Nostalgia & History > Santa Fe 1010's post-revenue career

Santa Fe 2-6-2 #1010 is the most historic of the road's 16 surviving Prairie-types largely due to taking part in Death Valley Scotty's record-breaking run across the system from LA to Chicago in 1905 when it was four years old. The locomotive that pulled the train between Needles, CA and Seligman, AZ was a quite a different machine from what survives today.  The 1000-class 2-6-2's were built as coal-burning, 4-cylinder Vauclain compounds riding high on 79-inch drivers, and were intended to be high-speed passenger locomotives.  However, as E.D. Worley explained in Iron Horses of the Santa Fe Trail,

"...the Achilles heel of the Prairie as a road locomotive is its insufficient riding stability, particularly when the main rods are connected to the second driving axle (the case in all classes of A.T.&S.F. 2-6-2s) rather than the third."

(And yes, the Mt. Shasta Power/Oakland Terminal 2-6-2 that became Santa Fe 2447 did have the rods connected at the third axle, but on 44-inch drivers it wasn't going to be a high-speed road engine, either).

The 1010 would eventually be simpled, converted to oil-firing, set down on a set of 69-inch drivers, and by the time Otto Perry photographed it at Amarillo, TX in 1936 and 1937, it had been relagated to a life of local freight and mixed train service:

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/42785
http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15330coll22/id/42784

Its last regular assignment was on the Slaton Division in Texas in the early 50's when someone realized it was the last surviving locomotive that had taken part in the Scott Special.  Some time in late 1954, the engine was transferred to the Los Angeles Division (the assignment sheets show March 1, 1955, but photos indicate the engine in San Bernardino as early as December 1954).  It was fired up one last time to pull a three-car replica of Scott's train over Cajon Pass on January 12, 1955 for the filming of an episode of the TV show "Death Valley Days." 

http://www.snowcrest.net/photobob/sfl5.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d5/Death_Valley_Days_-_Death_Valley_Scotty.jpg

There hadn't been a Prairie-type on the LA Division since engine 1816 was written from the accounts at the end of 1949, and steam on the division had all but ended in 1953 (4-8-4 #3759 would pull a Farewell to Steam excursion over Cajon in February 1955, a month after 1010's TV shoot).  The 1010 was listed "held for disposition" as of April 1956, but the railroad wisely held it for posterity, storing it on the garden tracks at the Redondo Junction roundhouse in Los Angeles. 

1. Though no longer operational, the 1010 evidently did get hauled out for occasional historical displays and events in the LA area in the 1950's.  Chuck Vercelli photographed it at a "Railroad Day" event at South Pasadena in April 1958 being passed by the eastbound Chief, courtesy the Western Railway Museum Archives.

2. Ed Von Nordeck, TO user mundo, found the 1010 in the garden at Redondo Jct. on March 27, 1960.

3. Hollywood came calling in 1963, casting the 1010 for a cameo appearance in the film "The Carpetbaggers."  This is a repost of a Robert Ramsay photo of the movie train at Pasadena, CA.  The 1010 was no longer operational, but had steam piped in to give the impression that it was.
 

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Madison Avenue took its turn in early 1964, painting the 1010 in scheme that substituted black for bright red in an ad campaign reportedly for GE.  I've never seen the actual ads, but photos of 1010 in this singular paint job can be found here:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,2574751
http://abpr.railfan.net/cgi-bin/thumb/abprphoto.cgi?/april99/04-09-99/sf1010.jpg

4. The 1010 was quickly returned to its standard black, and by the early 70's, it had been joined in the garden by exhibition steamer #5 "Little Buttercup," an 0-4-0 that had spent its working life as a tank engine.  It was given a tender, outlandish embellishments, and the Gilbert & Sullivan moniker in 1948 for an appearance at the Chicago Railroad Fair.  Tony Perles caught the two side-by-side at Redondo in 1972.

5. In the early 70's, Santa Fe began collecting an assortment of retired diesels in its Albuquerque, NM roundhouse for a proposed company museum. In 1974, the 1010 and Little Buttercup were shipped east to join the collection.  The late Phil Kauke captured the move at Hodge, CA behind a GP35.

6. The 1010 didn't stay in Albuquerque for long.  In September 1979, it was donated to the California State Railroad Museum that was then under development in Sacramento, and sent back west to California behind a GP30.  Dad got me out of school to see the engine leave Albuquerque, and this is the best photo my six-year-old hands managed to get with an Instamatic camera.
 

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7. The 1010 has been displayed in the main hall occasionally over the years, and has been tucked away in the ex-SP backshops at other times, but its home for most of the last two decades has been the trainshed of the replica depot south of the main museum building.  The first time I visited in June 1995, however, the 1010 had been pulled out into the sun for a Railroad Days event.

8. For the past few months, the museum has had the 1010 back in the main museum hall along with some display panels describing the Scott Special.  As an added bonus, they've also brought F7A 347C over from the Sac Shops and placed it between the 1010 and diner Cochiti (the diner has been a more or less permanent exhibit in the museum).

9. The 1010's last coat of black is getting a little ratty, and the view from the catwalk shows a few places where the bright red of that GE ad campaign is beginning to re-emerge.  Nevertheless, it was great to see an old friend inside and on display once again.

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Thanks for the history on this famous locomotive. If memory serves me right, the Sacramento museum ran here on compressed air for either the 10 or 20 year anniversary of the museum. They ran her from the floor of the museum onto the turntable and back. 

Great post! Every photo crisp and colorful, which makes it seem as if one had been there in each location.

Great photos and history, Evan.

Thanks much for the 1010 story,

Rich

Excellent post!  Your are the Stephen Fried of TO!