Project 62 - Four Manufacturers, One Class

Vulcan Ironworks, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

Richard Jones raced a small steam-powered boat that he had built through the Wilkes-Barre canal basin in 1835 and this event started what was to become the Vulcan Iron Works. Later forming the Jones Iron Works in 1849 this was Incorporated as Vulcan in 1866. By 1929 the Vulcan Iron Works had acquired a number of other manufacturing concerns and, with 1,600 employees, Vulcan became at that time one of the community's most valuable assets. In addition to locomotives, the Vulcan Iron Works produced sugar mills, mine hoists, giant kilns and other iron products for export to an international market. Vulcan was one of three companies commissioned by the USATC (United States Army Transportation Corps) to manufacture 0-6-0T locomotives to Specification T1531 between 1942 and 1945 for use in Europe after the then anticipated liberation of Mainland Europe. Production ceased around 1952, however four of thirteen Vulcan Iron Works USA tank locos, bought by the Southern Railway in 1946/7 and rebuilt for use primarily in Southampton Docks, survive in preservation in Britain today.

HK Porter, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

HK Porter manufactured nearly 8,000 locomotives, mainly steam, between 1867 and 1950. Beginning as Smith & Porter in 1866, after several mergers the company was trading as H. K. Porter & Co. by 1878. Porter locomotives had some notable general characteristics including the famous medallion plate and cylinders cast with the Porter name. Porter probably built more locomotives speculatively, for stock, than any other independent builder. It stressed standardized parts and availability of stock engines as selling points.

Porter contributed a good share of the motive power for the early little lines of the West, and whilst output for industrial railroads dominated the home scene, export business for public carriers as well as industrials was of major importance. Porter steam power went to every continent and the Porter name was well known throughout Latin America, particularly in Mexico and Cuba.

Specialising in light locomotives, the Porter works diversified after 1900. The industrial products for which H. K. Porter Co. is known today (rubber belting and hose, high voltage electrical equipment, air brake parts, springs, valves and oil field equipment) finally overshadowed the declining locomotive business. In 1950 Porter withdraw from locomotive production and transferred its business and designs to Davenport.

Two Porter built USA tank locos were acquired by the Southern Railway, one (USATC 1264) went on to serve the Southern and then British Rail as numbers 61 and 30061 (finally in BR Departmental Stock as DS233 based at Redbridge Sleeper Depot near Southampton) until withdrawal March 1967and cutting up at Cashmore's in Newport the following July. The second, USATC 1261 (WD1261) was purchased to provide spare parts and, much cannibalised, was eventually cut up at Eastleigh in November 1961. No Porter built USA tanks therefore survive in preservation in Britain.

Davenport Locomotive Works, Davenport, Iowa

Incorporated in January 1901 as the W.W. Whitehead Co., Davenport Locomotive Works built locomotives from 1902 to 1956. Soon after completion of its first locomotive in 1902 the Company became the Davenport Machine Works and two years later it was renamed the Davenport Locomotive Works. It soon became a thriving builder of small tank locomotives.

During World War I the Davenport Locomotive Works produced 80 light engines used to haul ammunition to American troops in France so, when in 1942 the USATC was looking for manufacturing capacity for small 0-6-0 tank locomotives, Davenport was naturally a facility to look to to build a proportion of the requirement.

In 1950, the Davenport Besler Corp. (as it was finally known) acquired the locomotive business of HK Porter and appeared to be set for a period of dramatic expansion. This was not to be and the company closed down in 1955.

Djuro Djakovic, Slavonski Brod, Croatia

Established in 1921 principally for the repair of steam locomotives and wagons, in 1929 the factory made its first steam boiler and over the following thirty years expanded into heavy engineering, locomotive fabrication and general steel erection. 1952 saw the start of Contract with Deutsche Babcock which brought about cooperation in the fields of Engineering Fabrication and Erection. In 1976 Djuro Djakovic was divided in 36 independent specialist engineering companies with holding company Djuro Djakovic TEP in overall control. 1996 saw the majority of shares acquired by Austrian Energy and from 2000 Austrian Energy has owned 100% of the business.

Following the end of World War II, 120 USA "S100" (as the USA 0-6-0T locomotives built by the three American manufacturers to Specification T1531 had by then been classified by the USATC) were placed in former Yugoslavia to fulfil an urgent requirement for motive power and industrial use. The Yugoslavian Rail authorities designated the S100 locomotives from the three different manufacturers as "Class 62" and numbered 106 of the engines received 62-001 to 62-106. The other 14 locomotives presumably were kept for spare parts.

By 1950, the Class 62 locomotives, now modified to perform in a number of differing transport and industrial environments, had so impressed the rail authorities, that instructions were given to the Djuro Djakovic works to commence production based on the Porter locomotive design. A pattern type was produced under licence and from 1951 to 1961 a further 90 USA type 0-6-0T locomotives were manufactured. The European practice of using plate frames rather than the heavy American cast iron bar frames for the construction was employed. However, even with certain other modifications based on experience of use in service, the Yugoslavian built Class 62 Porter pattern locomotives are as strikingly similar to the original USATC S100 series (even those had differences based on the three American manufacturers interpretation of Specification T1531) as those S100's subsequently modified for service in Britain, France, Belgium, Greece, the Middle East and China (amongst others) where most of the 450 or so original USATC S100 locomotives were dispersed.

Despite the original design specification being for a locomotive with a service life of just 5 years, more than 100 USA tank locomotives of both American and Yugoslavian construction still exist today. 30075 bridges the "generation gap" between the locomotives of USA origin built between 1942 and 1945 and the later Djuro Djakovic engines built up to 1961, well after all three original American manufacturers had ceased their locomotive operations. Based today on the East Somerset Railway and rebuilt as British Railways USA Class 30075, it gives us a flavour of what a Porter built USA tank would have looked like had they made it through to preservation in the UK. It also reminds us that a good design will always persist and is a tribute to the engineering quality of the Djuro Djakovic works where 30075 was originally built as 62-669.

With a little help from Paint Shop Pro, 30075 shows how HK Porter built USATC 1261 may have looked, if taken into service on the Continent, rather than becoming WD1261, the forgotten "spare" for the Southern USA Class