Steam & Excursion > AC-9 # 3809 Photo Runby on the Modoc -- 1954

"Paiute Express" excursion train. (5-8-1954) This trip with AC-9 # 3809 is featured on the DVD:
"SP STEAM FANTRIPS", along with many other great trips in the 1950's ...

Here is a still photo of the trip, courtesy of Martin Hansen. Locomotive engineers on these engines used to say that when the pilot was taking a crossover to another track, their view appeared to still be going straight ahead.

KRK



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/15 07:12 by KeyRouteKen.

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Magnificent! Where's the time machine when we need it?

S_W

Excellent. Looks like one of the cuts between Nixon and Wadsworth.

Z

Trainorders is almost as good as a time machine! Beautiful!

zephyrus Wrote:

> Excellent. Looks like one of the cuts between
> Nixon and Wadsworth.

It was north of Sutcliffe along Pyramid Lake. I think this is the cut in question:

http://goo.gl/maps/qCK5O

Here's a view Vic DuBrutz took at the same spot from the opposite side of the tracks with the lake in the background, along with a view at Sutcliffe proper and one at Sparks with a cab-forward standing beside the "cab-backward." ;^) Photos courtesy the Western Railway Museum Archives.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/15 10:00 by Evan_Werkema.

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Here's the flyer, also from the WRM Archives:

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I have noticed that the train was #317 one way and #X3809 the other way. Is that correct? wag216

Funny that the Western Railway Archives doesn't know how to spell "Piute". LOL!

Brian Ehni

What unique engines!

Air horn--top right
Low mounted headlight
Low mounted bell--very unique--lower right
Forward steam whistle--top right
Stylish cow catcher

I've read elsewhere--can't remember--that engineers considered these engines "slippery" and not able to hold the rail too well under heavy load. Has anyone else heard that?

twin_star_rocket Wrote:
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> Funny that the Western Railway Archives doesn't
> know how to spell "Piute". LOL!
>
> Brian Ehni

Brian-- Why make that spelling hit on the WRM They had nothing to do with it! This is an old Flyer from 1954.

KRK

wag216 Wrote:
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> I have noticed that the train was #317 one way and
> #X3809 the other way. Is that correct? wag216

Un-named Passenger 317 was gone by at least February 6, 1938 (Salt Lake #52), so this movement was probably operating under the authority of Extra 3809 West, Work Extra 3809 West, or less likely under one of 3 scheduled westward second class trains (549, 557, or 559, depending upon the time of day).

I'm sure one of the more historically-minded railfans sauntered up to the Conductor, ATM or TM (more likely an ATM or TM) and requested 317 in the indicators for the runby.

I dunno, you see pictures of them running at speed on the Sunset with big trains, might
have been a little slippery on start but I'm sure they could really deliver the horsepower.

Out

coach Wrote:
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> What unique engines!
>
> Air horn--top right
> Low mounted headlight
> Low mounted bell--very unique--lower right
> Forward steam whistle--top right
> Stylish cow catcher

What sort of feedwater system did it have? I can't seem to find the pump, and I'm too lazy to go up to the library and get Bob Church's book out.

Beautiful shots, Evan. Thanks for the research.

John.

Since it was one of my photos that started this thread, I thought I would add this photo of one of the plates in my collection. Yes, this is off SP #3809, the only AC-9 to pull a fan trip.

Martin

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The photo of SP 3809 and 4192 is excellent, two of my favorite
SP locomotive models!

Though I'm still partial to C-8 2-8-0s, especially SP 2720,
better known as SD&AE 104!

Mike

LoggerHogger Wrote:
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> Since it was one of my photos that started this
> thread, I thought I would add this photo of one of
> the plates in my collection. Yes, this is off SP
> #3809, the only AC-9 to pull a fan trip.
>
> Martin

Ok Sir Martin-- It's time to divulge your secrets of steam.. No more playing around. OK ?
All us curious railfans want to know where you come up with all these "Builders Plates".. Your secrets have carried on too long.

There could be some obscure 2-4-0 built in 1883 and scrapped in Casmalia, CA in 1927 in Joe Anderson's dumpy scrapyard with 100 old autos and 10-foot high weeds and a fence that is more rust than a fence.... And low and behold, the man from Bend, Oregon has the dang builders plate. This has gone on for way too long. Do you have Martians in a space ship out looking for you... C'mon guy--be nice--tell us how you do it !!!

Cheers.

KRK
i

Martin and Evan -----
Those are very very nice photos! Thank
you very much, Martin, for taking tbat
great photo -- and for somehow being able
to save the dear departed 3809's builder's
plate.

Evan ----
Thank you SO much for those pix and the scan
of the flyer. What a rare and wonderful trip that
must have been! Wish I had been on it, but I was
not a railfan back then. I was in the Bay Area back
then, but paid no attention tot rains back then -- to my
everlasting regret now.

Ken ---
Were you on that trip?

For someone who always bitches about air pumps mounted on the smokebox front, I really think those AC-9s were very handsome locomotives, much more so than their cab-ahead brothers. Now I will duck from all you SP fans who love cab-aheads. Just a personal preference on my part. Jack, I can't see any feedwater pumps on them either. Maybe located on the pilot?

I looked up the AC-9 statistics on Wikipedia and from what was there, there were 11 of these locomotives built around 1939. There were numbered 3800 - 3811. All were scrapped. What was their performance like? Were they excellent, good, somewhere in between or didn't live up to the SP's expectations? I like everything about their appearance except the photo that was included with one of them having "white wall tires". Sorry, just my personal opinion. It would've been nice if one had been preserved somewhere.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/15 04:32 by apollo17.