811 Miles, 18 cars, rugged terrain, no engine change, day in day out

[Miningman]

No wonder they were called Royal Hudsons. That's the real reason, they were outstanding performers. 

Brand new H-1-c 2842 (MLW #68955 9/1937) Not yet a Royal Hudson. 
Outremont 1937 Elwin K. Heath/Bud Laws Collection 

Note: 2838-2842 were built with boosters for use on the grades of the rugged Algoma District and were 
assigned to John Street in Toronto operating Toronto-Fort William 811 miles without change of engine
hauling The Dominion with 18 cars. Four engines were required to protect this run, the fifth being a spare, 
which may explain why it was in Montreal for a time.

[SD70Dude]

Very impressive, especially for coal-burners.

It is amazing what some steam engines could do if pushed, presumably with heroic efforts from the maintenance crews at each end.

I believe CN's record locomotive performance was set by a U-1 Mountain type that averaged over 500 miles per day for a month, hauling the Continental Limited in northern Ontario during WWII.  That engine was a coal-burner as well.

The longest scheduled steam runs were on the Santa Fe, whose large oil-burners would run through from Kansas City to somewhere in New Mexico or Arizona without change.  I can't remember the exact endpoints but it was well over 1000 miles one-way.

[Jones1945]

Royal Hudson, a fleet of loyal servants of the people of Canada, reliable and beautiful. 811 miles (1305km) without change of engine, very impressive indeed!

My favorite named train of Canada is GTW and CNR's 12-car Internation Limited, Montreal to Chicago, pulled by the CNR 5700-class Hudson and the handsome CNR 6400-class streamlined Confederation.

 

 

[Jones1945]

SD70Dude

The longest scheduled steam runs were on the Santa Fe, whose large oil-burners would run through from Kansas City to somewhere in New Mexico or Arizona without change.  I can't remember the exact endpoints but it was well over 1000 miles one-way.

Reminds me of the world record set by Santa Fe's Hudson #3461 (Baldwin built): longest single run by a steam locomotive by completing the 2,227 miles (3,584 km) from Los Angeles, California to Chicago without maintenance other than five refueling stops en route, hauling Train #8, the Fast Mail Express.

 

[Overmod]

SD70Dude

The longest scheduled steam runs were on the Santa Fe, whose large oil-burners would run through from Kansas City to somewhere in New Mexico or Arizona without change. 

This is only half the issue, however; there is still the need to account for stops outside those for passengers and M&E for oiling and watering the locomotive.  The 'required' water rate for a locomotive the size of a 3460 or 3965 class operating with tonnage to justify its size and presumed speed would not allow much range, even with the cistern size possible on a 16-wheel tender, and ATSF didn't (or couldn't) go in for track pans.  (We have already commented in the forums on the 'equivalent' fueling and watering arrangements for ATSF diesel trains as shown in a couple of photographs...)

More of a feat would be the prospective use of the C1a on New York Central as predicted in April 1945: theoretically on M&E the locomotive would not have to stop at any point between Chicago and Harmon except for crew change, as the 64 tons, the lower fuel requirement of the duplex arrangement, and the use of frequent track-pan locations otherwise permitted running through.  The same would be true for passenger services bypassing the Cleveland electrification.  This presupposes proper coal (2" washed, low-ash) but that was the expected 'way of the future' for passenger service at least in the late '40s...

The savings here involve more than the time to decelerate, dwell, and reaccelerate even from a high-speed online coaling facility (I don't know if NYC's equipment was faster than the Milwaukee's in physically recoaling without excessive trituration, but those are likely the 'poster children' for quickest service).  There is wear and tear and a nontrivial additional energy requirement that would add up quickly over time for NYC's operation of so many trains.

To this we might add the ability of the Central to turn these engines very quickly at either 'endpoint', as evidenced in the high utilization of the Niagaras seen in the Kiefer motive-power report.  

[Erik_Mag]

The Milwaukee was letting some of their steam engines run from Minneapolis to Harlowton in the 1930's.