Southern Railway 1401 is a "Pacific" type steam locomotive built in July 1926 by American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Richmond, Virginia, for the Southern Railway (SOU) as a member of the Ps-4 class, which was based on the United States Railroad Administration (USRA) Heavy Pacific design with some minor differences. It was also among the last passenger steam locomotives built at ALCO's Richmond Works before its closure in 1927.
No. 1401 was initially based in Atlanta to pull SOU's premier mainline passenger trains between Atlanta, Georgia and Salisbury, North Carolina, where it was swapped out with the Spencer-based Ps-4s doing the passenger trains' runs between there and Washington, D.C. Painted in a green and gold paint scheme, No. 1401 and the other Ps-4s were signified as the First Ladies of the Pacifics. When the diesels took over pulling the premier Washington, D.C. to Atlanta passenger trains in 1941, No. 1401 and the Ps-4s were relegated to pull local mainline passenger trains and mail trains.
During 1945, No. 1401 hauled the funeral train of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt from Greenville, South Carolina to Salisbury. At that time, it was relocated to Spencer, where it got the chance to run between Salisbury and Washington, D.C. Retired from revenue service by the SOU in early 1952, No. 1401 was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1962, where it remains on permanent static display at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. as the sole survivor of the Southern Railway Ps-4 class.
History Design and appearances
During the 1920s, the Southern Railway's (SOU) smaller Ps-2 class 4-6-2 Light Pacifics have reach their limit and could not handle the longer and heavier mainline passenger trains between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia.. Therefore, the SOU ordered the more powerful 4-6-2 Heavy Pacific Ps-4 class with a total of 27 locomotives, Nos. 1366–1392, built between 1923 and 1924 by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) of Schenectady, New York, and were originally painted black with gold leaf lining and lettering.. These locomotives were equipped with a two-axle bogie tender with a fuel capacity of of coal and of water. The Ps-4s were based on the United States Railroad Administration (USRA) Heavy Pacific design, differing in that they lacked the smaller driving wheels, and included a slightly shorter boiler, and a Worthington 3-B type feedwater heater.. These arrangements made the Ps-4s produce of tractive effort, which allowed them to pull 14 passenger cars at on SOU's Piedmont terrain.
During 1925, SOU president Fairfax Harrison traveled to the United Kingdom where he admired the country's London and North Eastern Railway's (LNER) apple-green passenger locomotives, which inspired him to repaint the Ps-4s and the other SOU passenger class locomotives in a new Virginia (forest) green and gold leaf paint scheme... This included the second batches of twelve locomotives, Nos. 1393–1404, built in the summer of 1926 by ALCO's Richmond Works in Richmond, Virginia, at a cost of each ().. Additionally, they were equipped with an Elesco feedwater heater as opposed to the Worthington type. The 1926 locomotives were equipped with a larger three-axle bogie tender with a water capacity of designed for long-distance passenger runs and eliminating multiple water stops, excluding Monroe, Virginia and Greenville, South Carolina.. Because of the Ps-4s' green and gold paint scheme, they were signified as the First Ladies of the Pacifics by Trains Magazine writer H.S. Bryant Jr... Additionally, these locomotives were affectionally nicknamed the Harrison Engines... They were among the last passenger steam locomotives built at ALCO's Richmond Works before its closure in 1927.
In 1928, the last batch of five Ps-4s, Nos. 1405–1409, were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at a cost of $57,000 each (). They were equipped with a smaller two-axle bogie tender with a capacity of 12,000-gallon of water. No. 1409 was experimentally equipped with a Coffin feedwater heater, which was later removed and replaced with the Worthington SA type in the 1940s.. While the 1923–1926 batches were equipped with Baker valve gear, the 1928 locomotives were built with Walschaerts valve gears. They were also the last passenger steam locomotives that SOU have ever ordered..
In the early 1930s, the Virginia green on all of the Ps-4s and other passenger locomotive classes was replaced with a lighter shade of green, which was known as Sylvan green... Around 1934, the gold leaf paint for the linings and letterings were replaced with Dulux imitation gold paint since the former did not show up well in black and white photographs. The Ps-4s still retained the Sylvan green with Dulux gold trimming and lettering until the end of steam. Also around the mid-late 1930s, Nos. 1366–1404 were re-equipped with Walschaerts valve gears due to the Baker type risking to reverse itself at high-speed and could easily damage the locomotive's wheels and the rails. The Ps-4s' original long, sharply pointed pilots were also replaced with shorter "boiler tube" style ones to accommodate each other to couple front to front... Most of them had their sand pipes concealed into the boiler cladding..
Around the 1940s, all of the Ps-4s were re-equipped with multiple-bearing crossheads to replace their original alligator type for greater bearing surface area.. Additionally, Nos. 1366–1409, were all rebuilt with the raised front running board valve ladders to allow more room around their cylinders and running gear for faster maintenance on the mechanical lubricating system... Their tender coal bunkers were expanded to hold more coal. The Ps-4s were originally equipped with a standard Crosby 6 inch 3-chime whistle, which was replaced between 1938 and 1941 with a deeper sounding long-bell 3-chime "steamboat" whistle, manufactured by SOU's Lenoir Car Works in Lenoir City, Tennessee.
