Grand Trunk Western Railroad - Locomotives - Steam

Steam

Grand Trunk Western was one of the last U.S. railroads to employ steam locomotives. It ran the last scheduled steam train in the United States on March 27, 1960 on its train #21 from Detroit’s Brush Street Station north to Durand Union Station. The run drew thousands of rail enthusiasts. With 3,600 passengers holding tickets train #21 had to be run in two sections (as two separate trains) to accommodate the excess of passengers. GTW U-3-b class 4-8-4 Northern-type locomotive 6319 lead the first section of train #21 with 15 passenger cars and GTW 4-8-4 Northern 6322 pulled the second section with 22 passenger cars.

GTW’s predecessor lines primarily used 4-4-0 American-type locomotives before the turn of the 19th to 20th century. Throughout its history GTW has shared the same type and class designations of its locomotives with parents Grand Trunk Railway and Canadian National. Its locomotive road numbers would also be integrated into CN’s roster sequence. By the first half of the 20th century the railroad’s largest steam power would be its Northern type 4-8-4 locomotives, called Confederations by CN. The locomotives built by the American Locomotive Company in the 1930s and 1940s had 73-inch (1.854 m) driving wheels with 60,000 pounds of tractive effort and would be used in mainline freight and passenger service. Six GTW U-4-b class 4-8-4s built by Lima Locomotive Works would have streamlined shrouding and 77-inch (1.956 m) driving wheels to be used only in passenger service.

Other steam locomotives in GTW's fleet at the time included the Mikado type 2-8-2s built by Baldwin Locomotive Works and Alco primarily used in mainline freight service. 4-6-2 Pacific type and 4-8-2 Mountain type locomotives also built by Baldwin and Alco in the 1920s and 4-6-0 Ten-Wheelers built around 1900 began in mainline service but later were eventually both found mostly on branch lines and mixed train service. GTW also had a variety of other models of steam engines including several 0-8-0 and 0-6-0 switching locomotives used to move rolling stock around rail yards.