Chicago and North Western R-1 class

Development After the year 1900, railroad traffic in the United States was constantly growing, and existing locomotive rosters and rail infrastructures were becoming inadequate. By that time, the Chicago and North Western Railroad (C&NW) experimented with various firebox designs on steam locomotives to meet the demand for greater motive power. The following year, this boiler design was applied to the first of the railroad's D class 4-4-2 "Atlantic" type locomotives. The rear section of the R-1 boiler with the firebox was to be larger than that of the D class at in diameter, while the front section of the boiler was to be smaller at . Aside from the new boiler design, a new valve design, larger cylinders, and innovative steam generating equipment, the first twenty-seven R-1 locomotives shared identical construction qualities with the R class. The first fifty-seven R-1 locomotives were built with tenders that held of water and of coal; they were smaller than the tenders of the R class. The tenders were built at a smaller scale, because most C&NW turntables at the time were found to be too short to fit an R-1 with a longer tender. Most R-1 locomotives were applied with Stephenson valve gear, but the increased size of the axles and strength requirements resulted in greater wear and tear on the Stephenson eccentric rods on the R-1's running gear, despite the later locomotives being built with improved metal. In early 1907, the C&NW placed an order of thirty R-1s from ALCO, and in doing so, they asked for five of the locomotives (Nos. 1393–1397) to be applied with Walschaerts valve gear for testing. While the Walschaerts application made the five locomotives several thousand pounds (kg) heavier than any Stephenson-powered R-1, their performance was deemed a success. The C&NW subsequently asked BLW and ALCO to build and deliver thirty-five (ten from BLW; twenty-five from ALCO) additional Walschaerts-powered R-1s throughout 1908. By the time production on the R-1 class ended in December 1908, 325 locomotives of the class were built, making the R-1s the most manufactured class of steam locomotives on the C&NW. The railroad rebuilt several miles of trackage and bridges with enough heavy weight to support an R-1. By the 1930s, most R-1 locomotives were equipped with superheaters. The R-1 locomotives' wide route availabilities resulted in more than 190 of them to remain in active service by 1952. == Preservation ==

Out of the 325 R-1 locomotives that were built, only three have been preserved. Two of the R-1s, Nos. 175 and 1385, are currently undergoing restoration to operating condition, whereas one, No. 444, remains on static display. C&NW 175 was built by ALCO in December 1908, being one of the last locomotives of the R-1 class to be built. It was assigned to pull commuter trains within the Wisconsin Division. In September 1957, No. 175 was used to pull an excursion fantrip before it was retired. The SRI launched a fundraising campaign to rebuild and replace parts of the locomotive, with a large portion of the funding being administered by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). It last served the C&NW as a switcher in Belle Fourche, before it was retired in 1956. It last served the railroad as a switcher in Iron Mountain, Michigan, before it was retired in the summer of 1956. In the 1980s, the C&NW leased No. 1385 for use in pulling mainline excursion trains for the railroad's steam excursion program, but the program ended following a 1986 insurance crisis. The MCRY subsequently used the R-1 to pull their own mainline excursion trains on other railroads, such as the Wisconsin and Calumet (WICT), and it continued to pull the museum's tourist trains until 1998, when the condition of its boiler reached a point of no return. SPEC Machine of Middleton, Wisconsin was hired to perform most of the repairs on the locomotive. == Omaha Road I-1 and K-1 classes ==

Between 1901 and 1910, the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway (CMO) ordered a fleet of sixty-nine I-1 class 4-6-0 locomotives, and they were identical in design to the C&NW's R-1s. When the I-1s were first built, the CMO had to upgrade their rail infrastructure, in order to accommodate the locomotives' larger size and weight. The first thirty-five I-1s were initially fitted with clerestory-type roofs on their cabs—a standard practice that was exclusive to all CMO locomotives up to 1905. At the same time, the American railroad industry perfected superheated boiler designs on steam locomotives, so the CMO ordered a fleet of superheated 4-6-0s that shared basic dimensions with the Walschaerts-powered I-1s, and they were delivered from ALCO between 1911 and 1913, being classified as the K-1s. For switching purposes, the locomotives' original wooden pilots were replaced with CMO-designed switcher pilots, beginning in 1933. All of the CMO I-1s and K-1s were withdrawn from service and then scrapped by the end of the 1950s with none of them surviving into preservation. == Accidents ==

• December 17, 1926 — R-1 No. 1132 was switching tanker cars of oil at the C&NW's yard in Glenrock, Wyoming, with the sole crew member being 30-year-old engineer Roland G. Cross, following a 3:00 a.m. crew change. At 5:20 a.m., the locomotive's boiler exploded, and it hurled around above the running gear. At 12:15 a.m., the R-1's boiler exploded, tore away from the smokebox and frame, hurled around above the running gear, and then bounced twice before landing around in front of the running gear. The explosion critically damaged the surrounding yard trackage, along with two cabooses and portions of a nearby fence. Cavanaugh was thrown from the impact, and he died from his injuries at 2:37 a.m., after local residents brought him to a Huron, South Dakota hospital. == See also ==