Trials of diesel locomotives and railcars began in Britain in the 1930s but made only limited progress. Europe Britain īritish industrial steam in the 1970s: a Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns 0-4-0ST shunting coal wagons at Agecroft Power Station, Pendlebury in 1976 In Paraguay, wood-burning steam locomotives operated until 1999. The Mexican Pacific line, a standard gauge short line in the state of Sinaloa, was reported in August 1987 to still be using steam, with a roster of one 4-6-0, two 2-6-2s and one 2-8-2. On the contiguous North American standard gauge network across Canada, Mexico and the United States, the use of standard gauge main line steam locomotion using 4-8-4s built in 1946 for handling freight between Mexico City and Irapuato lasted until 1968. By this time, around 1,800 of the over 160,000 steam locomotives built in the United States between 18 still existed, with a fraction still in operating condition at museums, on tourist railroads, or in use on mainline excursions. Some US shortlines continued steam operations into the 1960s and beyond the Northwestern Steel and Wire mill in Sterling, Illinois continued to operate steam locomotives until December 1980, and the Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railway, which had used steam since its inception in 1973, continued until September 1986. It has always had at least one operational steam locomotive, Union Pacific 844, on its roster. The Union Pacific Railroad is the only Class I railroad in the US to have never completely dieselised, at least nominally. The Denver and Rio Grande Western would keep its narrow gauge steam power active, however isolated from its main network, until in 1981 when Florida business man Charles Bradshaw bought the Durango and Silverton line from the D&RGW and renamed it the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad with its first season starting in 1982. Narrow-gauge steam was used for freight service by the Denver and Rio Grande Western on the 250-mile (400 km) run from Alamosa, Colorado, to Farmington, New Mexico, via Durango until service ceased on 6 December 1968. The last steam-powered standard-gauge regular freight service by a class 1 railroad came little over a year later on the isolated Leadville branch of the Colorado and Southern (Burlington Route) on 11 October 1962 with 2-8-0 641. The Grand Trunk Western did, however, use some steam power for regular passenger trains until 1961, the last instance of this occurring unannounced on trains 56 and 21 in the Detroit area on 20 September 1961 with 4-8-4 6323, one day before its flue time expired. 1960 is normally considered the final year of regular Class 1 main line standard gauge steam operation in the United States, with operations on the Grand Trunk Western, Illinois Central, Norfolk and Western, and Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Railroads, as well as Canadian Pacific operations in Maine. The last steam locomotive manufactured for general service in the United States would follow in 1953: a Norfolk and Western 0-8-0, built in the railroad's Roanoke Shops. The Lima Locomotive Works was perhaps the last commercial builder of steam locomotives, with the final order completed being for ten 2-8-4 “Berkshires” for the New York, Chicago & St. The manufacture of new steam locomotives for stateside use decreased as dieselization continued. World War II delayed dieselisation in the US until the late 1940s in 1949, the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad became the first large mainline railroad to convert completely to diesel locomotives, and Life Magazine ran an article on 5 December 1949 titled "The GM&O puts all its steam engines to torch, becomes first major US railroad to dieselize 100%". On the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, new units delivered over 350,000 miles (560,000 km) a year, compared with about 120,000–150,000 miles (190,000–240,000 km) for a mainline steam locomotive. Compared to steam, diesel power reduced maintenance costs dramatically while increasing locomotive availability. Moving forward, diesel locomotives began to appear in mainline service in the United States in the mid-1930s. The first diesel locomotives appeared on the Central Railroad of New Jersey in 1925 and on the New York Central in 1927. Northwestern Steel and Wire locomotive number 80, July 1964
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