Nostalgia & History > Prosperity Special

Frisco1522 replied to my posting Railroads of America (60photos), “First shot is of the ‘Prosperity Special’ which was a gaggle of new SP engines shipped to them all at once for publicity.”

After reading Frisco1522’s reply I did a Google Search for Railroad Prosperity Special. I found two nice pictures on a Trainorders posted by KeyRouteKen and MTMEngineer on a posting by KeyRouteKen on 02/25/05.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,877812,877812#msg-877812

I found two pictures on the Southern Methodist University website,

http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/all

Picture 1, “Title: Southern Pacific ‘'Prosperity Special.’ Creator: Baldwin Locomotive Works. Date: 1922. Part Of Baldwin locomotives Prosperity Special and Lovett Eames. Physical Description: 1 photographic print: 49 x 28 cm. Railway Line: Southern Pacific Company.”

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Picture 2, “Title: Southern Pacific, Locomotive 3674, ‘'Prosperity Special.’ Creator: Unknown. Date: 1922. Part Of Samuel M. Vauclain papers. 3674 Prosperity Special broadside of loco with four ladies standing in front. ‘Compliments of Mrs. Arthur S. Gable, July 6th 1922, St. Louis, Mo.’ Physical Description: 1 photographic print: 7.5 x 12.5 cm. Railway Line: Southern Pacific Company.”

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I have another, Where was this photo taken [Where is Coalinga]? photo from the website,

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Antique-Images-from-the-Collection-of-Michael-J-Semas/319722608043803

Picture 3, “Dean Osterling Where is this? Hanford? Antique Images from the Collection of Michael J. Semas. This image is of the Coalinga railroad depot and was taken in 1921. The train shown here is facing east and would have passed through Hanford on its trip.”

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I took the picture, “Steam Engine 166 at roundhouse, Denver & Rio Grande Railroad.”, from the above websit and used it in my yesterday’s posting, "Where was this picture taken?"

In case someone’s Grandfather is in the picture I adjusted the brightness to -43 and divided the picture into two pictures with Microsoft Picture Manager.

Picture 4, Left.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/12 06:08 by flynn.

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Picture 5, Right.

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“Dean Osterling Where is this? Hanford? Antique Images from the Collection of Michael J. Semas. This image is of the Coalinga railroad depot and was taken in 1921. The train shown here is facing east and would have passed through Hanford on its trip.”

Coalinga is in the San Jaquin Valley, on the west side, due east of Tulare CA about 30 miles. In the early years of railroading, before the extensive development of oil production in California, the steam locomotives were powered by the burning of coal obtained from the northern foothills of Mount Diablo. The Southern Pacific Transportation Company established the site as a coaling station in 1888, and it was called simply Coaling Station A. Local tradition has it that an official of Southern Pacific made the name more sonorous by adding an a to it.[4] However, it is just as likely that the small railside signs of the day, which often abbreviated names, read "COALINGA" to mean "Coaling A."

Hanford is a town on the line to Coalinga. Hanford is named for James Madison Hanford, a railroad executive, after the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks were laid through a sheep camp in the year 1877. According to History of Kings County : "It was but a short step from sheep-camp to village and with the railroad as an attraction the village flourished and became a town within a few historic months. Hanford is a major trading center serving the surrounding agricultural area.

Thanks CPRR for the information.

Coalinga is WEST of Hanford, not east...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Mr. Flynn, thank you for showing your post of the "Prosperity Special". 30 years ago, my sister bought my 2 second train book "The locomotives that Baldwin Built". There was a section written about the special. SP had ordered 50 2-10-2's in the fall of 1921 and all were finished in spring of 1922. Since SP wasn't in no hurry for power, Baldwin decided to hold all 50 at its' plant in Eddystone, PA. Mr. Samuel Vauclain, the president of Baldwin Locomotive Works knew it was great publicity for BLW and SP. The special left on May 26, 1922 from Eddystone, Pa on the Pennslyvania Railroad. Then it traveled to East St. Louis and interchanged with St. Louis Southwestern aka Cotton Belt and its' way west to Los Angeles arriving on July 4, 1922. The special was on display at Exposition Park for another two days.

Some of these 2-10-2's would have long careers with SP until the end of steam.

MojaveBill Wrote:
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> Coalinga is WEST of Hanford, not east...


Senior moment......you are right