Ocean Shore / Ohio Southern 2-6-0 "Mogul" Locomotives in the USA

Class 21 (Locobase 13262)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 47, p. 249. See Locobase 13260 for a history of the Pacific's OSRR. Works numbers were 39760-39761 in May 1913.

The OSRR preferred to buy Moguls for its freight operations, at least when it ordered from Baldwin. These were considerably bigger than the pair delivered in 1908 (Locobase 13260).

When the railroad abruptly closed its doors in 1920, the 21 went to the Pacific Lumber Company as their #34 and 22 wound up as #61 on the Arkansas & Louisiana Missouri, itself the successor to the Arkansas & Louisiana Midland. After decades of use on the PLC, that company sold the 34 in April 1942 to the Red River Lumber Company. The A & LM quickly passed the 22 on to the W R Pickerling Lumber Company of Springfield, Mo.

---

Class 30 (Locobase 12135)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 18, p.196 and Volume 19, p. 191; and roster notes by L S Twombly dated 10 December 1983 and supplied in August 2013 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Date Exchange collection. (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 13 January 2019 email and well-drafted spreadsheet, the latter noting the absence of this locomotive from Locobase and providing detailed data. A 27 Febraury 2018 email corrected the tender's coal capacity.) Works numbers were 13414-13416, 13421 in May 1893; December. The latter eight had works numbers 14187-14188 in December 1894 and 11499-11504 in October 1895.

OS RR ordered a total of 16 locomotives locomotives of this basic Mogul design. Only the first four (30-33) of the first batch of eight were delivered to the OS. L S Twombly's notes report that the last four of this batch suffered the effects of the 1893 Depression and were not delivered because of the OS's inability to pay cash. On the OS, the four 1893 Moguls and the first two of the 1895 batch had 248 tubes, that with the firebox area, amounted to a total heating surface area of 1,663 sq ft (154.50 sq m).

Of the four undelivered locomotives ,Baldwin sold the first two of this quartet (13870-13871) in January 1894 to the Cleveland, Akron, and Columbus as their 45-46 (Locobase 16493). The third locomotive (13861) went to the Little Rock, Hot Springs & Texas as their #1 (Locobase 16494).

Al Weber's number-by-number accounting says that 37 wasn't delivered to the OS and a few months later (May 1894) found its way onto the Sierra Madre Construction Company, possibly as the Sierra Madre & Pacific's #20. Its last owner was the Mexico & North Western, which operated it into the 1940s.

When the OS regained its financial footing, it ordered eight more locomotives from Baldwin that had 16 more small tubes and small differences including fractions of an inch on the firebox length and width. The first four took the cancelled road numbers (34-37) and were joined by four more.

All twelve Ohio Southern engines were taken into the Detroit Southern in 1901 and the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton in 1905. None of them had number changes. 34 was disposed of by 1911, the others by 1918.

---

Class 31 (Locobase 13263)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 51, p.323. See Locobase 13260 for a history of the Pacific's OSRR. Works numbers were 41392-41393 in May 1914.

The third pair of Baldwin Moguls delivered to the OSRR split the difference in size and power between the first two sets. Nevertheless, many components were designed to be interchangeable with the earlier locomotives.

When the railroad suddenly filed for abandonment in 1920, the 31 and 32 were purchased by the Fruit Growers Supply Company.

---

Class 42 (Locobase 13264)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 51, p.327. See Locobase 13260 for a history of the Pacific's OSRR. Works number was 41999 in April 1915.

The last Baldwin locomotive shipped to the OSRR on the Pacific Coast represented an anomaly. It was considerably smaller than the other Moguls and much less powerful.

The closing of the OSRR in 1920 led to the 42's departure for the Yuma Valley Railroad as their #2. The YVRR sold the engine to the Imperial Irrigation, which renumbered the engine 152.

---

Class 5 (Locobase 13260)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 31, p. 178. See also "Ocean Shore Electric Railway," Locomotive Firemen's Magazine, Volume 39, Number 9 (September 1905), pp. 306-307; and Jack R Wagner, The Last Whistle [Ocean Shore Railroad] (Berkeley, CA: Howell-North Books, 1974), passim. Works numbers were 32627, 32646 in January 1908.

For once an independent railroad got the better of the Octopus known as the Southern Pacific - at least for a while. The Ocean Shore's name accurately described its alignment, a railway perched above the Pacific from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. "This new route," explained the LFM article, "will invade a rich and splendid region heretofore deprived of direct railway transportation. For that reason the project is a most important one, both to San Francisco and Santa Cruz, and the intermediate territory ... It is quite probable that the Southern Pacific will soon construct a road to parallel that of the Ocean Shore, as the territory is too rich to abandon to a rival company."

It was an 83-mile (134 km) electric railroad, but operated steam-powered, oil-fired locomotives as well. These latter engines (which each cost $12,455) were the subject of a 1911 complaint by the Mission Promotion Association which contended that the original charter allowed only for electric operation.

The OSRR's closure in 1920 was prompted by a railway labor board decision to increase the wages of its workers. The railroad felt squeezed between a rapid increase in wages in the past couple of years and San Francisco's refusal to grant a fare increase on the electric railway system without a vote in a general election. The OSRR therefore announced it would accept no more business and would tear up its tracks. See Paul Eliel's report in the National Municipal Review of November 1920 (pp. 722) for a discussion of the then-novel idea of having the City of San Francisco take over operation of ex-OSRR trackage within the city's boundaries.