Richard writes (thanks Richard!) ...

I’ve attached two photos of one of the US Military Railway Operating Battalions operating several of the British Army WD 2-8-0 steam locomotives. I expect the time period for these photos is September through December 1944 and the location is somewhere in France. The photos were taken by a member of the US Military Railway Operating Battalion that handled them. 

The British WD 2-8-0 locomotives were the British Army Railway Battalion version of the US Army S160 2-8-0s. The main mechanical differences were the British locomotives used oil lubricated driving axles, had a smaller grate area and (the biggest one) were not equipped with rocking firebox grates. 

The photos show a rare event since these particular WD locomotives have been re-lettered to the USA Transportation Corp but were in use by the US MRS Railway Operating Battalions for only a short period of time. These locomotives were assigned to US Army Railway Operating Battalions in the September & October 1944 time period and then transferred back to the British Army around December 1944. 

The reason for their short operating life is the British WD locomotives were not well received by the US Railway locomotive crews because the lack of rocking grates, combined with the problems obtaining high quality locomotive coal in the combat zones, made it difficult for the US crews to fire these locomotives and handle fire cleaning when the coal created clinker during the trip and when performing the normal fire cleaning at the end of each trip. 

I copied these photos from the Facebook site ‘Armored, Army Trains and Railway Guns’. It is an open group but I'm not a member of it. I believe the photos appeared on it in the September 2024 time period, but this time period may not be accurate. 

Richard writes ... Richard writes ... This photo is the unofficial Baldwin Locomotive Works builders photo of US Army 2-8-0 S160 steam locomotive #1702 together with the US Army Corps of Engineers design engineers and project managers that were responsible for the design. 

The #1702 was one of the first series of US Army 2-8-0s that Baldwin built. These locomotives are well known overseas as the S160 Class, which was the specification number that American Locomotive Company (ALCO) assigned to them.

The photo was taken at the Baldwin Locomotive Works in either October or November 1942. I originally considered the Baldwin location for this photo to be a bit odd since ALCO was credited with the design work, but, since the design work was handled in combination with Baldwin, I can see the reason for the photo being taken there. It also may have been a matter of convenience when these three Army officers were available.   

The three US Army officers are (left to right) Colonel E.F. MacFadden, Major J.W. Marsh (he headed up the original design along with the American Locomotive Company and Baldwin Locomotive Works engineering departments), and Colonel W.G. Knight. All three officers served with the US Army Corps of Engineers.

I’ve been searching for this version of this photo for awhile. The Great Smokey Mountain Railway has their own version of it, but marked with their logo, while I wanted the original unmarked version. The locomotive #1702 still exists and is in operation with the Great Smokey Mountain Railway.

This photo was released to the US public and newspapers in early November 1942, but it did not receive much publication and I’ve never discovered it in any of the US railroad technical magazines during the war period.

One US newspaper that printed the photo was the Adrian, Michigan 'Daily Telegraph’ in their November 5, 1942 edition. The 557 Locomotive Restoration Company (which is overhauling the Alaskan Railroad’s Army 2-8-0 #557 in Alaska) located their photo and added it to their Facebook site.