Final Steam Services

Sweden.

Disappeared from the mainlines in the 1940s due to electrification.
Last scheduled revenue service in 1963.
Steam engines kept in commercial reserve throughout the 1970s and in military reserve to the early 1990s.

Sweden has no notable domestic coal or oil, but plenty of hydroelectric power. So electrification was pretty swift.

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Not going away any time soon.

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>>1080719
Interesting, likewise military here in the UK had their own railways that had steam locomotives of their own.

Like the Longmoor Military Railway 1903-1969.

>>1080722
Ah, how could anyone forget Tornado? I haven't seen her myself but I do know she reached 100mph on the Settle to Carlisle line this year.

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USA

December 6th, 1968
Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad's Alamosa–Durango Line (3" narrow gauge) in southwest Colorado

Several fragments of this route survive as tourist lines, some of which are the best in the country.

I should note that technically, steam has never officially died completely here. The Union Pacific has had a steam locomotive that has never officially retired from its roster and still runs, and the Strasburg Rail Road, which still runs under its original charter from the 1830s, primarily uses steam, and on occasion they pull revenue freight for one customer on its line.

Steam locomotives pulling revenue freight is among the rarest sights one can see on the rails.

>>1080728
Thanks, I had been curious about that.

So it's safe to say that 68 was the end of steam on both sides of the Atlantic. Well 68 being the last steam hauled mainline train here in the UK that is.

>>1080711
West coast Canada, there were several sizable logging railroads using steam until 1969. We had a Shay that was regularly switching a pulp mill's private yard and dock as late as December 1971. I think it operated until 1973 or 1974... Another one was used as a dock switcher at another location until the end of 1972.

The first to dieselize and the last hold out for steam in Canada.

>>1080759
I see, did Eastern Canada do the same?

>>1080724
I don't think the swedish army had any designated steam locomotives; just paid for the maintenance to the state railroad agency to mothball some units in case of war... and the obvious loss of electricity and diesel.

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>>1080762
Fair enough, however during WW1 and WW2 the British War Department or the army's Railway Operating Division commandeered locomotives from railway companies during wartime.

Like the GWR Dean Goods locomotives, taken into both world wars.

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West Germany's federal railway DB ran the last mainline steam service 1977 and then even outright banned steam engines until 1985. Including any potential preserved engines that were confined to non-federal railways for that time.
Many industrial lines kept running steam shunters though, the last convential steam engine in West Germany retiring 1992 according to Wikipedia. Fireless steam storage engines are actually in daily use in a handful of industrial plants until today.

East Germany's DR kept their steam engines running longer until 1988 to be more independent from oil imports. Even after that a couple were kept operating as spares and were even running in revenue service after the reunification until late 1994 under the then privatised DB.
Some East German narrow gauge lines had always been running steam trains until today, but gradually shifted their focus from actual service to a heritage line.

>>1080809
I heard before that steam services in Western Germany ended in 1977, it's quite intriguing that Eastern Germany continued until 1988.

"Non federal lines", are they like preserved railways?

In the U.S.A. the big railroads began to dieselize after World War II, and the process was largely complete by 1960 or so (I believe the Grand Trunk Western was the last major railroad to use steam locomotives in regular service). You could sporadically find some steam locomotives in service on short lines and industrial railroads throughout the 1960s, and a few isolated cases after that.

>>1080731
Interesting to think that when the Beatles were working on Sgt. Pepper, they could've ridden a steam train back to Liverpool.
>>1080813
And in West Germany you could've taken a steam train back home after seeing Star Wars.

And didn't steam end in China only around 2004? I do know there are many Chinese steam engines newer than me (b. 1982).

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>>1080711
Spain went from steam to HSR in less than 20 years. Commercial mainline steam operations ended in 1975 with the electrification of the Madrid-Guadalajara corridor. The first HSR line opened in 1992.

Pic related is fmr. King Juan Carlos, substituting for the then head of state Francisco Franco in the ceremonial shut off of the final steam locomotive.

