8THE CALL BOARD NEWSLETTER OF THE MOHAWK & HUDSON CHAPTER, N.R.H.S. September 1992

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By Tim Truscott & Dick BarrettD&H motive power took a giant leap

forward in 1940 when the railroad tookdelivery of the first order of 20 articulated4-6-6-4 freight locomotives built by theAmerican Locomotive Company. These"Challenger" type steam locomotives wereacquired to haul heavy freights, especiallycoal trains, over the steep grades of therailroad south of the Capital District on theSusquehanna Division and ran betweenBinghamton, Oneonta, Mohawk Yard inSchenectady and Mechanicville. Two moreorders consisting of 15 "Challengers" in1942, which were assigned to the Pennsyl-vania Division, and an additional five in1946 made a total of 40 in this "1500"number series (Nos. 1500-1539).

Just as advances in railroad technologyhad brought larger locomotives at the turnof the century which required larger main-tenance facilities, these new articulated lo-comotives, which were far larger than any-thing the railroad previously had in service,also meant that even larger facilities wereneeded. In summary, the Delaware &Hudson's locomotive shop at Colonie hadphysical constraints which prevented theshop from being used in the usual fashionfor servicing the 4-6-6-4's.

Most of the major steam locomotiverepair shops in the United States were builtbetween 1907 and 1931. None were builtafter 1931, probably because ofthe effectthe Great Depression had on the railroadindustry. Of those built during that period,three general types of shop layouts or ar-rangements were employed: (1) the trans-verse shop, in which the pits of the erectingbays are arranged side by side; (2) thelongitudinal shop, in which the erectingtracks extend the length of a long shop andpit locations are at numerous points along

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those tracks; (3) the combination type ofshop, in which the initial and final opera-tions of repairing locomotives are usuallyperformed in a short longitudinal shop atright angles to a transverse shop used forthe intermediate repair operations.

As originally constructed, the ColonieShop was arranged in a transverse configu-ration with the tracks and pits running in aneast-west direction. The two erecting bays(Bay 2 and Bay 4), where repair work wasactually performed, were located on eitherside of the transfer bay (Bay 3), which wasin the center of the shop (See Call Boardarticle, January 1991). Locomotives en-tered the building from the west side on oneof two tracks and were brought to the trans-fer bay. Once in Bay 3, the transfer bay, the150-ton transfer crane carried the locomo-tive either north or south to one of 12 tracksrunning in an east-west direction. Once onthese tracks, locomotives were moved ei-ther east or west into ODe of the two erectingbays (Bay 2 or Bay 4) where they wereoverhauled.

The problem which arose with the "Cbal-lengers" was that the engines, without theirtenders, were 85 feet long while the widthof the transfer bay and erecting bays wereeach 65 feet. Therefore, the "Challengers"would not fit between the columns of thesethree bays. There seemed to be two choicesin solving this problem: either modify theroof support system of the Colonie Shopbuilding so that there would be a spacegreater than 85 feet between the building'scolumns, or modify a portion of the shoptrack layout into a longitudinal shop areafor working on the "Challengers."

By removing one row of the roof sup-porting columns, transverse pits of the nec-essary length for the "Challengers" couldhave been constructed. However, the re-

sulting open area would have necessitateda crane with a span of 130 feet, an unusuallylong span which would have been twice thespan of the existing cranes. This proposalwould also have meant extensive changesin the building's roof support system, es-sentially rebuilding the western half of theshop structure.

However, a much simpler and less ex-pensive solution to the problem was imple-mented under the supervision ofD&H ChiefEngineer P.O. Ferris, Engineer of Struc-tures E. Penrose and Division Engineer

"J.C. Dorsey: One of the transverse erectingbays, Bay 2, was converted to a three-tracklongitudinal layout with a pit for each track.Each track in Bay 2 was constructed with alongitudinal reinforced concrete pit forgaining access to the undersides of theengines. The middle pit was 74 feet long,with the two outside pits being 176 feetlong. Each of the three tracks was 198 feetin length.

Therefore, each track could accommo-date two of the "Challenger" locomotives,with enough room left over" to rollout. thefront engine unit from under the locomo-tive. The three new tracks did not extendpast the two tracks leading in from themiddle of the west side of the shop build-ing. Therefore, the four transverse pits southof the east-west access tracks were notimpacted by the three longitudinal pits andwere consequent! y not disturbed.

Access to these three new longitudinaltracks was gained through new doors pro-vided in the north wall of the building. Onlya small amount of track was needed toconnect the new pits with existing tracknorth of the shop building. In order toinstall this connecting track, a low hill onthe north side of the building had to beexcavated. This work was performed by a

September 1992 NEWSLETTER OF THE MOHAWK & HUDSON CHAPTER, N.R.H.S.

contractor. The rest of the project was un-dertaken by D&H employees.

Because of the conversion of the westerecting bay, Bay 2, from a transverse op-eration to a longitudinal operation, changeswere required in the arrangement of thecranes. In the original layout, it was suffi-cient to have one traveling crane in eachbay to handle locomotives to and from thetransversely-oriented pits; each crane hadtwo trolleys.

With the change of Bay 2 to a longitudi-nal method of operation, two cranes wererequired: one for each end of the locomo-tive being lifted. Therefore, it became nec-essary to install an additional crane in Bay2. The new crane had a capacity of 150 tonsand was of the single trolley type. In spiteof the addition of the second crane, thecrane runways in Bay 2 were deemed to beof sufficient capacity to support the.addi-tional load of the second crane and nostructural changes in the runways or theirsupports were required.

In summary, acquisition by the D&H ofthe new, larger steam locomotives with the4-6-6-4 wheel arrangement resulted in theneed for larger repair facilities. The con-version of the Delaware & Hudson's Colo-nie Locomotive Shop to accommodate the"Challengers" was done economically byconverting one half of the erecting areafrom a transverse arrangement to a three-track longitudinal arrangement. With thenew arrangement, six of the new articu-lated locomotives could be repaired simul-taneously within Colonie Shop. Most of the

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THE CALL BOARD 9

A. schematic of the Col-onie Shopas it was originally constructedshowing the center transfer bayand the two erecti ng bays, one oneither side of the transfer bay.

modifications to Colonie Shop which weremade for the 1500's may still be seen today.

References:"Converts Shop to Handle Power," Rail-way Age, November 28,1942.

"Watervliet Terminal, Delaware & Hud-son Co.," in Railway Engineering andMaintenance of Way, December 1912.

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A schematic of the Colonie Shopshowing the west side of the shopwhere the west erecting bay wasconverted into a transverse shoparrangement to accommodate the"Challengers. "

"Construction Features of the WatervlietShops of the Delaware & Hudson Com-pany," in Cassier's Magazine: An Engi-neering Monthly, May 1912.

1941 Locomotive Cyclopedia, Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation.

Delaware & Hudson Challengers andNortherns, by Ed Crist with John Krause,1988, Carstens Publications.

85 ft.65 ft.

The problem faced by the D&H at Colonie Shop when it acquired the 4-6-6-4 "Challengers" was theirlength: the locomotives, without tenders, were about 85 ft. long while the distance between the roofsupports was about 65 ft. Therefore, part of the shop was rearranged. (Collection of the authors)