As its number suggests, this is the first of one hundred and three 1050 Class Prairie type (2-6-2) locomotives built for the AT&SF by Baldwin between 1902 and 1903 (#1050-#1152). As built, #1050 was a four cylinder Vauclain compound with 17" x 28" high pressure and 28" x 28" low pressure cylinders. The engine had two pistons mounted in line and moving in parallel to drive a common crosshead. The valve was on the inside, controlled by Stephenson valve gear.
The main advantage claimed for compounding was lower fuel and water consumption, but the Vauclain arrangement produced uneven forces and excess wear at the crosshead, which increased maintenance costs and largely offset any fuel economies. The complex valve assembly and the starter valve, which allowed admission of high pressure steam directly to the low pressure cylinder, also increased maintenance costs.
By the turn of the century, many US railroads were turning away from compounds and converting those they owned
to single-expansion locomotives. The AT&SF
subsequently simplified all its 1050s between 1910 and 1922 with 23½" x 28" cylinders.
At 210,190 lbs, 141,690 lbs on their drivers, the simplified 1050s weighed 20,190 lbs more than the as-built compounds. The tender weighs 112,610 lbs light with a capacity of 7,000 gallons of water and 2,350 gallons of oil.
#1050's grate is 55.3 sq ft and the firebox is 195 sq ft. An oil burner with a total heating surface of 3,738 sq ft, it operated at a boiler pressure of 200 psi delivering 38,097 lbs tractive effort. The 69" drivers were designed for general use and the additional weight increased tractive effort from the as-built compounds' 29,134 lbs.
Left, #1050's backhead.
The locomotive was donated to the City of Independence in 1955 and is on display in Riverside Park. It is one of two hundred and thirty-three Prairie type locomotives bought by the AT&SF between 1901 and 1903, most of which worked well into the 1950s. A surprising number of these have survived and several are dotted about the South-West. You can see some of them on the ATSF #1024, ATSF #1067, ATSF #1079, ATSF #1129, ATSF #1139, ATSF #1819 and ATSF #1880 pages of this website.