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>>1080813
>it's quite intriguing that Eastern Germany continued until 1988.
it actually isn't. It's pretty typical for the eastern bloc that technical innovations weren't introduced as quickly, at least not in the large scale. Since it wasn't a consumer economy but a planned economy, things were made to last. It made perfect sense to keep steam trains running if you had the know-how, the coal and the manpower, while lacking production capacity for newer-type diesel locomotives and difficulty getting oil. I hear steam trains are still in use in china for similar reasons.
East german trams for example were of a simple but sturdy design. To this day the streetcar in Woltersdorf uses tram cars from the 1950's in a not-quite-heritage operation: it runs regularily and connects the village with the train station, so it still serves a useful purpose. For special event they get the actual heritage trams out which are from 1911, the year it was opened.

>>1080840
That I saw in in another anon's reply about the San Juan Express.

>>1080841
Interesing coincidences indeed, China's not the only country building new steam locomotives.

>>1080843
Interesting to see that steam services ended in Europe, US and China later than the UK. In Spain do you have branch lines or something that's equivalent to it?

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>>1080845
At least you have trams like that running.

In the UK the trams were being closed left right and centre yet in northern England there are more modern trams running.

However we have the National Tramway Museum and Douglas Bay on the Isle Of Man has horse drawn trams.

Plus I'm gonna say this, your reply made feel quite dumb. I only know little bits about Germany's railways.

>>1080912 Allerton Tram
This photo was of the Leeds Tramway.

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>>1080910
Well, in Spain steam ended late because the country was poor as shit after almost four decades of dictatorship. The "spanish miracle" of the 1950's-60's was little more than a fiction, a collateral effect of the general improvement of the european economy in the 1950's.
And after the dictatorship came the bubble economies and generalized corruption which led to the building of the second largest and most idiotic HSR system in the world.

What do you mean by branch lines? There's the occasional secondary line, but in general the spanish rail system isn't very dense, pic related. Also many lines with low traffic were closed in the 1970's-80's because the government since then (and until today) wanted to favour the sale of cars and trucks.

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>>1080919
Branch lines are essentially railways that branch away from the mainline and travel to rural villages and small towns. Somewhat like a secondary line.

In the UK the branch lines were being closed in the 60s by a man called Beeching.

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Malaysia
Steam train still in use for revenue generation (as tourist attraction)

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>>1080931
That's good, sometimes there are steam specials on the main line in the UK. Even preserved railways for tourists, somewhat like in Mayasia if you may.

They ran revenue steam in India into the '80s or even '90s, right?

>>1080841
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jining%E2%80%93Tongliao_Railway#World.27s_last_mainline_steam_train_service

The world's last mainline steam service was on China's Jining-Tongliao Railway on December 8, 2005.

>>1080711
South Africab here.

Most lines were steam up until the mid 1990's. The big ones were electrified. The entire system was build to survive in the event of any petrol blockades because of apartheid. Ironically, South Africa long has had the technology to turn coal into gas if they wanted to.

>>1080945
Was that 1997? Or am I thinking of somewhere else in Africa?

>>1080938
The locomotives pulling that train, I'm sure one or two are currently in the US.

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>>1080936
I believe so, yet I do know that the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway runs steam.

>>1080932
There are also steam specials on the mainline in the US. Quite a few steam engines have been preserved here...although not as much as people sometimes think. Unfortunately not a single steam engine of the New Haven Railroad (a pretty major line) was preserved.

>>1081001
Shame, though there's nothing to stop you finding the working drawings and making new ones with all the modern bells and whistles.
>>1080722
Only a few million dollarpounds. You could actually spend more on buying a helicopter.

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>>1081001
It's the same in the UK. In 2013 there was a 45th anniversary rerun of the Fifteen Guinea Special.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm11bSib9OU

It's a shame about what happened to he locomotives on the New Haven Line though.

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>>1080813
>"Non federal lines", are they like preserved railways?
They're all lines that are not owned by DB (both the federal railway and the current """privatised""" but still federally owned company).

