3 Responses to 4-8-2 4301

  1. Karl Brand says:
    January 12, 2016 at 10:36 PM

    Closer examination of the photograph reveals that the locomotive behind the 4301 is another member of the 4300 class. It is striking that we see two 4300’s in the dead line at Memphis, since these engines didn’t operate south of Thayer. The 4300’s had a Cooper’s rating of E-69, but the Mississippi River Bridge was rated at E-65.8.

    As new Diesels arrived during 1948, the Frisco sent 3 “surplus” 4300’s, i.e., 4301, 4302, and 4303, to work between Yale Yard and Birmingham. The three locomotives finished their careers on the Southern Division.

  2. Christopher Abernathy says:
    January 13, 2016 at 4:30 PM

    Good catch on the location and bridge rating, Karl. I remember reading in Frisco Power about the spot series engines having to be towed with “boilers emptied” across the KCFS&M bridge at Memphis if they had to be sent to the backshop in Springfield. Would the 4300s have crossed the river here the same way?

    It makes me wonder why they weren’t simply stored dead west of the Mississippi?

    Best Regards,

  3. Karl Brand says:
    January 14, 2016 at 7:11 AM

    I believe that the 3, 4300’s went via the Hanrahan Bridge.

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