Hi all,
I am a railfan from the Netherlands. I've been captivated by 65-ton Whitcombs ever since I came across a photo of one of these locomotives in service with the Dutch Railways. Upon discovering that 20 of these locomotives were acquired from the US Army just after World War II, my fascination with the Whitcombs grew even stronger, and I embarked on a quest to uncover their origin.



Designed and built for the US Army Transportation Corps (USATC), the 65-DE-19A Whitcombs were deployed in Great Britain and Europe, with a total of 169 locomotives shipped to support the liberation of Europe from the Nazis. After the war in Europe ended, 118 of these locomotives were repatriated to the United States in the latter half of 1945. The initial plan was to refurbish and send them westwards to aid in the war against Japan, but due to the swift conclusion of the conflict, this plan was abandoned. As a result, the locomotives were eventually sold off through the War Assets Administration (WAA) in 1947 and 1948. Most of the USATC Whitcombs found new homes through dealers, operating on shortlines and industrial railroads in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Cuba.



I am collecting information about their historical significance and background, particularly their role in the European Theatre of Operations during World War II. Furthermore, I am also gathering information about their life and times in teh Americas, where they served numerous shortlines and industrial railroads from 1946 until the early 21st century. Although only a few have survived, some are still operational under heritage railroad operations. Interestingly, two of them have even made a third journey across the Atlantic and currently await restoration in the Netherlands. And even more interestingly, there might still be one operational at an industrial location ... or at least I know that it was onsite at the end of last year.



According to my records there were also at least 4 of these locomotives were also shipped to Cuba before the revolution, where most of them were used in the sugar industry. Up to now, I have not been able to find any proof of them in Cuba itself and I hope that somebody is able to help me here.

Has anybody any information about the below locomotives in Cuba or seen any photos of these 65-DE-19A Whitcombs in Cuba?



Keeping my fingers crossed that somebody will be able to help me out here

Cheers,

Jeroen

The guy who runs this facebook page is a Whitcomb expert who lives in Rochelle, Illinois, outside of Chicago (where Whitcombs were built, the factory still stood a few years back), you might try PMing him: https://www.facebook.com/lostillinoismanufacturing

Thanks. Is that Steve, who also started a large topic on Whitcomb here? If so, I previously reached out to him already. Unfortunately he had more generic information about Whitcomb and these type of locomotives during WWII, but not that much about them after the war in the US, Canada, Mexico and Cuba.

Oh, and if somebody is interested in preserving one of these locomotives, it is the one shown in the last photo of my original post. Did another check on Google Maps and it is still there. Former USATC № 8480 (Works № 60486) is at CC Metals & Alloys in Calvert City, Kentucky and from what I can see, the satellite photo has recently been updated.

It has always surprised me that non of these Whitcombs has been restored to the condition as how they operated during WWII with the US Army Transportation Corps. There are numerous Jeeps, tanks, trucks and aircraft out there in their WWII condition and doing great. Unfortunately there almost no WWII locomotives in running order.

You may have better luck with European railfan websites. Due to the strained relations between the US and Cuba it has been difficult for Americans to visit there on railfanning tours etc. since the early 1960s and so knowledge of US-built equipment still there is a bit of a black hole.

Same on this side of the Atlantic. Not that much railfans going there anymore after they had embraced communism. Had hoped there to be a chance that there were photos from before 1960, as quite some people from the US stilled visited the island at that time.

As mentioned, CC Metals & Alloys in Calvert City, Kentucky, still seems to be operating a former US Army Whitcomb.

It is visible on Google Maps:



And can seed here in the on the background. This photo was published in their January 2023 newsletter.



Does anybody know if it is actually still operational? Would be quite an accomplishment, as that locomotive is 79 years old by now.

Jeroen:

I'm a long way from western Kentucky so I can't check on it myself but, looking at the Google Earth images, it's my guess that the Whitcomb has been out of service for years. When a locomotive or rail car is seen parked at the end of a yard track in multiple Google Earth images over time, it's often because it has been placed there so it's "out of the way." Also, looking at the most recent image, you can see what appears to be a yellow car mover on the west end of a covered hopper car a short distance north of the locomotive. Checking past images, that same car mover is visible as far back as October 2015.

Being replaced by a car mover has been the fate of many older diesels in industrial service and it looks like that has happened here as well.

If you wish to call to ask about it, the phone number (after dialing the international number for the USA) is 270-395-7631 and the plant email address is info@ccmetals.com. You might have better luck if you call and then you may at least receive a friendly response from a helpful employee. Since you're not ordering any product from the company, an email inquiring about a dormant locomotive is likely to be ignored.

There is an ex Army Whitcomb in a park in Wenatchee WA. It was used at an Alcoa plant for many years. The prime movers are partially disassembled. These had Buda diesels and parts are quite rare. Any that are in service have likely been repowered.

The 65 tonner at the Trolley Museum of New York is run occasionally, and it still has the original Budas.

I confess to being a fan of these things. They have several unique features that deserve more credit that most understand, and also at least one semi-fatal flaw.