Instead they are owned by the states, by cities or counties or by other non-DB private companies.
These are mostly rural branch lines and were not affected by the 1977 DB steam ban. While most of them weren't operating steam anymore but switched to cheap DMU operation early on (otherwise they wouldn't have survived to this day), some saw the touristic opportunity of heritage operation and allowed preservation societies without their own track to use theirs.

Pic related was on a line of the HzL railway that is owned by the state of Baden-Württemberg and two counties.
>>1080809 is from a preservation group called UEF that operates on the tracks of the AVG, a rail company owned by the city of Karlsruhe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-3IhppvPkc

Japan still use steam locomotives as well and they had some interesting collection as well, from the UK, the US and even domestically made. Some of them were produced as late as 1950s, when everyone else already embarking on dieselization

>>1081052
I see, I have heard of the Harz Railway before and it runs through some great looking scenery.

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>>1081056
The UK was making steam locomotives in the 50s too. The last steam locomotive to be built for British Railways was an 9F Class locomotive back in 1960.

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>>1080923
Dude, I'm an /n/ regular, Beeching is like the fucking antichrist.
You people had a brutal rail network, shame so much of it went the way of the dodo. Nowdays it's gotten more common to turn branch lines into LRT and sheit.

In Spain there are very few branch lines the way you describe them. Just look at the map I posted, you can see the vast majority are main lines.
There is one line that runs from Lleida to a small village, it was supposed to go all the way to France but that never happened. The spanish govt closed the line, but the catalan govt asked for it to be transferred so they could keep it running. Service eventually was cut back, at one time there was one train a day each way. Now they got some new, smaller trains and service is back to a couple of trains a day, and passenger numbers have improved. They're also advertising it for tourism because it runs through some very beautiful scenery. Pic very related.

>>1081066
I know, here in the UK it is debated if Beeching was right to do what he did. Yet I don't think he was, so many branch lines lost.

However you're right that scenery does look very nice indeed.

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>>1081069
It depends on the point of view. Wether government policy regarding transportation should react to demand tendencies, thus cutting back on public transit if immediate demand is low, or wether it should favor public transit as to induce demand, and try to get to the latent demand.

In the 1960's it was pretty clear that it was the former. It hadn't really gotten to the point of extreme traffic congestion we got as a consequence of it. And that's what goes to show that it was an erroneous concept in the long run. Noone expected cars would be so inefficient in moving people.

Nowadays there's a divide between those points of view, despite the fact that reacting to demand tendencies was a complete and utter failure. Some cultures tend more to one side, others more to the other. The tendency to induce demand in public transit has become somewhat commonplace though. And that's where Beeching's concept was wrong. In many of the branch lines you could have established convenient, low-demand services with small trains which are cheap to operate. Switzerland is an example of a country full of branch lines which as a general rule still have at least an hourly frequency, but they instead adapt train set capacity to suit the line's demand.

>>1081082
Sounds like America, where of course until Amtrak in 1971 all non-transit passenger service was privately run, so little by not-so-little branch line and even a lot of mainline service was eliminated, and now the whole states of South Dakota and Wyoming as well as Las Vegas (one of the country's largest cities) have no rail service at all. (There have been countless plans to run a bullet train from LA to Vegas, but I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon. Probably best to split a train off from the California Zephyr at Salt Lake, like how the Sunset Limited to New Orleans splits off from the Texas Chief at San Antonio.)

>>1081086
In some ways there are similarities in transportation policies. Cutbacks in rail service, lots of highways. Notable differences are that there's only residual amounts of rail freight in Spain, and a ridiculously oversized and pointless HSR network.

Spaniards have an inferiority complex because of the dictatorship having lasted well into the 1970's and thus a late economic development. Add to that an obsession with american films, and now the average spaniard literally wants to be like a burger, living in a suburban mcmansion made of cardboard, with three cars in the garage and sitting in traffic for two hours every morning. They almost seem empowered when they talk about traffic like it's the most normal thing, like they're proud of "look, we have lots of traffic, we 1st world now", while many people see the conventional trains, especially regional trains, like something for poor people, something to be ashamed of. The irony being that they're half a century late to the party, and actual 1st world countries have gone back to planning for rail and public transit, not for cars.