Revenue service
No. 1401 was the forty-sixth member of the Ps-4 class and was one of the second batch built in 1926.. It along with fellow Ps-4 locomotives Nos. 1393, 1394, 1402, and 1403 were initially based in Atlanta on SOU's Atlanta Division to run between there and Salisbury, North Carolina, pulling the railroad's premier mainline passenger trains such as the Crescent Limited, the New Yorker, the Peach Queen,. the Piedmont Limited, and the Washington-Atlanta-New Orleans Express. Salisbury is the place where the Atlanta-based Ps-4s were swapped out with the Spencer-based Ps-4s, Nos. 1395-1400 and 1404, running to Washington, D.C. every or depending on the stops at Monroe and Greenville for refuel... SOU's South (Pegram) Shops in Atlanta were responsible for maintaining the Ps-4s, including No. 1401, running between Atlanta and Salisbury.
The SOU allowed their engineers, firemen, and workshop employees to decorate the Ps-4s with two brass candlesticks flanked on their headlight, a brass spread eagle ornament mounted in front of their smokebox door above the headlight, and Masonic emblems to make them look more elegant and ornate.. As such, during the 1930s, No. 1401 gained a Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific (CNO&TP) "bowtie" style number plate, which was commonly used on SOU's subsidiary CNO&TP steam locomotives. This also makes No. 1401 the only SOU principal region Ps-4 to adorn it..
Around 1941, SOU began to modernize their premier Washington, D.C. to Atlanta passenger trains with their new fleet of EMD E6 diesel locomotives to pull... No. 1401 and the other Ps-4s were relegated to haul the all-stops Washington D.C. to Atlanta local passenger and mail train Nos. 135 and 136, along with the Danville, Virginia to Greenville, South Carolina local passenger train Nos. 11 and 12.. Additionally, the Ps-4s were in motive power pool service, where they were called in to pull SOU's mainline passenger trains again to protect the passenger schedules if one of the diesel locomotives was unavailable to operate.. On the night of April 25, 1942, No. 1401 was double heading with No. 1403, pulling the Atlanta Special passenger train from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., but struck a stalled truck at a railroad crossing in Norcross, Georgia, derailing both locomotives with the first four cars and injuring 12 or 13 people. They were both repaired and put back into service.
On April 13, 1945, No. 1401 became one of the eight Ps-4 locomotives to haul the funeral train of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt... The funeral train, which consisted of 11 cars, was first hauled by Nos. 1409 and 1394, who brought it from Atlanta into Greenville, where No. 1401 and sister locomotive No. 1385 would take over.. Serving as the lead locomotive for the run from Greenville to Salisbury, No. 1401 carried the American flag from the Greenville roundhouse, the only special marking carried on the funeral train. Upon arrival in Salisbury, the train was transferred over to Nos. 1367 and 1400 pulling it into Monroe, Virginia, where Nos. 1366 and 1406 would complete the funeral train's journey to Washington, D.C..
Also around 1945, No. 1401 was relocated to Spencer on the Charlotte Division with its maintenance site being switched over to SOU's Spencer Shops. Nos. 1393, 1394, 1402, and 1403 followed on in mid-1947 due to being displaced by SOU's newer batch of EMD F3 diesel units taking over their place in Atlanta and the Pegram Shops being converted into the principal maintenance and repair facility for diesels.. This resulted in No. 1401 and the former Atlanta-based Ps-4s getting the chance to run between Salisbury and Washington, D.C... They would also pull the northern section Carolina Special to Durham, Raleigh, and Goldsboro, North Carolina;.. and sometimes the Aiken-Augusta Special to Columbia, South Carolina on the Columbia Division.
By November 1949, the Ps-4s' retirement began with No. 1399 being cut up for scrap at SOU's Hayne Shops in Spartanburg, South Carolina.. No. 1401's last heavy repairs took place at the Spencer Shops on May 21, 1951. In January 1952, the No. 1401 locomotive was retired after it finished its last revenue run on SOU's Danville Division between Salisbury and Monroe.. It had traveled nearly during its revenue service. The last Ps-4s made their last revenue run in May 1952.
Preservation and permanent display
On September 3, 1952, Whittier, California-based railfan Walter H. Thrall wrote a letter to SOU president Harry A. DeButts to salvage one of the Ps-4 locomotives and donate it to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. DeButts passed on Thrall's idea to the chairman of the executive committee of Smithsonian's Board of Regents, Robert John Fleming, who agreed. In November 1952, No. 1401 was set aside for preservation and stored out of service with the other Ps-4s at the Spencer Shops. On February 10, 1953, the No. 1401 locomotive was chosen to be preserved at the Smithsonian and was towed to Alexandria, Virginia, to be stored at the Henry Street Yard to await the Smithsonian's decision. During its time there, the locomotive sat outside the yard exposed to the elements. On June 28, 1955, the Smithsonian announced their finalized plan to build a new exhibition building called the Museum of History and Technology. In 1958, American historian John H. White Jr., who was hired as the Smithsonian's Museum Aide, made plans to have No. 1401 on display as part of the Museum of History and Technology's Railroad Hall exhibit. He then ordered to have locomotive being moved inside a warehouse for shelter near the Henry Street Yard, away from the outside elements.