Nostalgia & History > E.K. Muller: SP 4460's skyline casing

With fmaffei's recent posts of SP 4460 on the October 12, 1958 excursion to Fresno, it was pointed out that the front of the skyline casing above the round smokebox front was usually painted black on a GS-6, but was painted silver on 4460 for its last few excursions in 1958.

The following two pictures from the Western Railway Museum Archives were taken by E.K. Muller in October and November 1956, when 4460 was just another low-drivered warbaby 4-8-4 slugging out its last revenue miles in freight service around the San Francisco Bay Area.  The first view was identified by the photographer as just west of Livermore, CA.  The second certainly looks like it was taken in the Niles Canyon area, and other photos in the same packet are definitely in Niles Canyon, but I can't seem to find a place where the road and background hills match the ones in the photo.  If anyone recognizes the specific location, please chime in...but that's not why I called. 

The front of the skyline casing in late October 1956 is pretty clearly black, but a week later...well, it certainly looks lighter.  The ends of the cut levers and the conduit to the headlight are now silver instead of black too, and there are traces of silver overspray around the coupler, suggesting that 4460's silver was "touched up" in the intervening week.  Whether the casing was intentionally painted or just not masked off and incidentally dusted with silver when the smokebox was painted, I can't say, but it is interesting in light of 4460's "final" decorations in 1958.

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I have always felt that the additional silver paint added in 1956 was simply a quick touch-up with overspray on the skyline casting.  When you spary silver paint it can get everywhere!

The paint job #4460 got for the 1958 trips clearly shows that the front of the skyline casting was intentionaly painted silver.

Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/15 07:03 by LoggerHogger.

The 2nd great photo has the train a bit south of Niles Tower headed toward Warm Springs in what is now the city of Fremont. The paved street to the left is Overacker Ave. In the mid-1950's there were 5 small towns with rural farming separating them. Later it all became Fremont with little or no farming areas left.

 

It does look like overspray . . . notice the "shadow" where the casing meets the boiler, probably caused by spraying the silver upwards.

In the first photo, is that 4-8-4 able to get a fruit block up Altamont unassisted, or did they cut in a helper at Livermore?

TIA,

Rob L.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/15 18:02 by rob_l.

Wunderbar !  Danke for sharing.

Evan's second photo is overspray !!

The silver paintjob 1n 1958 was done on purpose by the roundhouse personnel in West Oakland. While being serviced and made-ready for the "Farewell to Steam Trip",  I was in the cab of SP 4460 riding around with the crew !  But I didn't go on the trip itself!  Darnit!

KRK

rob_l Wrote:

> In the first photo, is that 4-8-4 able to get a
> fruit block up Altamont unassisted, or did they
> cut in a helper at Livermore?

The 4460 was alone on the point going over the top, but I don't know if they added a helper ahead of the caboose.  If they did, it must have been a diesel, because Muller didn't bother to shoot it.  Did they generally add eastbound helpers at Livermore, or would they have been put on further west?

Westbound wrote:

> The 2nd great photo has the train a bit south of Niles Tower headed toward Warm Springs in what is now the city of Fremont.

Thanks! 

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...by the way, 4469 got a bit of the overspray treatment on its skyline casing, too:

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Even with SP steam coming to an end, all four 4-8-4 photos show still very good care of these great locomotives. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/15 11:03 by Westbound.