>>1080761
Honestly, i'm not 100% sure. I think steam was essentially gone by 1964-ish.

>>1081165
Fair enough.

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>>1081082
Money also played into it, as a lot of UK branchlines were not making money and some say that's why Beeching closed them.

And after the war the railways were in a dire state.

But alas, the rural areas didn't truly want to loose their branch lines.

>>1081082
The big mistake that Beeching made was selling off the trackbeds.

>>1081193
>Money also played into it, as a lot of UK branchlines were not making money and some say that's why Beeching closed them.

There's an argument that looking at branchlines in such absolute terms was short sighted; branch lines fed freight & passengers into the larger network, and when they were closed freight & passenger numbers across the network collapsed.

Czech Republic

last scheduled duties in 1980, occasional secondary duties (station pilot, industrial etc) until 1983. Tourist/preservation steam service wasn't a thing until the 90s.

The longetivity was mostly down to shortage of good diesels for heavy duty freight - most of the 4 axle locos were on pax duties, the ones that weren't lacked the power, Czech-built 6-axles were few and far between and the Soviet M62s (THE most numerous class with 600+ locos) were 2000hp fuel hogs and a nightmare with regards to track wear.

>>1081212
That's true.

>>1081222
I see.

How many tourist trans are running there nowadays?

>>1081222
>a nightmare with regards to track wear.

19.2t per. axle? I guess Czech trackwork was laid a little light?

>>1081272
Lighter than the US and UK, sure (mainlines 23-25t per axle, most local lines are 16-20), but the main problem was with rigid three-axle bogies on tighter curves.

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The last Class 1 Railroad in the US to retire steam is generally accepted to be the Norfolk and Western, when they retired the last of their big Y6b 2-8-8-2's in June 1960. However, steam survived longer in a few places in mainline, revenue service, such as on the Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range, who ran their M4 Yellowstones, 2-10-4's and 2-10-2's up until 1962, and and ran several excursions in 1963. The Colorado and Southern was still running M-4 class 2-10-2's west of Cheyanne as late as May 1960, and the C&S' Leadville Branch used 2-8-0 #641 until October 1962, when a GP9 took over. The Illinois Central ran some of their big 2500 and 2600 class 4-8-2's until April 1960.

Most American Class 1 lines kept a reserve off steam power, usually until 1962 or '63 and in some cases as late as 1965, to protect against traffic surges that never came, or because they weren't completely trusting of an all diesel roster. By 1961 though, it was all too clear: the steam era in the United States was over.

Photo shows N&W Y-5 class 2-8-8-2 #2110 drifting downgrade in reverse after shoving a train to the summit of Blue Ridge grade.

>>1083242
Are there any Class 1 locomotives in preservation?

That would be nice if they were.

>>1083282
Quite a few. Just off the top of my head there's Santa Fe 3751, which occasionally runs on the mainline rails of Southern CA and the Southwest (though it's in the shop for service at the moment).

>>1083321
That's good to know.

>>1083321
>Santa Fe 3751, which occasionally runs on the mainline rails of Southern CA
on what occasion does it run? Does it just pull random freight, or is it like a special passenger train or something?

>>1083337
It pulls passenger excursions, sometimes as far as from LA to the Grand Canyon. (It's the oldest remaining 4-8-4.)

>>1083337
It usually runs at least once a year, although I think it'll be in the shop for at least 3 years.

>>1083374
do fucking want

>>1083282
There are several Class 1 steam locomotives that are operational in excursion service. Essentially, any steam locomotive that runs mainline excursions came from a Class 1 railroad, and many that are on tourist lines did as well. Most of the big mainline steam locomotives that still run are modern, superpower designs, mostly 4-8-4's, which is probably more close to the answer you're looking for. Engines such as Santa Fe 3751, SP 4449, SP&S 700, N&W 611, UP 844 and 3985, NKP 765, MILW 261 and Pere Marquette 1225 are all preserved and operational steam locomotives that, during their service lives, worked on Class 1 railroads. In a manner of speaking, the preserved sections of the former Rio Grande narrow gauge lines (the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic and the Durango & Silverton) were Class 1 lines, but only because their parent road was a Class 1 railroad; the narrow gauge lines themselves. especially in later years prior to abandonment, carried less traffic than a regional or short line.

