Great Western 90

Great Western 90
Great Western 90 at the East Strasburg station in May 2022
Type and origin Power type Steam Builder Baldwin Locomotive Works Serial number 57812 Model 12-42-F Build date June 1924 Rebuild date 1945 1994
Specifications Configuration: ​  • Whyte 2-10-0  • UIC 1′E h Gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Driver dia. 56 in (1,422 mm)[1] Axle load 38,000 lb (17,000 kg)[1] Adhesive weight 190,000 lb (86,000 kg) Loco weight 212,000 lb (96,000 kg)[1] Fuel type Coal Firebox: ​  • Grate area 54.3 sq ft (5.04 m2)[1] Boiler pressure 200 psi (1,400 kPa)[1] Cylinder size 24 in × 28 in (610 mm × 710 mm)[1] Valve gear Walschaerts
Performance figures Maximum speed 50 mph (80 km/h) Tractive effort 48,960 lbf (217.8 kN)[1] Factor of adh. 3.88
Career Operators Great Western Railway Strasburg Rail Road Class 12-42-F Numbers GW 90 SRC 90 First run June 1924 (GWR run) May 13, 1967 (SRC test run) Retired April 5, 1967 Restored February 1968 Current owner Strasburg Rail Road Disposition Undergoing 1,472-day inspection and overhaul
References:[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]

Great Western 90 is a class "12-42-F" 2-10-0 "Decapod" steam locomotive owned and operated by the Strasburg Rail Road (SRC) east of Strasburg, Pennsylvania. Built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in June 1924, No. 90 originally pulled sugar beet trains for the Great Western Railway of Colorado, and it was the largest of the company’s roster. In April 1967, No. 90 was purchased by the Strasburg Rail Road, and has been pulling excursion trains there, ever since.

The No. 90 locomotive was built, in June 1924, for the Great Western Railway of Colorado (GW) by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as part of Baldwin's 12-42-F class.^[9][7] The 12-42-Fs, which were based on the Russian Decapod design, were built to operate on light-weight trackage with high power output and minimum axle loading.^[5] No. 90 was designed with 24-by-28-inch (610 mm × 711 mm) cylinders, 56-inch (1,422 mm) diameter driving wheels, and a boiler pressure of 200 psi (1,379 kPa), and it became the first locomotive on the GW's roster to have a superheated boiler.^[7]

No. 90 was the GW's largest and most powerful road locomotive, and it saw extensive use on trains too heavy for the company's fleet of 2-8-0s.^[5][3] It primarily hauled the GW's sugar beet trains of about 40 to 50 cars in length out of sugar beet fields, and into the company's towering mill in Loveland, Colorado.^[5] During World War II, the GW modified all of their locomotives with extended smokeboxes, since the GW was obligated to use poor quality lignite coal as a fuel source, at that time.^[7][5] No. 90 received this modification, during a rebuild that followed a 1944 crossing collision with a truck.^[5]

Following the war, the locomotive was used primarily during the Autumn harvest season.^[3] By the late 1950s, it had been relegated to solely haul occasional campaign and excursion trains.^[8] On September 2, 1963, No. 90 hauled the Intermountain Limited excursion, which had arrived in Loveland via the Colorado and Southern (C&S) behind CB&Q 4-8-4 No. 5632, over the GW system, as part of the 1963 National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) Convention.^[10][11][12] No. 90 returned the excursion to No. 5632 at Longmont, and the latter took the train to Denver.^[10][12]

Among the passengers on board the excursion were Huber Leath and John Bowman, who worked at the Pennsylvania-based Strasburg Rail Road (SRC) as their Chief Mechanical Officer and engineer, respectively, and while riding behind No. 90, they met with GW superintendent Baker, who grew up in the vicinity of the Strasburg Rail Road.^[3][4] Leath and Bowman quickly became friends with Baker, and they encouraged him to promise to contact the SRC, once the locomotive was available for purchase.^[3][4]

In early 1967, the GW decided to retire No. 90 and put it up for sale, and the Decapod was the GW's final active road locomotive, by that time.^[4] SRC quickly put in a bid of $23,000 (equal to $210,168 in 2024) in cash, with the intention of shipping it to their Pennsylvania location.^[3][2] Some other parties used credit terms to put in higher bids, and their intention was to keep the locomotive in Colorado for use in hauling more excursion trains over the GW.^[4] The GW was not interested in hosting passenger trains within their sugar beet operations, so on April 5, they accepted SRC's cash bid, and the Strasburg Rail Road officially purchased No. 90.^[8][4]

