8 THE CALL BOARD NEWSLETTER OF THE MOHAWK & HUDSON CHAPTER, N.R.H.S. September 1992 i I By Tim Truscott & Dick Barrett D&H motive power took a giant leap forward in 1940 when the railroad took delivery of the first order of 20 articulated 4-6-6-4 freight locomotives built by the American Locomotive Company. These "Challenger" type steam locomotives were acquired to haul heavy freights, especially coal trains, over the steep grades of the railroad south of the Capital District on the Susquehanna Division and ran between Binghamton, Oneonta, Mohawk Yard in Schenectady and Mechanicville. Two more orders consisting of 15 "Challengers" in 1942, which were assigned to the Pennsyl- vania Division, and an additional five in 1946 made a total of 40 in this "1500" number series (Nos. 1500-1539). Just as advances in railroad technology had brought larger locomotives at the turn of the century which required larger main- tenance facilities, these new articulated lo- comotives, which were far larger than any- thing the railroad previously had in service, also meant that even larger facilities were needed. In summary, the Delaware & Hudson's locomotive shop at Colonie had physical constraints which prevented the shop from being used in the usual fashion for servicing the 4-6-6-4's. Most of the major steam locomotive repair shops in the United States were built between 1907 and 1931. None were built after 1931, probably because ofthe effect the Great Depression had on the railroad industry. Of those built during that period, three general types of shop layouts or ar- rangements were employed: (1) the trans- verse shop, in which the pits of the erecting bays are arranged side by side; (2) the longitudinal shop, in which the erecting tracks extend the length of a long shop and pit locations are at numerous points along .; I' those tracks; (3) the combination type of shop, in which the initial and final opera- tions of repairing locomotives are usually performed in a short longitudinal shop at right angles to a transverse shop used for the intermediate repair operations. As originally constructed, the Colonie Shop was arranged in a transverse configu- ration with the tracks and pits running in an east-west direction. The two erecting bays (Bay 2 and Bay 4), where repair work was actually performed, were located on either side of the transfer bay (Bay 3), which was in the center of the shop (See Call Board article, January 1991). Locomotives en- tered the building from the west side on one of two tracks and were brought to the trans- fer bay. Once in Bay 3, the transfer bay, the 150-ton transfer crane carried the locomo- tive either north or south to one of 12 tracks running in an east-west direction. Once on these tracks, locomotives were moved ei- ther east or west into ODe of the two erecting bays (Bay 2 or Bay 4) where they were overhauled. The problem which arose with the "Cbal- lengers" was that the engines, without their tenders, were 85 feet long while the width of the transfer bay and erecting bays were each 65 feet. Therefore, the "Challengers" would not fit between the columns of these three bays. There seemed to be two choices in solving this problem: either modify the roof support system of the Colonie Shop building so that there would be a space greater than 85 feet between the building's columns, or modify a portion of the shop track layout into a longitudinal shop area for working on the "Challengers." By removing one row of the roof sup- porting columns, transverse pits of the nec- essary length for the "Challengers" could have been constructed. However, the re- sulting open area would have necessitated a crane with a span of 130 feet, an unusually long span which would have been twice the span of the existing cranes. This proposal would also have meant extensive changes in the building's roof support system, es- sentially rebuilding the western half of the shop structure. However, a much simpler and less ex- pensive solution to the problem was imple- mented under the supervision ofD&H Chief Engineer P.O. Ferris, Engineer of Struc- tures E. Penrose and Division Engineer "J.C. Dorsey: One of the transverse erecting bays, Bay 2, was converted to a three-track longitudinal layout with a pit for each track. Each track in Bay 2 was constructed with a longitudinal reinforced concrete pit for gaining access to the undersides of the engines. The middle pit was 74 feet long, with the two outside pits being 176 feet long. Each of the three tracks was 198 feet in length. Therefore, each track could accommo- date two of the "Challenger" locomotives, with enough room left over" to rollout. the front engine unit from under the locomo- tive. The three new tracks did not extend past the two tracks leading in from the middle of the west side of the shop build- ing. Therefore, the four transverse pits south of the east-west access tracks were not impacted by the three longitudinal pits and were consequent! y not disturbed. Access to these three new longitudinal tracks was gained through new doors pro- vided in the north wall of the building. Only a small amount of track was needed to connect the new pits with existing track north of the shop building. In order to install this connecting track, a low hill on the north side of the building had to be excavated. This work was performed by a