Steam & Excursion > A Rare SP Bird

   This is a rare shot that I stumbled on while working with my Dad, Nolan Black's collection.  It is a scan of a loose 35 mm negative with no date, or any supporting information.  I believe 3507 was borrowed by the SP from the Boston & Maine during a motive power shortage, and I think the location of this shot is Bakersfield.
   Can anyone correct, or fill in my admittedly scetchy information?  Thanks in advance.

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO

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Not borrowed, brought from the B&M in 1945.

I never heard why 2-8-4s never really found favor out west. Anyone know?

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PHall Wrote:
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> Not borrowed, brought from the B&M in 1945.

Thanks, Mr. Hall.
Brian

Here is one of these ugly beasts in Roseville in September, 1950.  Wil Whittaker took the photo.

Martin

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I see in both photos, the SP converted it to oil burning and removed that ugly Coffin Feedwater Heater.  When the SP first received them, those locomotives were obviously coal burners, and they were assigned out in the El Paso to Tucumcari area, where they had coal fuel.

Jack,

Removing the coffin feedwater heaters only added "Lipstick To The Pig".

Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/07/20 03:28 by LoggerHogger.

There was a lot of ugly on them.  If SP had done a rectangular tender, put the headlight on the smokebox front and a front mounted bell, it would have made a lot better looking engine.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/20 20:09 by Frisco1522.

LoggerHogger Wrote:
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> Jack,
>
> Removing the coffin geedwater heaters only added
> "Lipstick To The Pig".
>
> Martin

Right!  That bald face, and low mounted headlight sure didn't make much improvement.

I liked those 3500s! Thay remind me that some high school girls were so "unappealing to me" that they actually looked interesting! (Too bad I didn't know at the time that they were often the most "accommodating".)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/20 15:27 by RRBaron.

Rather than "ugly" the word that always comes to my mind when I see photos of these engines is "brutish".

Z

Only one of them had the Coffin FWH removed. The rest kept them.
There is a new book, Southern Pacific's Second-Hand Steam by Jack Harris and Scott Inman, published by Aeronaut Books, that covers these engines.
http://www.aeronautbooks.com
These are the same folks that published the recent book about the NWP.

Here's the 3507 in action at Famoso, CA on 9-17-50. A bit north of Bakersfield, so the original posted photo was probably taken there. Frank Peterson original.   An end of the roll, badly damaged curled up slide I glass mounted to keep it flat.  Not the best but an SP Berkshire on Kodachrome. 
The 3507 was vacated at Bakersfield on 1/15/51 and scrapped in Los Angeles on 2/14/51.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/20 16:36 by masterphots.

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That tender is UGLY!

PHall Wrote:
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> Only one of them had the Coffin FWH removed. The
> rest kept them.


Then how do you explain the photos above of both locomotive, with different road numbers, WITHOUT the Coffin FWH?


> There is a new book, Southern Pacific's
> Second-Hand Steam by Jack Harris and Scott Inman,
> published by Aeronaut Books, that covers these
> engines.
> http://www.aeronautbooks.com
> These are the same folks that published the recent
> book about the NWP.

A face even a mother couldn't stand.  SP 3505 from the Larry Harrison collection, no
data on this photo.

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Looks to me like a Coffin F/W heater is sunk into the the top of the smokebox, hence the double rows of bolt heads.

Also, It doesn't look like any other F/W devices on the left side of the engine.

BLKMTN Wrote:
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> That tender is UGLY!

When converted to oil, they used tenders from retired 4000-class cab forwards.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/20 16:35 by masterphots.

The Santa Fe also bought some of the B&M engines in 1945. SPs were all vacated by 7/26/51,  the last two being 3503, 3505.

The Coffin feedwater heaters were intended to be mounted inside the smokebox, and as such, were much more common that you might think.  According to the following link, UP 2-10-2 #5511 stored at Cheyenne has one.  However, the front end needed to be designed with room for the Coffin heater, and for that reason retrofits tended to be mounted on the outside.

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,1002113