like they owned it for twenty years.

Steve Zuiderveen