Steam & Excursion > A Lima Berkshire Takes On Water At Roseville-#3502!

By early 1945 when the War in Europe was winding down, the emphasis of the War effort shifted dramatically to the Pacific Theater of operations. This put an enormous strain on the Western railroads in the U.S. such as the Southern Pacific. Already strapped for power and with many older engines having been used up in the War effort so far, SP went looking for any replacement power they could find.

Relief for the SP came in the form of 10 Lima-built 2-8-4 Berkshires that had been built in 1928 for the Boston & Maine Railroad. These engines were all coal burners on the B&M but would work nicely for the SP who desperately needed big steam power.

These were the only Berkshire wheel arrangement engines ever used by the SP. Some were converted to oil firing which allowed them to be used in the West. One such engine was SP #3502 shown here taking water on at the Roseville, California shops on September 9, 1950. Wil Whittaker was on hand to record this rare view of a Berkshire in SP service.

When the war ended these 10 engines lasted only until 1951 when they were all sold for scrap. With the coming of the SP diesel fleet, the 2-8-4's were removed from service early since these were "orphan" engines for the SP and there were no supplies of replacement parts available for them.

While out of place on the SP, the Berkshire engines served the line well in it's time of need.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/14 04:00 by LoggerHogger.

---

God bless Wil for being there to record it. That's one of the best photos ever of those ex-B&M "Berks" on the Espee.

SP sure made them homely!

Love the look of a hard working locomotive...

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com

Frisco1522 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SP sure made them homely!

Look at one before removal of the coffin feedwater heater on the smokebox front. btw, anyone know if they replaced the coffin with another type or did without?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/14 10:05 by masterphots.

Amazing photo! Thanks for sharing.

Al Seever
Phoenix, AZ

Had they put the bell on the smokebox front and the headlight on the smokebox door SP style and put a decent looking tender on them, would have made a tremendous difference.

"Decent looking tender"? Good Lord, man! An Espee whaleback tender is about as good as it gets! Yeah, okay, she wasn't the prettiest pony in the stable, but leave it to the good ole Espee to make it interesting...

Sort of making a sows ear out of silk purse. :)

S_W

masterphots Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Frisco1522 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > SP sure made them homely!
>
> Look at one before removal of the coffin feedwater
> heater on the smokebox front. btw, anyone know if
> they replaced the coffin with another type or did
> without?

From the photo, it appears they did without.

Ugliest Berk I've ever seen... but steam is steam, and all steam is beautiful.