Steam & Excursion > SP 4449 World War 2 era paint chronology

On page 65 of Daylight, 4449's Family Album by Kenneth G Johnson, there is a picture of SP 4449 in Portland Oregon taken by Guy Dunscomb dated September 20 1943.  Save for small alterations it is still in as-delivered Daylight paint.  The next photograph on the page, taken in Alhambra California by William R Bassler on November 7 1946, shows the locomotive in its all black World War 2 era guise.  Thus, a twenty six month window of of time when the locomotive could have been painted from Daylight colors to black.

A picture on page 311 of Southern Pacific Daylight Locomotives by Robert Church, narrows the range.The locomotive is shown at Dunsmuir in a photo taken by Albert C Phelps on November 9 1945, still in Daylight colors.

If all three captions are correct, the 4449 could only have been repainted into the paint scheme associated with World War 2, at least 7 months after the war ended (!)

On page 66 of Daylight, 4449's Family Album the locomotive is shown on an unknown date in 1946 into Daylight colors, post 1946 scheme, (with large Southern Pacific lettering on the tender).

Assuming it too is correct, locomotive's time in the all black, Southern Pacific Lines lettering on the tender paint scheme, was very short, less than a year, (along with a single reprise in outing between Portland Oregon and Hillsboro for the SPH&TS convention held in Portland on September 30 2000, pictured).

Or, is there an error in the captions?  Can anyone clarify or the narrow the date ranges further?





 

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GREAT picture....interesting question Dan.   I will attempt to get an answer from the Friends.    Arlen

The 4449 was in that black scheme for a trip from Portland to Pasco to Yakima, overnight there, then to Auburn via Stampede Pass and back to Portland.
I hope other TO members can post an image of that trip, there was at least one photo run-by, maybe near Roosevelt.

Was the black livery for the movie Mississippi Burning or the BNSF Employee Appreciation train?

masterphots Wrote:
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> Was the black livery for the movie Mississippi
> Burning or the BNSF Employee Appreciation train?

 Employee Appreciation Train.

The modern day black livery had a number of variants.  BNSF lettering, pin stripes and once with pin stripes and Southern Pacific Lines on the tender, a non-historical combination but good looking none the less.  The SPHTS outing to Hillsboro was the only one done in full 1940s throwback.  It was a wet, gloomy day.  I hoped there would be another opportunity but it was not to be.

railstiesballast Wrote:
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> The 4449 was in that black scheme for a trip from
> Portland to Pasco to Yakima, overnight there, then
> to Auburn via Stampede Pass and back to Portland.
> I hope other TO members can post an image of that
> trip, there was at least one photo run-by, maybe
> near Roosevelt.


I was on that trip. Amazing ride. I no longer have pictures from it though unfortunately.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/01/20 15:48 by goduckies.

Darn, so do I, but I can't find them and they are not my originals.  If I can find them I will try to remember who the photographer was and credit him.  4449 looks good in any of her three most popular paint schemes, and we have to thank Doyle for the many times he has changed her for good reasons.

Here are a couple of shots of the SP 4449 in its "Black Widow" paint scheme while leading a BN Employee Appreciation Special along the Columbia River gorge.

The first image is just west of Stevenson, WA and the second is at Drano Lake near Cook / Underwood, WA.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/20 00:58 by E25.

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I chased the employee train from Monroe to Skykomish. I was 18 or 19, had a neat Honda Prelude and my girlfriend in tow. It was the first and last time I ever did that. All the other foamers scared the crap out of us with some kind of Indycar/Demo driving stuff up Highway 2. At Sky we let the pack leave us in the dust and we went up to Wellington for the afternoon.

Finally found my own, Portlland Union Station, June 2001.

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great pictures Greg.....Drano Lake is the site of the next BNSF bridge replacement project....bridge being built in Portland and will be barged to the site....probably late summer 2020.   Arlen

IIRC, black paint was allowed on the Daylights on Portland Division for a time because it was too hard to keep it clean. More tunnels on the Portland division than in California, and since this was before the time of the Shasta Daylight (which I beleive was never steam powered), there wasn't a compellng need for the GSs assigned there to keep their Daylight colors.

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL

She looked sharp in the black scheme.

Rich