| Still running the rails with a long drag of coal cars is Baltimore & Ohio massive 2-8-8-0 #7313. Originally built in January of 1918 by Alco-Richmond as Seaboard Air Line 2-8-8-2 #513, the SAL found the massive compound articulated loco unsuitable and very costly to maintain for their system. They sold #7313 and its sisters to the B&O in 1920. In 1923, the B&O Shops rebuilt it into a simple-articulated Mallet and reclassed as EL-6a After nearly 32 years of service, the loco was sold for scrap in July of 1950. That would have been one HUGE pile of scrap metal! Simplified EL-6a specs - 63" drivers, 210 psi boiler pressure, four 25x32" cylinders, engine wt of 492,000 lb and impressive tractive effort of 108,000 lb. No date, location or photographer was listed for this photo. |