First, note that the design is redundant, it's really two 300 hp diesels with a center cab. Think military - you can limp home on one engine for the same reason an airplane has two engines if one is shot out. And the radiators are INBOARD to the cab, not in the nose end like a 'normal' diesel, so that they are more protected from a nose attack. I've never heard comments, but I can't believe that cab was comfortable with the radiator shutters right there on both ends, you're always getting heat from one end or the other.
Pretty much the same locomotive went out with a high center cab and no tapered hood, those showed up in WWII shots in Syria, and when I was at the Colorado Railway Museum in Golden digging through uncataloged Bob Richardson prints, I found a shot of him in service in Syria standing on one.

The end view of these - with the really tapered hood, is unique, along with the original tapered cab sides to fit european clearances. The ones that came back to the US and got 'upgraded' by Whitcomb got a slightly wider cab with flat (vertical) sides.

Note the trucks - they were fabricated, "I-beam" ones to keep the weight down; you'll see a postwar heavier-design truck on a lot of other Whitcombs and some of the upgrades that seems to add about 5 ton.

There was a big batch of them that were intended to be shipped that never left the port, and became war surplus in a hurry; basically they were one of the first widespread industrial diesels to hit the market at a fire sale price. Most of the ones that had been shipped to Europe stayed there, UK, Netherlands, Egypt (high cabs) and a lot in Italy. The Italian ones in particular got completely rebuilt with new prime movers.

I've seen shots of these on every shortline imaginable postwar, one favorite is one pulling a log train in the deep south.

If there's a fatal flaw, it's in the original Buda, it seems like sooner or later a warp, crack or failure develops in the heads from overheating.

There's some nice video out there of WK&S 602 on You Tube if you want to see and hear one running, but it's almost 10 years old.

The two I've crawled all over are the one one the Wannamaker, Kempton & Southern 602 (mordernized post-war, painted up for L&NE) and the Kingston Trolley Museum one. The WK&S one 'might' still be restorable, and I'm pretty sure the Kingston one has at least one operable Buda end.

One of the sure signs of heavy repowering on these is if you see a radiator on the nose, that's not a factory feature. I don't know if the Hocking Valley still has theirs or not, but that was one of the more interesting oddballs. The last reference I can find to it is on 'display' in 2020 on a Facebook post.

Much like the military 2-8-0's, these were built light, fast & cheap with every intention they'd never be back or live to see their hundredth birthday, so there was no really heavy engineering effort for long-term durability that I've seen. Operable word was NOW.

The Everett Railroad started out with one of these units in 1954. It had already been passed around three of Bethlehem Steel's railroads before they unloaded it on the Everett. The Everett guys were complete novices at diesel locomotion and quickly learned the hard way to keep a spare Buda engine handy for quick change-out. The unit eventually ended up at American Aggregates, a gravel pit operation that was a graveyard of sorts for Whitcomb 65-tonners. Not having learned their lesson, the Everett guys replaced the first Whitcomb with another just like it with similar results, and it too ended up at American Aggregates.

I'm pretty sure the Hocking Valley unit has been repowered twice; I think it got Cat engines while employed on the East Washington Railway. It went on to the Maryland Midland, then American Aggregates (of course) where it was repowered again (with end radiators). Then to Cargill before retiring to the Hocking Valley.

- Alan Maples

There is one adjacent to the remains of the Wheeling Pittsburgh steel plant in Benwood WV. I believe its the same locomotive in J.J.Young photos painted for the Benwood Wheeling Connecting Railway. Also there is an article in the Rochell paper stating one of these engines was the first to cross the Rhine in WW2. It would be nice to set it up w connecting railway paint on one side and USATC paint on the other. The pilot looks like it may have been drilled for buffers and the link coupler.

Hello all from the UK.

First thank you Jeroen for your Whitcomb website. I have found it very useful in my research. I became interested in these units when I found some of them had come to the UK. The US 756th Army Railshop Battalion was based very close to where I live in Wales. It was at Ebbw Junction in Newport (pronounced Eb-U) They had commissioned and tested a range of locos, mainly S160 and S100 steamers, but also GE 45 and 75 tonners and a batch of Whitcombs.

The picture on Jeroens site of 8122 is actually taken at Ebbw Junction, identified by the GWR tank loco in the background.

I did a video about the battalion and their work last year and I am about to do a follow up one of new info I have found.

https://youtu.be/5Q4ZtSHM954

I have created a Linktree of links of all I have found so far on WW2 Whitcombs and will add to it as I find out more.

https://linktr.ee/bobprice.whitcombs

I cannot afford to pop over to Cuba, but would also love to know more about the Cuban Whitcombs.

As i find out more I will add to the Linktree and hope to learn a lot more from yourselves.

BTW the ones listed as passing through Ebbw Junction were 7961 to 7979 and 8120 to 8129. They were commissioned, tested and stored before shipping to France after D Day.

I will share a Google sheet with all the info I have on them. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Hi - I am building a model of the 65-DE-19A diesel-electric and have been researching it for several years. There is a very nice restored and partially running 65 ton that was built in 1944 for the USATC (numbered#602) on the WK&S Railroad, PA. I was able to do a walk around of it a few years ago.

The 65-DE-19A used the Buda-Lanova DCS-1879 supercharged engine which I am looking for information on (drawing). Should anyone have any details, manuals or service docs (or knows where I can find any) I would very much appreciate a pointer to it.