Steam & Excursion > SP 3690

Here is a shot of SP 3690 setting in Roseville in June 1955 all shined up and looking good. Ralph Buhr Photo.

Thanks for looking

Tom

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And that's how I remember SP steam, clean and shiny, not rusty and dirty as claimed by some. Many other photos from the last days also show steam in the same fine appearance.

Can someone explain EXACTLY what is going on with all the pumps above the 3rd coupled axle...It's impressive looking!!

It's the feedwater pump. Likely there are two air compressors on the other side to balance the weight.

Worthington type B feed water heater....

Best,

Stathi

Posted from iPhone

Worthington BL-type feedwater heater. Good looking Deck. Since we're talking Decks, if you haven't picked up the new book about 10- coupled SP locomotives, you are doing yourself a disservice.

If you look at the bottom of the pump assembly it does not have the characteristic BL "step". I do think most of the SP decks were delivered with the earlier type B.

Best,

Stathi

Posted from iPhone

These engines and the 4300s (and some of the Pacifics) were my favorite SP steam engines.
I don't like diesels, but the first generation black widow paint jobs were decent looking as were the passenger diesels at first. They pooped in their mess kits with the bloody nose as far as I'm concerned. That's just my opinion, your mileage may vary.

Frisco1522 Wrote:
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> These engines and the 4300s (and some of the
> Pacifics) were my favorite SP steam engines.
> I don't like diesels, but the first generation
> black widow paint jobs were decent looking as were
> the passenger diesels at first. They pooped in
> their mess kits with the bloody nose as far as I'm
> concerned. That's just my opinion, your mileage
> may vary.

1522, Yours is the absolute best description of the infamous SP Bloody Nose scheme I've ever heard/seen, not to mention most amusing! The SP Black Widow scheme was, to me, the best diesel freight scheme ever. The SP Daylight scheme was, to me, second only to the best diesel scheme ever, the ATSF Warbonnet. Taking note of your favorite SP steam locomotives, does that mean that you generally favor Baldwin power to that of ALCO or Lima? AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

More tech stuff. The type B or BL appear to have more than one pump all put together. Are the cold and hot water pumps in the same vicinity with those? They look enormous.

Jim,

Both the B and BL FWHs included cold and hot water pumps as well as the mixing chamber for the feed water and exhaust steam. The pumps were mounted in tandem on the right side as viewed straight on.

The BL was an improvement over the B in that piston reversing valves were used instead of slide valves, and a few other refinements I cannot remember off hand right now.

Best,

Stathi

Posted from iPhone

I think this shot is at Roseburg, Oregon.

1. Roseville didn't have a cantilever during this time frame. Antelope, a separate location at the west of the big yard, had a signal bridge.

2. Engine 3690 was assigned to the Portland Division during this time frame (in fact it seems to have spent a great deal of time on the Portland Division).

3. A nice color photo of the same locomotive and what appears to be the same cantilever at Roseburg can be found on page 158 of The Southern Pacific in Oregon Pictorial, by Ed Austin and Tom Dill. The photo is dated May 18, 1956.

Apparently this locomotive headed an NHRL excursion out of Roseburg on May 19, 1956, its last run.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/14 07:30 by BCHellman.