Nostalgia & History > WP 328

Can anyone tell me about this locomotive. We are trying to date this photo. My grandfather is the person standing on the left with his arm over the pipe. He work for WP sometime in the 1920"s.

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Looks pretty new in the photo. The 328 was built in 1926 and last ran in 1951. It looks like the photo was taken in Sacramento, CA to me.

I agree, that locomotive looks "just delivered". The WP didn't spend a lot of time keeping most things clean.

Gary

Definitely Sacramento. That's Jeffery Shops in the background. And that has to be freshly delivered. May even be its first run. I have hardly ever seen a photo of WP steam with the feather medallion and painted cab numbers. WP liked to use enamel plates for the engine numbers in later years and this cab looks like the numbers are painted directly to the sidewall.

Awesome photo.

Z

trainjunkie Wrote:
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> Looks pretty new in the photo. The 328 was built
> in 1926 and last ran in 1951. It looks like the
> photo was taken in Sacramento, CA to me.


Western Pacific #327-331 were constructed by Alco-Schenectady in May 1926. However, they were all delivered with WESTERN PACIFIC spelled out on the tender and cab numbers painted on. See Guy Dunscomb and Fred Stindt's excellent book "Western Pacific Steam Locomotives, Passenger Trains and Cars"; specifically pages 265 and 266 depict the locos in the as-delivered scheme. There are two views of all five locos from this group on page 266 at Portola in June 1926. All five have the WESTERN PACIFIC spelled out lettering on the tenders.

It wasn't until late 1929-1930 that the railroad began applying large enamel WP "Feather River Route" logos to steam locomotive tenders, along with enamel number plates on the cab. In the above photo WP 328 was probably repainted. That sure looks like one of the buildings at Sacramento's Jeffrey Shops in the background. I would say this photo dates from sometime ~after~ 1930.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/15 10:55 by Albrae.

The "pipe" your grandfather has his arm over is a hand-hold to allow safe
movement along the running board. Interesting photo, thanks for posting.

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

I would say it is 1929 at Sacramento. Dunscomb's book says that the 327-331 class was the last with the Western Pacific spelled out on the tender; and the next class delivered in May 1929 had the medallion on the tender, along with painted-on cab numbers. It says the enamel numbers were first applied in 1930. So if it were after that date, it would have had enamel numbers.

Peter Arnold

Albrae Wrote:
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> trainjunkie Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Looks pretty new in the photo. The 328 was
> built
> > in 1926 and last ran in 1951. It looks like the
> > photo was taken in Sacramento, CA to me.
>
>
> Western Pacific #327-331 were constructed by
> Alco-Schenectady in May 1926. However, they were
> all delivered with WESTERN PACIFIC spelled out on
> the tender and cab numbers painted on. See Guy
> Dunscomb and Fred Stindt's excellent book "Western
> Pacific Steam Locomotives, Passenger Trains and
> Cars"; specifically pages 265 and 266 depict the
> locos in the as-delivered scheme. There are two
> views of all five locos from this group on page
> 266 at Portola in June 1926. All five have the
> WESTERN PACIFIC spelled out lettering on the
> tenders.
>
> It wasn't until late 1929-1930 that the railroad
> began applying large enamel WP "Feather River
> Route" logos to steam locomotive tenders, along
> with enamel number plates on the cab. In the
> above photo WP 328 was probably repainted. That
> sure looks like one of the buildings at
> Sacramento's Jeffrey Shops in the background. I
> would say this photo dates from sometime ~after~
> 1930.

Smokebox & front painted black instead of graphyte?