Steam & Excursion > So Many Clues Give Away Where This Locomotive Was Photographed!

Some times when going through photos you come across one that seems to have been mislabeled as to where the photo was taken.  This was just one of of those photos.

Originally listed on the negative sleeve as Salt Lake City, Utah this photo just did not seem to fit that location.  Sure, the Western Pacific ran out of Salt Lake City, however by 1940, which was the listed date, what would WP #204 be doing there? Then the clues started to fall into place.

The first noticeable clue as to the real location of this photos was the presence of the overhead wires.  The next was the "hills" to the left of the engine i the background with the mechanical apparatus hanging over it.  While that looks like a hill side, it is actually nothing more than a sawdust pile.  With just these 2 clues we know where this photo was actually taken.

Yes, as you may have figured out by now, this is not Salt Lake City, but rather this is Westwood California.  The overhead wires belong to the Red River Lumber Companies electric line to Cheser, California.  The sawdust pile in the background is the huge stockplie of sawdust fro mthe Red River Lumber mill at Westwood.

WP #204 was right at home in 1940 working the WP trains between Keddie, Westwood and Bieber.  Mystery solved.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/18 02:44 by LoggerHogger.

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Wonderful detective work with Western Pacific 204 location.  Sawdust mound - what a clue...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/18 04:24 by cozephyr.

That ancient truss-rod boxcar on the head pin is pretty cool too.

Did a quick Google search but I couldn't find any photos online of this electric lumber railroad. Can you offer any links?

Calisphere has at least one picture of The Red River Lumber Company electrified logging railroad here:

https://calisphere.org/item/6481414a79e9232fc5bda7fba91be8c9/

They also have several shots of the Westwood sawmill, including this one from 1939 clearly showing the sawdust pile:

https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/tf1w100346/

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

Wonderful shot.  The GN boxcar and brace of Santa Fe reefers also point towards this being one of the Inside Gateway trains.  With the 2-6-6-2s having been pushed off most Canyon runs by WP's big 2-8-8-2s by 1940, they mainly worked the High Line.

Would be very interesting to see a photo of a WP 201 class in Salt Lake City!!

Z