Following the purchase, the No. 90 locomotive was shipped to SRC's property.^[3][8][2] No. 90 arrived, on May 5, and then it performed its first test run for the railroad, on May 13.^[8][13] Despite the locomotive's good condition, SRC had to give No. 90 an overhaul for a mandated set of flues, and work was completed, by February 1968.^[6] That same month, Ross Rowland's High Iron Company sponsored two mainline excursion trains, and Canadian Pacific (CPR) 4-6-2 locomotives Nos. 1238 and 1286 were originally planned to be leased to pull the train, but owner George M. Hart put them on an emergency lease to the city of Reading, Pennsylvania, to provide steam for a power plant.^[6][14] Unwilling to cancel the excursions, Rowland arranged to lease CPR 4-6-2 No. 127 from Steamtown, U.S.A. and No. 90 from SRC to power the trains.^[14]

On February 18, No. 127 hauled the first excursion on the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), Lehigh Valley (LV), and Penn Central (PC) mainlines between Newark, New Jersey and Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, and No. 90 doubleheaded with No. 127 for assistance over the CNJ's Penobscot Mountain grades from Jim Thorpe to Ashley.^[6][14] The first excursion was plagued with various problems; while traveling in New Jersey, No. 127 stalled from a poorly-burning fire; while traveling on the CNJ grades downhill, one of No. 90's tender trucks fell apart and derailed; and while in Ashley, No. 127 struggled to negotiate a wye and was blocked by a derailed diesel locomotive.^[6] The passengers were sent home in a swiftly-procured fleet of buses.^[6] The following weekend, the second doubleheader excursion occurred on the same route without incident.^[6]

After the second excursion ended, No. 90 was returned to SRC to pull its first official tourist trains there, and it was celebrated as the railroad’s main attraction.^[4][6] Sometime during No. 90's career on SRC, crews had the locomotive's extended smokebox removed in 1994.^[15] In February 2006, No. 90 was repainted in its original GW livery and operated for a photo charter.^[15][16] In October 2020, No. 90 was temporarily backdated to its late 1960s appearance with the original SRC "egg" logo, whitewall wheels, and gold pinstripings for the Steam Strikes Back photo charter, commemorating SRC's 60th anniversary.^[17] By early 2024, No. 90 was removed from service to undergo its federally-mandated 1,472-day inspection, and the SRC plans to return the locomotive to service by the fall of that year.^[18]

• On May 6, 1940, a major fire broke out at the GW's roundhouse in Loveland, with three steam locomotives still inside.^[19] No. 90 happened to be under steam at the time, and quick-thinking crews used No. 90 to pull all the other locomotives out of the burning building.^[19] The roundhouse fire cost the GW nearly $200,000 in damage, and the locomotives, including No. 90, sustained damage, but they were subsequently repaired.^[19] When No. 90 was rebuilt, it had its pumps and running boards rearranged.^[5]
• On November 7, 1944, No. 90 was broadsided by a truck at a grade crossing east of Loveland and knocked onto its fireman's side, with the truck being damaged beyond repair.^[8] Both the fireman and the truck driver were killed in the accident, which was deemed the worst rail disaster in GW's history.^[3][8] The GW sent 90 to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad's (CB&Q) shops in Denver, where repairs on the locomotive took several months to complete.^[3][8] In the process, the locomotive received its extended smokebox to accommodate the lignite coal it used, at the time.^[5]
• In 1956, No. 90 was hit by another truck, twisting and damaging the locomotive's side gear.^[8] The truck driver was killed, while No. 90's engineer and fireman were severely injured.^[8] The locomotive subsequently had to undergo repairs again.^[8]

• 
  No. 90 pulling a tourist excursion tender-first, on July 19, 1984
• 
  Strasburg No. 90 at Leaman Place, Pennsylvania, on July 30, 1989
• 
  No. 90 pulling into the Strasburg Rail Road station, on May 12, 2007
• 
  No. 90 pulling a tourist excursion, on May 22, 2006
• 
  No. 90 painted in its former Great Western colors, on December 1, 2013
• 
  No. 90 sitting inside the SRC engine shed with CN No. 89 and BEDT No. 15, on November 13, 2016

• Canadian National 89 – Preserved CN class E-10-a locomotive
• Canadian National 7312 – Preserved CN O-9 class locomotive
• Great Western 60 – Preserved American 2-8-0 locomotive
• Norfolk and Western 475 – Preserved N&W class M 4-8-0 locomotive

• Morgan, Gary (1975). Sugar Tramp: Colorado's Great Western Railway. Fort Collins, Colorado: Centennial Publications. LCCN 75-26118.
• Boyd, Jim (September 1978). "Dutchland Decapod". Railfan. Vol. 2, no. 6. Carstens Publications. pp. 24–25.

• King, E. W., Jr. in Drury, George H. (1993), Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, Waukesha, Wisconsin: Kalmbach Publishing Company, p. 351, ISBN 0-89024-206-2, LCCN 93041472

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• Strasburg Rail Road No. 90