Model Railroading > Southern Pacific P-4 4-6-2 # 2422 (Home after 40-Years)

Hi Everybody--
In 1929 my grandfather, Victor Shattock, built his first 4-6-2 'Pacific' type locomotive.  He numbered it the "2422" .  Why ?  Because he saw it a lot in the SP West Oakland Roundhouse, across the road from his Water Service Office.
It was a beautiful engine and besides running on his basement layout, it could run outdoors and pull up to four adults.  Yes, it was small.
1/2-inch scale,  2 1/2-inch gauge.    Known in the U.K. as "Gauge 3" ...

After many years of service on his basement layout, Vic decided to sell his 2422 to a neighbor up the street from where he lived in Oakland.
This was in 1952.    He sold it for only seventy-five dollars !!  Yes, that is correct.  Everybody was aghast !  They couldn't believe he sold it for such a small amount of money.  There was nothing wrong with it !  From that 1952 date, the locomotive disappeared !

In the mid-80's to early 90's,  I started getting really interested in this engine.   I used to play with it as a child !  I had folks tell me that a Joe Cava in Daly City, CA had the engine.  Joe let me come over and see it, but he wouldn't sell it to me.
After that, it disappeared again.  Rumors flowed around that an International collector had bought it and as it turned out, had it on public dispay with other models, in his restaurant in Oakland's Montclair District.

I made it arrangements to go see it.  It was on a pedastal up on one of the walls.   Someone had ruined the original paint job and re-painted it flat black and placed Southern Pacific in wrong type-style and gave it a new number of '2409'..
The collector wouldn't sell it either.    I wrote him a letter and gave him the history of the engine.  He appreciated it but said that the engine was still NOT for sale.

One day, at work in San Jose, I received a personal call from that very same collector.  It was a long call and I should not have spoken to him on company time.  But I did.  During the call, he said at five different times, that the "engine is NOT for sale" ...

Nearing the end of the conversation, he suddenly said that "he would SELL the engine to my sister and myself for two-thousand dollars and throw in the glass case he had made for it !   I about fell to the floor.  I couldn't believe it !!
In August-1992 my sister and I met the collector at his restaurant.  He had one of his workers help me take it down off the wall. I glanced over at Patty and she was crying !  After FORTY YEARS, the little SP locomotive was back in the Shattock Family !!  Today, it sits in the glass case in my Dining Room.    "It is NOT for Sale !!"

Photo 1.    Vic's 2422 under construction in  1929  (88-Years ago !)

Photo 2.    Vic's 2422 on the front cover of Model Railroader magazine--  January  1939 issue...

Photo 3.    Vic's 2422 on his basement layout Turntable.  (see how much nicer it looked ?)

I hope you enjoyed this story !  It all goes to prove that when you set your mind to it---  anything is possible !  In our family's case, God gave us back our Grandpa's locomotive !!!

KRK



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/17 11:20 by KeyRouteKen.

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This was the 2422's appearance in the Montclair restaurant back in August-1992.

Photo courtesy of KRK Archives.

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A great tale! Do you have any plans to repaint/letter to the original condition?

wpdude Wrote:
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> A great tale! Do you have any plans to
> repaint/letter to the original condition?

NO !  I'll just leave it the way it is.  It has not been steamed-up in years..  But in August-1992 when I got it back, I did try it on compressed air and it ran very smoothly, after all those dormant years !

KRK

I always wondered who built that locomotive.I have dined next to it in that restaurant on more than one occasion.

Mike

Posted from iPhone

A great story! I am so happy for you that it finally came home!! Thanks so much for sharing

Steve

Ken, have you been able to account for the whereabouts of the other engines tat Vic built? Any chance of purchasing any others back? Do any of the others still run?

TG

Posted from Android

TrackGuy Wrote:
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> Ken, have you been able to account for the
> whereabouts of the other engines tat Vic built?
> Any chance of purchasing any others back? Do any
> of the others still run?
>
> TG
>
> Posted from Android

I know where most of them are !  His SP 0-6-0 Switcher with fantail tender was stolen in 1946 and has never been seen since !
His SP 2-8-2 Mikado # 3217 was originally given as a gift to SP Superintendent A.S. McCann.  For a while, it was on display in a Tucson,AZ museum.  After McCann died, his family got it.  They refuse to have any communication with me whatsoever !

His SP 2-8-2 Mikado # 3254 was completely scrapped by a former GGLS President who didn't know Jack-cxxvb about steam locomotives.
It had a small leak in the smokebox.  He took it to a friend who had a shop at the old Oakland Airport.  The friend tried to fix it by using a standard Ox-Acetelyne torch and melted the boiler apart.  Today, the engine is a "box of small pieces".  What a fool ?

His beautiful SP 4-6-2 'Pacific' in 1/2" scale (never painted) was sold many years ago to an 18-year kid that was a former GGLS member and eventually either an Engineer or Conductor for SP--eventually UP.  The engine was sold to him for only $ 300.00 !  Like the Mc Cann family,
this individual refuses to have any communication with me.

There are others.   A beautiful 2-4-4T in one inch scale-- sold for $ 500 originally. Disappeared!!  At least I have the memories.  There were so many.

The story goes on and on.  What is sad is this fact:  If one of my grandfather's engines turns up somewhere and YOU want to buy it, the owner might want to sell it to you for $ 5000 or so.  However, if the owner gets wind that Vic's GRANDSON is shopping, then the price is jacked up to maybe 12,000 to 15,000 dollars.  Pretty cold, huh ??

So many individuals (especially members of Vic's parent club--GGLS) never realized the beauty and craftsmanship in all of Vic's models.
His locomotives have been termed by some as "Works of Art".  I really don't think there is or has been anyone who can surpass what he built with his own two hands and a few tools.  That is why I have file cabinets full of magazines and newspapers and radio scripts telling the World about his talents.  Show me someone else in the same category !!

KRK