The 5000 class steam locos were the longest rigid framed locos on the SP.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Thursday, May 15, 2014
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Monday, May 12, 2014
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Monday, May 5, 2014
SP Steam - Just Dirty black locomotives... right?
My earliest recollection of steam locomotives was probably the Hooterville Cannon Ball on Petticoat Junction which aired on CBS from 1963 (no I don't recall that year) to 1970 and Artemus Gordon and James West gallivanting about the west, fighting off Sherlock Holmes like master nemesis on the "The Wild, Wild, West" which aired on CBS from 1965 to 1969. The Hooterville Cannon Ball was the Sierra Railroad 4-6-0 (ten-wheeler) No. 3 decked out to look like a wood burner and based in Jamestown, California. The Gordon/West loco was the Virginia & Truckee No. 22 "Inyo" was also decked out as a wood burner although converted to burn oil by the time of the series. Both locos are still with us, if not operational.
From here I could actually touch and "taste" steam locos at Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, with the Knott's engines having been former narrow gauge Denver & Rio Grande Western and Rio Grande Southern locos. So my first impression of steam, both on TV and live was not Southern Pacific. Nay that would come later, 1984 to be exact, Big Brother and all...
I modeled some SP diesels since I wanted to model what I had been around and SP was it with that nifty gray and bloody nose scheme. Small shelf layout attempts here and there and more or less collecting freight cars of the 70's and early 80's. Hanging out at the train store talking about SD45's and Tunnel Motors. We had heard that some old steam train was going to come through Soledad Canyon and to Saugus/Newhall, Calif in 1984. The Worlds Fair was to be held in New Orleans and SP was sponsoring some steam locomotive and passenger cars. There was no internet in those days. So we wondered what kind of steam engine were railfaning for. My buddy had changed the crystals in his hand-held scanner so we could hear when the steam engine would be coming our way. That was big technology for us then and it was May 12, 1984.
What came around the bend of the canyon was not a black steam locomotive at all. This thing was orange. Lots of orange. Some red. Some black for sure. But orange. Who would paint a steam locomotive orange? Why...it's... beautiful!
The cacophony of steel on steel; the whir of massive siderods churning away; steam seeking escape under super-heated pressure; air pumps beating. This was an orchestrated sound I never experienced until this orange and red rocket blasted underneath us on our perched highway location.
The next day the plastic diesels were set aside. The 60' boxcars with roller bearings and build date of 1974 would certainly not due. I was converted. I was on a quest to model steam. Not just any steam. Nope. Nothing short of the most beautiful train in the world...
So what is it about steam locomotives that catches our fascination and makes us a bit giddy? Share your thoughts below.
Speaking of steam, have a look at HO modeling of 1895 on the Stockton and Copperopolis Railroad!
From here I could actually touch and "taste" steam locos at Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, with the Knott's engines having been former narrow gauge Denver & Rio Grande Western and Rio Grande Southern locos. So my first impression of steam, both on TV and live was not Southern Pacific. Nay that would come later, 1984 to be exact, Big Brother and all...
I modeled some SP diesels since I wanted to model what I had been around and SP was it with that nifty gray and bloody nose scheme. Small shelf layout attempts here and there and more or less collecting freight cars of the 70's and early 80's. Hanging out at the train store talking about SD45's and Tunnel Motors. We had heard that some old steam train was going to come through Soledad Canyon and to Saugus/Newhall, Calif in 1984. The Worlds Fair was to be held in New Orleans and SP was sponsoring some steam locomotive and passenger cars. There was no internet in those days. So we wondered what kind of steam engine were railfaning for. My buddy had changed the crystals in his hand-held scanner so we could hear when the steam engine would be coming our way. That was big technology for us then and it was May 12, 1984.
What came around the bend of the canyon was not a black steam locomotive at all. This thing was orange. Lots of orange. Some red. Some black for sure. But orange. Who would paint a steam locomotive orange? Why...it's... beautiful!
The cacophony of steel on steel; the whir of massive siderods churning away; steam seeking escape under super-heated pressure; air pumps beating. This was an orchestrated sound I never experienced until this orange and red rocket blasted underneath us on our perched highway location.
