Steam & Excursion > Photo By Don Sims

A little steam!

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Great shot!.. I can almost hear those air pumps wheezing from here!

And you can almost hear the roar of the water passing out of the plug and into the tender. As the fast moving water makes the final turn going down, the question is what would happen if the fireman took his foot off the spout?

In my early teens I used to go to sleep to those air pumps here in Mojave.

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Anyone recognise the location?

Westbound Wrote:
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> And you can almost hear the roar of the water
> passing out of the plug and into the tender. As
> the fast moving water makes the final turn going
> down, the question is what would happen if the
> fireman took his foot off the spout?

He would be very wet from about the waist on down.

Nice. A bit more info (date/location) would be much appreciated ...

Working on it! Trying to get dad to provide additional information! ;)

Calexico?   Stein was probably with him during this shoot.  Mike Pechner

OT--There is a very nice SP&S photo by your dad in the latest edition of Classic Trains magazine, page 16.

Stein was not with my Dad. The photo was taken in  Saugus, CA The year was  1954.

Now that's what I'm talkin about.   Great shot.

Nice photo!   I wonder if this photo was taken with existing light, or with some added flashes, or flood lights, O. Winston Link style ?   

Craig Hanson
Vay, Idaho
 

Location is not Saugus (I'll explain why in a post tomorrow).

Posted from iPhone

The water column at Saugus was a short distance south of the depot (there was just one water column at Saugus; there wasn't any need to have more).  It can be seen in a 1955 photo at: http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,1262451,1262454 , second photo  (a photograph showing the relationship of the water tank to the Saugus depot is at http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/pa5201.htm ).  Note that the track layout seen in the Trainorders link does not match that in the Don Sims photo here.

Then there is the matter of the cantilever signal bridge in the Don Sims photo.  No such signal bridge shows up in any photo I've seen taken at Saugus.  No signal bridge was there when I first saw Saugus in 1964.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/16 16:07 by johnsweetser.

By the way, the Don Sims photo posted here can also be found on pg. 25 of the Winter 1974 Rail Classics Special Steam Issue, also with the incorrect Saugus location info.

I'll trust the photograher. ;) In 1954, my older sister was born and dad did not venture far from home according to mom for over a year. They lived in the San Fernando Valley most likely in an area called Sepulveda, CA.

johnsweetser Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The water column at Saugus was a short distance
> south of the depot (there was just one water
> column at Saugus; there wasn't any need to have
> more).  It can be seen in a 1955 photo at:
> http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,
> 1262451,1262454 , second photo  (a photograph
> showing the relationship of the water tank to the
> Saugus depot is at
> http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/pa5201.htm
> ).  Note that the track layout seen in the
> Trainorders link does not match that in the Don
> Sims photo here.
>
> Then there is the matter of the cantilever signal
> bridge in the Don Sims photo.  No such signal
> bridge shows up in any photo I've seen taken at
> Saugus.  No signal bridge was there when I
> first saw Saugus in 1964.

Just a thought . . . If you take a look at the two examples you provided, those were taken from the depot side (east side). Dad's photo was taken from the San Fernando Rd. side (west side). Also, the photos provided in a previous TO thread and the SCV Historical Society the camera vantage point was taken from railroad timetable east and dad's photo was taken railroad timetable west.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/16 08:26 by Phantom_of_Cajon.

Phantom_of_Cajon Wrote:

>  . . . If you take a look at the two examples you provided, those were taken from the depot side (east side). Dad's photo was taken from the San Fernando Rd. side (west side).

This explanation makes it even more unlikely the location is Saugus.  If Don Sims took the photo from the San Fernando Road (now called Railroad Avenue) side, then he would have been pointing his camera northeasterly.  If so, the Saugus depot should be seen in the background but instead, it's absent.  Also, there was never a cantilever signal bridge at Saugus in the 1950s or any other time that was north of the water column.


>Also, the photos provided in a previous TO thread and the SCV Historical Society the camera vantage point was taken from railroad timetable east and dad's photo was taken railroad timetable west.

No, the photos in the previous TO thread and on the SCV Historical Society website were taken from railroad timetable west, not "railroad timetable east."  Any location at Saugus north of the water column was closer to San Francisco by rail; hence, they were taken from railroad timetable west.

It remains impossible that this photo was taken at Saugus.

 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/16 13:21 by johnsweetser.

In addition, the switch in the foreground of the picture has a track, that if you follow curves to the left. The beginning of the Santa Paula Branch which means, the Cab Forward in the picture is timetable westbound and the picture is taken looking westbound.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/16 17:01 by Phantom_of_Cajon.