End of steam in revenue service...

Hey guys,

Just something I was currious about, when was steam last used in regular, revenue service in countries around the world? Here in the states, I believe the last steamer was used in the early 1960's (anyone know the exact date?) and regular steam service ended in 1973 in Japan (in Hokkaido, I believe).

in New Zealands case , probably early to mid seventies .
i think the last steam passenger train was 1972 , frieght probably continued a little longer .

There is still some steam in use in China. Also in Cuba. When Eritrea became independent (the war with Ethiopia ended) they decided to revive the railway and at least at first renovated a steam loco. It is possible there is some in Sudan.

In Norway, last regular use of steam was in 1971

In England, steam came to an end in regular service in 1968. It can still be seen on tourist lines and on railfan trips on the main lines.

Also, I think Holland was the first European country to get rid of steam completely, last regular use of steam in Holland apparently took place as early as 1958

Komachi, the last steam used on a regular basis is as follows:

1. mainline service- the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville used their steamer until the early '70s because their GE 44-tonner just couldn't cut it on heavier freight runs. There is a picture of this engine in an article by Pete Snow in Railfan. The article was featured back in 1996 and the pic itself dates to 1971. It's so weird to see a steam loco next to an EL Geep!

2. switching service- CTC Board had an article about an industrial switching line in Detroit that used a quartet of 0-8-0s until 1980. I can't recall the name of the line, but I still have the mag somewhere...

There is still steam in use in Poland.

China retired it's steam fleets for all national lines a few years ago, but most of the locomotives found their way onto the private and industirial lines.

I think in America, we generally accept 1960 as the date for "regular" steam service ending. The Grand Trunk Western used steam engines on commuter trains out of Detroit, Michigan. Yes, some short lines and industrials used steam into the 1960s (amd 1980s as pointed out), but they were the exception and not the rule.

-otto-

I was told by a contact in PR that the Tren Del Sur was operating a commuter service using diesel on one end and STEAM on the other until 1996! Whether or not this is true, I don't know

South Africa used steam until the late 1980's.

The 2-10-2's that just showed up here in the U.S. last month were both in service and just retired late last year I beleive. One of them 7081 was built in 1986 and was in passenger service up to Oct 2005. The looks take some getting use to, the dry pipe on top of the boiler and controls on the other side of the cab. But if they work as well as the SY 2-8-2's they should be a home run!

In 1986 I had a cab ride on a tank engine at Hexham, New South Wales (Australia) - Was the line called the Richmond Vale Railway or something like that? Went from a coal load out a few km's to a loading operation adjacent to the NSW main north line at Hexham, a few miles west of Newcastle. Little wooden hopper cars. I don't think it lasted to much beyond the mid 1980's.

In Germany, mainline steam ran until May of 1978.