at coal tower

NG503042

at coal tower

Steam Locomotive

Coaling up after her arrival from Sharon on CC-1, the 6015 squeezes her imperious carriage into the squalid confines of Shelby Street.. The 6015 was a special engine in at least several respects. To begin with, she was the last to get "the works" at Beech Grove before the functions of the steam shop there were reduced to overhauling and warehousing of parts. Second, she was for several months the sole survivor of her class. Third, her last real revenue run was certainly one of her finest and best known. It was made on June 30, 1956, as a result of the following circumstances: no. 11's diesel failed at Westside; no. 416's diesel was appropriated to forward no. 11; the 6015 was sent to the depot for no. 416 since she was the only available steam-heat engine left on the premises. (It is pertinent to note here that system wide passenger service had been fully dieselized since the preceding February.) Briefly, the big S-1 took command of the situation. Leaving Indianapolis 34 minutes late with a nine-car train, she made the most of her huge boiler and high wheels on the three-stop, 109-mile trip over a 75-MPH railroad. Her arrival at Cincinnati only six minutes late was a triumph for a great representative of the modern high-horsepower trend in steam locomotive design. Her "reward" was retirement; fine performance, however consistent, cannot withstand the impregnability of that ubiquitous watchword, economy. Two days later, she was doubleheaded with a diesel on CC-3 back to Shelby Street, where her fire was drawn for the last time.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

2-1/4x3-1/4 neg

Apr-56

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4/8/2004

405

S-1b

#6015

Alco-Schen

Shelby St., Indianapolis, IN

See NG503042a