ABILENE, Kan. — Santa Fe 4-6-2 No. 3415 took one last bow on Oct. 7. The locomotive wrapped up its duties for not only the 2023 steam schedule on the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad, but also its 15-year service life following a 2009 restoration. The locomotive is now slated for a federally mandated 1,472-day boiler inspection as well as a $600,000 rebuild project.
The Pacific-type locomotive was sidelined several times this season due to superheater replacements and issues with the injector’s check valve; however, No. 3415 operated consecutive weekends for the tourist railroad’s regular excursion and dinner trains in June, July, September, and early October. For Ross Boelling, president and general manager of the A&SV, the Sept. 15 photo charter fundraiser organized by Dak Dillion Photography will be the highlight of 2023.
“It will be a great reminder of what we’ll be missing until we get the rebuild done,” he said. “She [No. 3415] was clearly invested in the day as the two steam crews that operated her said there were no issues at all.”
The locomotive rebuild will include work on the drivers, engine truck, and bearings on the tender trucks. While volunteers will prepare the A&SV engine house in Abilene for the locomotive’s initial teardown, A&SV doesn’t plan to begin the more significant work until a funding plan is in place. The railroad applied for a grant in summer in partnership with Heritage Rail Management, a subsidiary of American Heritage Railways, but didn’t receive it. Now, both parties are exploring additional options to secure the necessary financial resources.
“We do not want to be in a position where we have parts off of the engine that end up laying around for a year or two until we get financing in place,” said Boelling. “Throughout the process, we will be working with Heritage Rail Management as well as the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad staff to ensure the work is done correctly in a logical and structured order.”
Working with the two organizations has helped revitalize A&SV, Boelling says, and it’s a revitalization the railroad hopes to build upon — even beyond No. 3415. Continual track work and upgrades to the end terminals in Abilene and Enterprise are also considered top priorities for improved infrastructure and expanding operations in the long term. Especially when the railroad’s headlined 4-6-2 rolls out fresh from its rebuild and ready for 15 more years of service with a good foundation.
“No. 3415 is a vital historic treasure that we want to get back in operation.”
Visit the Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad website for more information on contributing to the project.
No. 3415 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in June 1919 as the sixteenth member of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway’s fifty 3400 class locomotives.
The 3400 class was designed by John Purcell, and this was also the last class of 4-6-2s bought by the Santa Fe.
The class was similar to the United States Railroad Administration’s (USRA) Heavy Pacifics in its tube and flue counts, but it was also fitted with a grate area similar in size to the USRA’s Light Pacifics, and it was delivered with driving wheels close in size to the latter.
The first forty locomotives initially burned coal, but were later converted to burn oil while being rebuilt between 1936 and 1947.
The 3400 class locomotives were initially assigned to pull top-tier heavy passenger trains at high speeds throughout divisions with moderate grades, and No. 3415, in particular, pulled such trains through the Kansas City-La Junta and Newton-Galveston divisions.
After the Santa Fe invested in adding diesel locomotives to their roster, No. 3415 was reassigned to pull freight and mail trains throughout Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, until it was retired in 1954.
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