Steam & Excursion > These Locomotives Needed Power & Also To Fit In A Small Space!

The life of a steam shop switcher was to be ready day and night to move around other and larger steam locomotives who are receiving servicing before being sent back out onto the railroad.  One of the most important criteria was for the shop switcher to be short enough to fit on the shop turn table with the locomotive it was moving so that both could be turned on the turntable together.  This meant that the shop switcher itself had to be shorter than the average locomotive tender.

In 1939, Southern Pacific needed to replace the aging shop switcher at it's L.A. shops so they turned an aging 1903-built Baldwin S-5 0-6-0 #1109 into what we see here in the form of #MW 565.  In the conversion process, she received some mild "streamlining" to give her a more modern look and so she would blend in better with the many Daylight locomotives she would be shuttling about the shop tracks for the next many years.  When originally converted, she was given some more skirting below her saddle tanks that appears to have been removed by the date of this photo for ease in accessing her appliances.

#565 would do her job well all the way until the end of steam.  She was not vacated from the roster until April, 1956.  SP lost no time in scrapping her as she was scrapped just a few weeks later on June 6, 1956.  There was not much sentiment for the 53 years she had served faithfully the SP.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/20 04:27 by LoggerHogger.

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Here's my shot of No. 565 on 5/25/56,  eleven days before its date with the cutting torch.  At L. A. General Shops.  And in case anyone is wondering what it was coupled to,  here's a photo



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/20 07:25 by masterphots.

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Alan,

Thanks for the great photo.  What a shame she would not be around just a week after your photo was taken.

Martin

LoggerHogger Wrote:
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> Alan,
>
> Thanks for the great photo.  What a shame she
> would not be around just a week after your photo
> was taken.
>
> Martin

Looks like they had already taken the "s" at the end of "shops" for use on another locomotive.

jtbrandt Wrote:

>
> Looks like they had already taken the "s" at the
> end of "shops" for use on another locomotive.

That may actually have been done to recognize that, with the end of steam rapidly approaching, the former steam "Shops" were now reduced down to just one "Shop".

Martin

In Martin's photo, anybody recognize the device sitting on the track in the foreground?  It appears to be hand-powered, but I can't imagine for what purpose.

Thanks for the interesting photos!

masterphots Wrote:
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> Here's my shot of No. 565 on 5/25/56,  eleven
> days before its date with the cutting torch.  At
> L. A. General Shops.  And in case anyone is
> wondering what it was coupled to,  here's a photo

Interesting to note that although the 565 was scrapped within days of your photo, the PE 1627 wasn't
scrapped for another 11 months, in April, 1957 and that deed was done off property at National Metals
on Terminal Island in Los Angeles Harbor. Of the 31 PE steeple-cab motors in the 1601-31 class, only
three were scrapped at SP's L.A. General Shops. And of course, the 1624 lives on at Perris. 
Thanks Alan for including it.

Charlie
 

Elesco Wrote:
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> In Martin's photo, anybody recognize the device
> sitting on the track in the foreground?  It
> appears to be hand-powered, but I can't imagine
> for what purpose.

Me, neither. Haven't seen anything like that before. 

I'm also intrigued by the precarious seating in the cab of 565. How did the 'Dinky' engineer mount his
trusty steed, or for that matter, manage to keep from falling out of its cab? 

Charlie
 

Regarding the 'mystery' device in the foreground of Martin's photo that Elesco and I pondered the use of; the virus has forced me
to look at various books and other sources, most of which I have heretofore overlooked or ignored in favor of going for the 'easy pickings' or
low hanging fruit. Such is the case tonight when I chose to open my copy of TRAINS MAGAZINE: The Complete Collection 1940-2010 on DVD.
I randomly opened the January 1952 issue and read through most of it. 

When I got to page 29 of the Photo Section there is a photo of a National Railways of Mexico (NdeM) Baldwin 4-8-4 with its smoke box door
open and a workman replacing superheater elements through the opening. The worker is using a platform that, although without wheels, places
him at a height about level with the top of the pilot and extends about 20 feet in front of the coupler. I'm left to wonder if what we see in Martin's
photo served the same purpose. Just a thought.

Charlie

I looked for the "mystery device" in a couple of old locomotive encyclopedias and a similar shop equipment handbook but couldn't find anything like it.  The most likely use I can think of is a general purpose truck or dolly for moving heavy items around the shops.  Like moving air pumps or feedwater pumps between the locomotives they belong to and the machine shop or wherever they need to be worked on.  These days, a shop would use forklifts for moving heavy stuff, but I don't think they were used around steam locomotive roundhouses and backshops.