>>1085114
Well that's good.

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>>1080728
Union Pacific #844 is the locomotive that was never taken off the active roster. It mostly runs excursions, but will haul some revenue freight on the way to or from somewhere. UP also has a Challenger 4-6-6-4 that was in regular operation until 2010. The UP shops are currently restoring #4014, a 4-8-8-4 Big Boy.

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>>1083282
The Norfolk and Western #611 J Class is one of my favorite surviving steamers.

>>1083418
Here's #3751 in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp-b4Ce4Mf4&t=191s

>>1085230
>4-8-8-4 Big Boy.
When that restoration is finished, it will be the largest operational steam locomotive on Earth.

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>>1085272
They were the largest steam locomotives in the U.S.. I don't know whether or not someone built something bigger.

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>>1083282
Found this. It's by no means a complete list, but it includes a lot of functional U.S. steam that is still running. There is a lot of preserved standard gauge steam still in the U.S., some of it former Class 1 equipment.
http://steamengineresource.weebly.com/operational-locomotives.html
Pic is a preserved Southern Pacific GS4. It still runs excursions.

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>>1080931
We have a few of those type here in Australia too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC25GGFspQc

>>1083374
>passenger excursions
A very recent one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp1ZST5rYuk


Years ago a overseas visitor came to town: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PP01Ci2E5Y

Most of our mainstream steam wrapped up on the 60s but there were still some used for shunting into the late 70s.

The steel plant in my home town was one of the last examples of working steam in the us.

>Northwestern Steel's steam engines were among the last to operate in the United States. Old No. 73, as it was known, (a 1929 Baldwin locomotive) was the final steam engine to be used in America. NWSW last used the locomotive on Dec. 3, 1980 at 10 a.m.

Pic related was taken in 1979

>>1085230

I've been on a ~6hr trip on the 844. Lots of fun.

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>>1085325

Depends on how you measure things.

In terms of tractive effort the top is DM&IR's Yellowstone

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>>1085850

oops forgot pic

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regular steam service, several times a day, will probably go on forever

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>>1080711

Norfolk & Western was the last Class I railway to dieselize and its passenger trains were among the last named ones ever hauled by steam.

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>>1085560

If they ever restore the Coast Daylight service, 4449 should be given the honor of pulling the first train.

>>1085927
Interesting, I want to say this was in the 50s or 60s?

IIRC is that particular locomotive in your picture preserved?

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>>1085908
I love seeing these pictures of the Harz Railway.

Somehow it always looks so good in the Winter.

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>>1085931

The last regular N&W service was hauled in 1959, they could've kept it running for longer but the closure of many of their suppliers of parts made maintenance ever more costly.

Sadly, 601 was not preserved, but her sister, 611 was through the efforts of world-renowned photographer O. Winston Link. It was finally restored to working order two years ago.

>>1080711

Im from wigan, my dad and his dad are both ex-railwaymen, and apparently once or twice a steam train went through wigan after steam services had supposedly finished in the UK, either just light engine or light engine with some old wagons to be scrapped, IIRC it was basically just because one depot wouldnt want them taking up room and making work to do so theyd send the somewhere else to get scrapped

>>1080711

I'm from Poland, bitchez...

we still have a regular steam line running out of Wolsztyn, near Poznań
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf6F4j_Rpjg

>>1087264
I see.

I do know that the industries were still using steam locomotives back then.

>>1087445
So I heard.

0:40 that wheelslip though.

>>1087445
how "regular" are we talking about?
also how fucking old are those bilevels?

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>>1080931
Indonesia

>>1080728
>Steam locomotives pulling revenue freight is among the rarest sights one can see on the rails.
Found a cool video of 3985 pulling a revenue freight train unassisted a while ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhgHrDbN4EU

>>1089572
Neat. Footage is from 1990, FYI.