The next day the plastic diesels were set aside. The 60' boxcars with roller bearings and build date of 1974 would certainly not due. I was converted. I was on a quest to model steam. Not just any steam. Nope. Nothing short of the most beautiful train in the world...
So what is it about steam locomotives that catches our fascination and makes us a bit giddy? Share your thoughts below.
Speaking of steam, have a look at HO modeling of 1895 on the Stockton and Copperopolis Railroad!
Please support our sponsors who help maintain this blog: The DCC Shop
Great service and great low prices on model railroad track and DCC systems, throttles, decoders, and supplies. Tell The DCC Shop you found them from this Southern Pacific blog site!
When steam ruled the steel rails of the SP
Although now a fallen flag railroad (having been merged into the Union Pacific (Uncle Pete), the Southern Pacific Railroad had a rich and vibrant history as far as railroads go. Indulge with me as we discuss the Southern Pacific Pacific Railroad.
This blog is an attempt get out of the Yahoo Groups email mode and share with others about the Friendly. Your comments are welcome and encouraged!
Like this jovial character in front of Southern Pacific 2248, a 4-6-0 Class T-1, we are (especially if you are reading this blog) universally drawn to steam locomotives. This photo is of a Lions Club special excursion event in southern California in the 1950s and our friend here donning his nifty convention hat is admiring the silly "Hollywooding" of a locomotive that has had a long career.
2248 was built in 1896 by Cooke Locomotive and Machine Work for premiere passenger duty until larger locomotives relegated her to branch duties. While many of 2248's T-1 outdated sister locos were destined for the scrapper during the Great Depression, 2248 was chosen to perform fire protection of numerous wooden snow sheds and adjacent forests over Donner Pass. As the miles of wooden snow sheds were deemed no longer necessary and the critical ones converted to concrete, 2248 was pulled out of fire train duty and given the mundane task of being used for western movies with the non-functional diamond stack and shiny domes. Purchased from the SP by Charles Brown, a construction contractor in San Fernando, California, 2248 was destined for an amusement park until those plans fell through. There she sat, forlorn on a siding off the SP mainline just north of Maclay Avenue and 1st Street in the 1960s, when I recollected her as we passed by on weekly trips to visit my paternal grandparents in San Fernando. Moved to another siding a bit north in Sylmar near Hubbard Street in late 1970, 2248 rolled onto her fireman's side in the deadly February 1971 Sylmar earthquake. Righted and worse for wear, 2248 was purchased by the state of Texas and now restored to excursion service in Texas on the Fort Worth and Western Tarantula train.
So what is it about steam locomotives that catches our fascination and makes us a bit giddy? Share your thoughts below.
This blog is an attempt get out of the Yahoo Groups email mode and share with others about the Friendly. Your comments are welcome and encouraged!
Why do we like (Love) steam locomotives?
2248 was built in 1896 by Cooke Locomotive and Machine Work for premiere passenger duty until larger locomotives relegated her to branch duties. While many of 2248's T-1 outdated sister locos were destined for the scrapper during the Great Depression, 2248 was chosen to perform fire protection of numerous wooden snow sheds and adjacent forests over Donner Pass. As the miles of wooden snow sheds were deemed no longer necessary and the critical ones converted to concrete, 2248 was pulled out of fire train duty and given the mundane task of being used for western movies with the non-functional diamond stack and shiny domes. Purchased from the SP by Charles Brown, a construction contractor in San Fernando, California, 2248 was destined for an amusement park until those plans fell through. There she sat, forlorn on a siding off the SP mainline just north of Maclay Avenue and 1st Street in the 1960s, when I recollected her as we passed by on weekly trips to visit my paternal grandparents in San Fernando. Moved to another siding a bit north in Sylmar near Hubbard Street in late 1970, 2248 rolled onto her fireman's side in the deadly February 1971 Sylmar earthquake. Righted and worse for wear, 2248 was purchased by the state of Texas and now restored to excursion service in Texas on the Fort Worth and Western Tarantula train.
So what is it about steam locomotives that catches our fascination and makes us a bit giddy? Share your thoughts below.
Please support our sponsors who help maintain this blog: The DCC Shop
Great service and great low prices on model railroad track and DCC systems, throttles, decoders, and supplies. Tell The DCC Shop you found them from this Southern Pacific blog site!
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