The Milwaukee Road S3 Class was a class of 10

4-8-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type w ...

"Northern" type steam locomotives built by the

American Locomotive Company The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

in 1944 and operated by the

Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States fr ...

until the mid 1950s. The locomotives saw service in pulling freight and passenger trains throughout the Milwaukee Road. Today, two S3s survive, No. 261 is in operating condition and No. 265 is on display in Union, Illinois.

History

The Milwaukee Road had acquired its first four-unit EMD FT diesel set in October 1941. It had managed to get a second in July 1943, but when it wanted more in 1944, it was only allocated six by the

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Sup ...

. Instead, it was allocated ten Alco

locomotives. These were delivered in July and September 1944, and were classified as class S3 by the Milwaukee Road.

Design

Alco had drafted a compromise design, as the WPB has placed a moratorium on creating completely new designs. It was based on the frame of the

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

class R67B, mated to the boiler of the

Delaware and Hudson Railway The Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) is a railroad that operates in the Northeastern United States. In 1991, after more than 150 years as an independent railroad, the D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). CP operates D&H ...

class K. The tender was a water-bottom type with a pair of six-wheel trucks. They were also fitted with an air horn. The of coal-burning grate supplied heat the boiler which was pressed to . This supplied steam to the cylinders which had a bore of and a stroke of . They were connected to the diameter driving wheels by

Walschaerts valve gear The Walschaerts valve gear is a type of valve gear used to regulate the flow of steam to the pistons in steam locomotives, invented by Belgium, Belgian railway mechanical engineering, engineer Egide Walschaerts in 1844. The gear is sometimes name ...

. While they were smaller and less powerful than the Milwaukee's earlier class S2, they were comparable to road's first class of 4-8-4, the class S1 and were equipped with roller bearings.

Construction

All ten were built by Alco's Schenectady plant in July (7) and September 1944 (3). Alco assigned order number S-1928 and serial numbers 71973 through 71982.

Service

Initially they were used as freight locomotives, and only used on lines east of the electrified zone, being allocated to the Dubuque and Illinois Division. As a consequence of the Korean War, additional locomotives were needed on the Idaho Division, so four locomotives (262, 263, 267 and 269) were converted to oil firing and sent west to work passenger and freight trains in the gap between the two electrified zones. By March 1954, No. 260 had been transferred to the La Crosse and River Division, and 261 was on the Milwaukee Division; the other four coal-burners were still on the D&I Division, and the four oil-burners on the Idaho Division. By December 1954, however, the Milwaukee was effectively dieselised. As the equipment trusts on the ten locomotives had yet to expire, they could not be scrapped or sold, so they were placed into storage – the Idaho four going to Tacoma.

Preservation

Two S3s survived into preservation: * Milwaukee Road 261 was retired in August 1956 and donated to the

National Railroad Museum The National Railroad Museum is a railroad museum located in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, US. Founded in 1956 by community volunteers, the National Railroad Museum is one of the oldest and largest U.S. institutions dedicated to preserving and in ...

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...

in 1958. Today, the locomotive is owned, operated, and maintained by

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

-based nonprofit organization Friends of the 261, which runs occasional and seasonal excursion trains using the locomotive. *Milwaukee Road 265 was retired in September 1956 and donated to the city of

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

and sat the on display until 1975. The locomotive was then moved to the

Illinois Railway Museum The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago. Overview Histo ...

in Union, Illinois where it currently resides.

References

* * * * * {{Cite book , last=Stauss , first=William F , year=2001 , title=The Milwaukee Road in Color Volume 4: Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota and the Dakotas , location=Scotch Plains, New Jersey , publisher=Morning Sun , isbn=1-58248-058-3 S3 ALCO locomotives 4-8-4 locomotives Preserved steam locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1944 Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Passenger locomotives Freight locomotives