More in depth info on the CO&E is in the current (June) issue of Railfan & Railroad.

I would agree that the Crab Orchard & Egyptian etc observations are correct in that those steam runs were more an outgrowth of tourist/railfan activities, as opposed to a holdover from the age of steam.

But what about shortline runs, such as Virginia Blue Ridge, Mobile and Gulf, Rockton and Rion, etc? None of those ran steam after NWS&W (they ended steam before), but each of those ran steam into the 60s.

John -

I have no argument with you there. But the subject of this thread is the LAST revenue steam freight runs of various railroads. Thus, we would be looking for the last steam run of the VBR, the M&G, the R&R, etc. These railroads were all steam powered until they dieselized (or in some cases, abandoned) operations. Big railroad or small, common carrier or not, the author was looking for the LAST revenue steam freight runs.

Les

D&RGW on the Silverton Branch. Since the line was sold and not abandoned, and the new owner is a common carrier occasionally hauling freight, you might say that the final revenue steam freight run has not yet happened!

If I recall correctly, the last revenue freight on the Durango-Chama-Alamosa mainline was in December 1967 and the last steam operation was in January 1968. The NGDF had the dates.

The D&RGW Silverton hauled freight to the Tacoma Power plant and horses (and other supplies) to Ah Wilderness since there was no road access to either. I seem to recall that the last revenue steam freight was after Bradshaw purchased the branch. It moved new turbines to Tacoma.

Doug vV

I have a dispatcher's sheet from the Gainesville Midland RR the first day SAL operated the line. Steam locomotives 206 and 209 along with SAL diesels 1540 and 1543 were active on the road. This was on June 22, 1959.

Scheduled GM freights 1, 2, 3, and 4 were annulled. Extra 206 and Extra 209 were operated both north and south on the formerly independent GM with northbound Extra 209 bringing SAL diesels 1540 and 1543 along from Athens to Gainesville.

So SAL operated its last steam freight (I think) in Georgia in 1959 even thought he steamers were labeled GM.

Doug vV

i would like to put in a word for then Pennsylvania Railraod subsidary the Long Island Railroad.

In 1955 they ran LIRR #39 or was it 35 west to Mineola (county seat of Nassau County and traded engines with a Diesel for the rest of the trip into Jamaca.

The locomotives and cars are preserved by the Long Island Railroad Museum in Riverhead.

I may be the other LIRR steam Locomotive #35 which part of the Oyster Bay Railroad Museum. I do not have the exact papers in front of me at this computer.

I do think it is neat that all the equipment has survived!

Ted Miles

Edgemoor & Manetta Ry., 3 miles in Lando, S.C. is still in the Pocket List of Railroad Officials, but no longer in the Official Guide of the Railways, Freight Service Edition. The have never owned a Diesel, but their 5th and current Steam Loco has been undergoing repairs since the late 1970s.

Well the thread started as Class I steam freight. Rio Grande narrow gauge ran after all others. Union Pacific never retired #844 and it and the 3985 have muscled some freight from time to time but I think throwing in the word regular into the mix makes the DRGW the last.

I might have all these beat, but someone will likely argue on a technicality. Porter Fireless 0-6-0 at North American Rayon in Elizabethton, TN, ran until 1992, never out of operation since it was bought for the plant in the 30s! As far as I know, it never pulled any passengers or fans for any reason and was never out of service for any extended period. The plant is now gone, but the engine has been preserved not far from where she ran, in the company of a ET&WNC boxcar and a Southern RR caboose. http://www.city-data.com/picfilesv/picv18643.php http://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomo ... splay=1145 Here she is when she was in interchange with the ET&WNC, in the 60s, this is widely accepted as the last place in the US where steam from two different operators worked in interchange: http://www.steamcentral.com/images/usa/narc1a.jpg (and in the spirit of gloating, I've had cab rides in both of these engines while in steam in the 1980s…)

Close on the tail of this fireless, I can offer two 1949-built Porter 0-6-0F's at the Shamokin Dam, Pa. plant of Penna. Power & Light. Steam was the only game in town there until 1973 when an Alco was acquired/transferred from the West Pittston & Exeter. The steamers were relegated to standby/emergency service with occasional winter double-shift duty (one loco at the rotary dumper, one switching the steam thawing sheds to melt the frozen hoppers of coal), until 1988, when the Alco died for the last time and steam took over until an EMD switcher was procured. There were rumors of double duty into 1989, but the locos were finally retired sometime around 1990. Both locos still exist today, although the ownership, status, and future for both of them are in somewhat serious doubt.

Real, revenue, and non-tourist--although decidedly sporadic and irregular.

The Rio Grande operated the narrow gauge into December 1968.According to Joseph P. Hereford, Jr. and Ernest W. Robart Rio Grande Narrow Gauge- The Final Years, Alamosa to Chama the last revenue Freight run was on August 29, 1968, with movie specials in September and October. There was the National Park special in November of 1968 and the final run on December 5th and 6th. The final run was a double header of 473 and 483 with 481 dead in tow. The 481 had recently been overhauled but not put into service.

Mr. Robart was an "expert witness" during the abandonment hearings for the abandonment of rail lines west of Antonito to Durango and the Farmington Branch. He was involved in the early volunteer days of the C&TS and is involved in the 2926 project in ALBQ.
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See Trainorders Steam and Excursion post on Steam Railroading Institute’s Pere Marquette 2-8-4 no. 1225 which pulled a revenue freight consist on Tuesday (6/17/08).

Seth -

Looking over Dave Lathrop's article on the recent move of Texas & Pacific 2-8-2 #400 (ex-FW&DC #410) made me realize that the Mikado had to have made the T&P's last revenue freight move behind steam. Obviously this occurred sometime after the engine was purchased in 1958 and before it was put on display in Marshall, Texas in 1963. I remember seeing a photo or two in TRAINS Magazine of the engine being used in "flood service" but don't recall the date of that use. Perhaps someone else knows when #400 was last used by the T&P and the date of that service.

Les