[N&W] Re: N&W M-433 [Last Operating History]

Mon May 31 14:32:29 EDT 2004

Ed,
Can you give a little more details about the book on the branch? Who is
writting it and when is it going to be made available?
Thanks
Fred Mullins
________________________________________________________________
Charles,

I can add only a little to what was said before.

Usually, normally, the larger N&W 12000-gallon tender was the tender of
choice for the Abingdon Branch.  However, on occasion it appears that the
smaller USRA 10000-gallon tender may have been used.  In my book on page
109, there is a picture of 405 taken in Bristol in 1955 with the smaller
tender and sporting a spark arrester on its stack.  That is a telltale sign
it was possibly used on the Abingdon Branch.

Other information;  433 was retired June 16, 1957 and donated to Abingdon on
November 25, 1957.  Steam operations for the Abingdon Branch and for the
Bristol terminal stopped in December 1957.  In that month, there were 150
steam dispatchments from Bristol and none therafter.  I do not know where
the 433 served last since it was not retired until June 1958.  The 382 and
429 were dismantled at Roanoke Shops in December 1957 at the end of Abingdon
Branch steam.

This is only conjecture:  The Blacksburg and Catawba branches were the last
Class M service areas.  The 379 and 433 were retired on the same day in
Roanoke and they were probably being used on the Catawba Branch at that
time.  Only conjecture.

The 433 had a variety of tenders in its last 10 years.
         In    1948 had    USRA 10000-gallon
          "     1949   "      USRA 12000
          "     1952   "      N&W  12000
          "     1954   "      USRA 10000

You mentioned the 495 dropping its crownsheet in 1953.  My records show that
the 495 was dismantled at Roanke Shops on June 12, 1953.  Ed King's comment
about the 433 coming to Bristol in that year seems very probable and
accurate.

Interestingly, the 396 and 405, both of which serve at Bristol and probably
on the Abingdon Branch, were used last on the Blacksburg Branch until
retired at Radford in July 26, 1958.  These were the last Class M's in
service.

Bud Jeffries - N&WHS Member
________________________________________________________________
To: Ed King

I really appreciate all of the information regarding the 433.

I always thought that 433 might have operated on the Abingdon Branch
occasionally. However, the absence of the later photo evidence and its
equipment configuration led me to believe it unlikely that it was regularly
assigned to that run.

Sorry that your earlier messages did not arrive in my mailbox.

http://www.nwhs.org/qna/photos/NW433.jpg

[Above link] is a photo of M-433 taken about two years ago at its current
location. The protective shed had been removed to permit construction of a
new steel shelter. M-433 has the 14 ton/9000 gallon tender, [#100004], latest
patent 7/14/09, by Commonwealth Steel Co., St. Louis, MO.

CW Seaver

----- Original Message -----
From: "N&W Mailing List" <mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: "N&W Mailing List" <mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 10:57 PM
Subject: Re: N&W M-433 [Last Operating History]

 > >I have long been intrigued about the "recent" history of M-433. My
questions
 >  >are fairly simple: Where did M-433 last operate?
 >
 > As far as is known, Bristol Yard.
 >
 >  >Where was the engine located immediately before being moved to Abingdon?
 >
 > Bristol.
 >
 >  >Some people in Abingdon think M-433 operated on the Abingdon Branch
during
 >  >the last days of steam.  However, there is evidence to the contrary.
 >  >
 >  >Here are some facts.
 >  >
 >  >* M-433 has the small [14 tons of coal/3000 gallon of water] tender.
 >
 > The 433 has a tender originally furnished behind a class K-2 4-8-2
Mountain
 > type locomotive delivered in 1919.  The tender has a capacity of 10,000
 > gallons of water.
 >
 >  >* M-433 does not have a stack spark arrester, nor does it show evidence
of
 >  >ever being equipped with one.
 >
 > I don't recall - I'll have to search through my photos.
 >
 >  >* A person who served as a fireman on the Abingdon Branch in the late
1940s
 >  >and early 1950s states that he does not recall M-433 in use during his
 >  >service.
 >
 > I doubt if the 433 did operate there during that period.  It came to
 > Bristol fairly late in the game - around 1953.
 >
 >  >*None of Link's mid-1950s photos along the Abingdon Branch show M-433.
[Mr.
 >  >Garver, Link's assistant, wrote in Steel, Steam and Stars, pp 129-130,
 >  >"Motive power on the line was limited to a Class M 4-8-0 (usually the
382,
 >  >396, or 429, all of which were outfitted with a heavily flanged
 >  >spark-arrester stack . . . the 495 was also used until it dropped its
crown
 >  >sheet near Damascus in 1953) . . .".
 >  >
 >  >* As shown in Link's photos, engines 382, 396 and 429 all were equipped
with
 >  >20 tons/12000 gallon tenders.
 >  >
 >  >It is not possible to say that M-433 NEVER ran on the Abingdon Branch.
 >  >However, it certainly appears that it did not operate on during the last
 >  >years before steam was discontinued in 1957.
 >  >
 >  >I would greatly appreciate any information that you or other NWHS
members
 >  >might provide regarding M-433. In the meantime, I will continue the
search
 >  >locally.
 >  >
 >  >Charles W. Seaver
 >  >NWHS Member
 >
 > The 382, 429 and 495 were equipped with superheaters and were the
preferred
 > engines for use on the branch.  When the 495 was retired, that left only
 > the 382 and 429 (of the two, the 382 was considered the better).  The 396
 > was not superheated and crews hated to get it; it had the big tender, so
 > was the third backup when the 382 and 429 weren't available.  The 433 is
 > not equipped with a superheater.  Bristol briefly had another
 > non-superheated M with a big tender, the 379.  I have a photo of it on the
 > turntable there, and it has the flanged spark-arrestor stack, indicating
 > that it, too, may have operated on the Branch.  But I have no first-hand
 > knowledge of that.
 >
 > In 1953 or 1954 I personally witnessed the 433 operating on the Abingdon
 > Branch a couple of times as the third engine in a three-engine train.  The
 > 382 and 429 were on the head end.  Rock was being hauled for a highway
 > project in North Carolina, so the third engine was cut in ahead of the
 > coaches as a pusher.  At White Top, the 433 was cut out of the train and
 > returned to Bristol backward, there being no place to turn it.  I have a
 > couple of photos of the 433 on this run; one at Damascus and the other as
 > it backed under the overhead bridge at White Top on its way back to
 > Bristol.  They will appear in a book about the branch now being written.
 >
 > To my knowledge, the 433 was dispatched as the second engine of a
 > doubleheader but failed before it got to Abingdon; it was cut out of the
 > train and hauled back to Bristol dead in the local freight.  I don't
 > personally know of an instance where the 433 operated all the way to West
 > Jefferson; it certainly was possible.  It did spend a lot of time
switching
 > on Bristol Yard.  But it did operate on the branch a couple of times that
I
 > do have personal knowledge - as far as White Top.
 >
 > Ed King - NWHS Member
 >
 >
 >