Southern Railway 1401

Infobox Locomotive
name=Southern Railway 1401
powertype=Steam
whytetype=4-6-2
uicclass=2C1
gauge=4 ft 8½ in (1.435 m)
railroad=Southern Railway (U.S.)
locale=United States, South and Midwest
builddate=1926
builder= American Locomotive Company Richmond works
retiredate=1952
leadingsize=convert|33|in|m|3|abbr=on
driversize=convert|73|in|m|3|abbr=on
trailingsize=convert|43|in|m|3|abbr=on
tenderc
Coal: convert|16|ST|1
Water: convert|14000|USgal|abbr=on|lk=on
weight=convert|565600|lb|kg|abbr=on
boilerpressure=convert|200|psi|MPa|2|abbr=on|lk=on
cylindercount=Two
cylindersize=27 × 28 in (0.686 × 0.711 m)
tractiveeffort=convert|47500|lbf|kN|2|abbr=on|lk=on
railroadclass=Ps-4
numinclass=46 of 64
currentowner= Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
disposition=On display

Southern Railway 1401 is a steam locomotive that is the sole survivor of Southern Railway's Ps-4 class, which many regard as the most handsome steam locomotives ever built. Today it is on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.. It has a Pacific-type or 4-6-2 (Whyte notation) wheel arrangement. The American Locomotive Company (ALCO) built it in 1926 at ALCO's Richmond works. It pulled Southern's highest-level passenger trains from 1926 until Dieselization in the early 1950s, mostly on Southern's Charlotte Division. Its most famous and historic use was as one of the locomotives that pulled President Franklin Roosevelt's funeral train from Warm Springs, Georgia, to Washington in April 1945. The Smithsonian Institution gathered information on two of 1401's engineers from a 1962 Greenville, SC newspaper interview with one of the Southern's fireman nicknamed "Box Car". "Box Car" (fireman for "DC")accidentally confused the engineers, who happened to be brothers. Oscar "OC" Surratt was one of the engineers on the train that took Roosevelt to Warm Springs. His brother Cleve "DC" Surratt was one of the engineers that brought Roosevelt's body back to Washington. In the 1950s, war hero and outside legal counsel to Southern Graham Claytor (who would later become Southern's president) convinced then-Southern president Harry deButts to donate one of the retired Ps-4s to the Smithsonian instead of scrapping it. In this way 1401 was saved, and has been on display at the Smithsonian since the early 1960s.

The queens of steam locomotives

Although the subject is not free of controversy, many steam locomotive historians and fans consider Southern Railway 1401 and its sisters of Southern's Ps-4 class to be the most handsome steam locomotives ever built. The first class members were built in 1923, and were certainly handsome, but three notable changes awaited. First, in the mid 1920s, Southern president Fairfax Harrison traveled to the United Kingdom, where he saw Southern Railway (an unrelated company) and its green-painted steam locomotives. Admiring these locomotives' appearance, he returned to the United States and decided that the next batch of Ps-4s should be painted mostly green (a somewhat different shade), with gold trim and silver smoke-boxes. The 1926 group of Ps-4s, including 1401, caused quite a sensation when they appeared. Over time, the Ps-4s gained larger tenders, which further enhanced their appearance of speed and power, without taking away any of their mechanical appearance (unlike streamlined locomotives). Third, different locomotives had different feedwater heaters, which changed over time, but 1401 ended up with what most observers consider to be the type that gives the most powerful-looking appearance.

Current status

Today Southern Railway 1401 is one of the attractions at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.. Southern cosmetically restored the locomotive just before sending it for display at the Smithsonian, and it was probably stored serviceable when it was retired from active service, but it has not operated in more than half a century. When Graham Claytor was a Southern executive in the mid-1960s, he attempted to lease 1401 from the Smithsonian for operational use in Southern's steam excursion program. The Smithsonian refused, and Claytor leased Southern Railway 4501 (originally a freight locomotive with a 2-8-2 wheel arrangement) and painted it in the green, gold, and silver scheme instituted for the Ps-4s. Accordingly, it seems unlikely that 1401 will ever again steam. However, because she is believed to have been in good condition when retired, and has spent most of the time since inside, she is probably in relatively good internal and mechanical condition. Cosmetically, she is in excellent shape.

References

* Prince, Richard E., "Southern Railway System Steam Locomotives and Boats" (Rev. ed. 1983)
* Ranks, Harold E. & Shelby F. Lowe, "Southern Steam Power" (1966)
*
* Bryant, H. Stafford, Jr., "Ps-4" "Trains" __:20-26 (October 1950)
* King, Ed, "Whence the Ps-4, Really?" "Ties" 16(1):3-9 (Southern Railway Historical Association, January 2002) (origins of Ps-4 design)
* Morgan, David P., "A Paean to the Ps-4" "Trains" __:28-34 (December 1978)

External links

* [http://americanhistory.si.edu/ONTHEMOVE/collection/object_15.html Smithsonian page about Southern Railway 1401]
* [http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/steam/462/sou1401alexandriava753.html picture of Southern Railway 1401 awaiting the Smithsonian in 1953]
* [http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/steam/462/sou1401charlotte733.html picture of Southern Railway 1401 in service in 1933]