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| A Day with the Trains November 5, 2008 |
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The Belen Fred Harvey House |
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At the age of 15, Fred Harvey left his native England for the United States. Upon his arrival in New York City, Mr. Harvey began working in the restaurant business in New York. The Civil War was bad for restaurants, but good for the railroads, and Mr. Harvey made a career change. Over the next 20 years, Mr. Harvey moved ever westward and ever higher in railroad business, but never forgot the restaurant business. Traveling for the railroads over the time reinforced Mr. Harvey's view that improvement was needed in the food department. Upon arrival in Kansas in 1870, Mr. Harvey met Charlie Morse, President of the fledgling Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway. For the next near century, Fred Harvey's company would bring good food at reasonable prices in clean, elegant restaurants, to the traveling public throughout the Southwest. They also brought civilization, community, and industry to the Wild West. Only 15 years later, there were 17 Harvey Houses; at their peak, there were 84! |
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The former Santa Fe Railway Shops, located in downtown Albuquerque, NM, represent both a unique resource and an unparalleled opportunity for urban revitalization based upon the adaptive re-use of historic structures. These twelve buildings, which constitute an historic village in the heart of Albuquerque, once housed the largest urban industry in New Mexico, employed more people than any other business in Albuquerque, and had more to do with the growth of the City than any other event or enterprise. They range in size from a few hundred square feet to over 150,000 square feet. The materials used in construction vary with the age and intended use of the various buildings. Some are of brick, some wood and others (the largest) are of reinforced concrete and steel. The architecture is both diverse and remarkable, with the largest buildings exhibiting simplified neo-classical temple fronts complete with pediments and columns. Dating from the very early 1900's through 1921, the buildings tell the story of the growth and evolution of the Santa Fe Railway. During World War II, their role in the war effort was pivotal, as hundreds of thousands of soldiers and vast amounts of war materials, finished and unfinished, moved through Albuquerque in both directions to support America's two front war. It was in these shops that the monstrous steam engines which pulled these cargo's were overhauled and repaired in the shortest possible time. About 1912, the Santa Fe Railway approached the City of Albuquerque with their plans to modernize and expand the outmoded A and P locomotive shops which stood between Second Street and the main tracks, and from Hazeldin south to Pacific. The eighteen structures remaining from the locomotive shop complex (1914-24) constitute the largest historic industrial plant in the state. |
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The #2926 was built in 1944 and is 64 years old (2008). The engine and tender are approximately 121 ft long. The locomotive weighs 510,150 lbs, and the tender weighs 464,700 lbs fully loaded with fuel and water. To produce steam oil is burned in the firebox to heat the water in the boiler and make steam. The steam is piped to the cylinders to drive pistons back-and-forth. The pistons are connected to the steel pins on drive wheels by rods. When the pistons move back and forth the rods transmit that force to the drive wheels making them rotate. Engine power. There are three measures of power: tractive effort, draw bar pull, and horsepower. Tractive Effort: The starting tractive effort generated by the drive wheels is listed 66,000 lbs for this engine. However, that figure is thought to be little low. The real tractive effort when starting is estimated to be closer to 70,000-74,000 lbs. Draw bar Pull: The actual pull exerted at the tender coupler (and therefore available to pull the train) ranges between 68,000-72,000 lbs. This is based on test data obtained from a similar Santa Fe 4-8-4 (#3766). The difference between estimated tractive effort and actual measured draw bar pull is the amount of tractive effort (several thousand pounds) needed to start the dead weight of the tender. Horsepower: Maximum horsepower is developed wish this engine between 35-65 mph. Testing showed draw bar horsepower (measured at the coupler on the rear of the tender and available to pull the train) as 4,590 at 40 mph. The locomotive was actually producing more horsepower (500-800 more), but some power is consumed moving the engine and tender at that speed. As speed increases, more horsepower is needed for the engine and tender just to maintain the higher speed, and less is available to pull the train. Nobody really knows how fast it will go as it was designed for 90 mph operation. That doesn't mean it couldn't go faster. It was upgraded (as were all 2900 class engines) between 1946-48 with light weight roller bearing rods to increase the design speed to 100 mph and in passenger service there are lots of stories of speeds well over the "century" mark. But documented runs in excess of 100 do not exist. This is because running over 100 mph exceeded established speed limits and could get engineers in trouble. However, when running late and with a "headnod" from management, crews did exceed 100 mph and occasionally (if the stories of "old timers" are to be believed) exceeded 110 mph. The locomotive's design, wheels, rods, bearings, pistons, lubrication, etc. should have been capable of the machinery speeds required to exceed 120 mph or more |
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The "Doodlebug" was a small train car from New Mexico's past. In its heyday, the train ran back and forth from Belen to Albuquerque, with stops in Los Lunas and Isleta, starting as early as 1934. Prior to the start of the New Mexico Rail Runner Express last July, the Doodlebug was the last real commuter rail service in New Mexico in 40-years. Like many other doodlebugs of its time, the Belen-to-Albuquerque motor car might have simply faded into memory after taking its last run in 1968, if not for being spotted by a group of visitors to the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento a few years ago. Among the group was Belen Mayor Ronnie Torres, who promptly got the attention of Governor Bill Richardson asking him to help bring New Mexico's Doodlebug home. The Doodlebug measures 70 feet in length, contains 22 seats and could carry as many as 44 passengers. The all-steel motor car, which also carried the mail, earned its designation through a whimsical resemblance to the bug of the same name - dashing from city to city. A trip from Belen to Albuquerque took about 45-minutes. This popular little train was not unique to New Mexico. There were about 50-Doodlebugs in states from California to Kansas between the 1930's and 1950's - and even another in New Mexico that ran from Clovis to Carlsbad. The Doodlebug will be permanently parked at 2nd and Becker Street in Belen, just around the corner from the historic Belen Harvey House |