Steam & Excursion > While She Might Not Be Much To Look At Here, She Will Survive!

When the camera wielding railfan stopped by the Western Pacific roundhouse in Stockton, California in the 1950's and snapped this photo, he must have concluded from the condition of 0-6-0 #165 that she would soon join the rest of the WP steam locomotives headed to the scrap yard.  Who could blame him for thinking that given the condition of this locomotive?  Fortunately, looks can be deceiving.

Last having seen service in March, 1953, #165 would languish outside the WP Stockton roundhouse for 9 years, looking a bit worse for wear each year.  Finally in 1962, her value was recognized and she was donated by WP for display to the City of San Leandro.  After years on display there she migrated to the Alameda County Fairgrounds before finally being acquired by the Feather River Rail Society and moved to their museum in Portola where she is well along on her way to being restored to operation.

We are lucky that, despite her general appearance, on this day, her true potential was able to shine through.

Martin



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/20 03:02 by LoggerHogger.

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That's an interesting passenger car seen in the background.  And once again, Martin, thanks for your "daily dose".

Gordon

Thank you for posting the 165, Martin!

She is coming along nicely.  One place to follow the progress is the WPRM Steam Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Western-Pacific-Railroad-Museum-Steam-Program-169224687334/

Z

Could that be W. Oakland?

masterphots Wrote:
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> Could that be W. Oakland?

Alan,  The negative is marked as Stockton.  That seems to be where she languished after she was taken out of service in 1953.  Notice her bell is gone.

Martin

Pretty cool to see such a diesel oriented museum group take on a steamer, not to mention one
that is perfect for their operation.

Out

The 165 did have a fire in her belly one last time after that photo was taken, serving as a stationary boiler at Escalon in 1959:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,3700172

The photo above at Stockton predates that event, as the locomotive standing behind the 165, 4-8-4 #483, went to scrap in 1956.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/20 13:11 by Evan_Werkema.

Passenger car in the background left is the Nevada Central Silver State now preserved at CSRM, Sacramento?

It appears 165 is butt to butt with a WP GS tender.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

callum_out Wrote:
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> Pretty cool to see such a diesel oriented museum
> group take on a steamer, not to mention one
> that is perfect for their operation.
>
> Out

The WPRM actually has quite a bit of steam era equipment, including 3 WP tank cars, a WP wood boxcar, a DRGW wood boxcar a couple of WP flat cars, a WP steel boxcar, a WP hopper and a WP caboose that all predate the diesel era.  Also, there is a wood bunk car that was used to build the WP and was used in MW service through the steam era.  Several of the museum's passenger cars are also steam era.

Z

agentatascadero Wrote:
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> It appears 165 is butt to butt with a WP GS
> tender.
>
> AA

It is.  Would be interesting if it is the same tender now at the WPRM in Portola.  Until last week, the 165 was parked 2 tracks over from the GS tender.  We've joked about making it the 165's auxiliary water car.

Z

For those you don't know, WP 165 was built in 1919 by ALCO-Schenectady for the United Verde Copper Co. in Jerome, AZ as their #86.  Phelps Dodge bought out United Verde in 1935 and rolled it into their fleet of engines.  PD had a small fleet of these husky ALCO 0-6-0s in use in their Arizona copper mines in Morenci, Ajo & Jerome.  When the Jerome mines closed down in the early 1950's, #86, along with sisters #'s 87 & 88 were sold to the WP through a dealer.  Twin sister WP #164  (x-UVC #86) is displayed in Oroville.

zephyrus Wrote:

> It is.  Would be interesting if it is the same
> tender now at the WPRM in Portola. 

Probably not.  As I understand it, the tender at Portola belonged to #484, which left the roster in January 1953 and went to SP for parts a couple of months before the 165 was formally retired from service. 

The steam locomotives WP still had stored on the garden tracks south of the Stockton roundhouse as of May 8, 1955 were, from north to south, 2-8-2 #334, 0-6-0 #165 sharing a track with 4-8-4 #483, and 4-8-4 #486.  On that date, 165 was facing 483's tender, so the 0-6-0 was turned at some point.  Also, 334 appears to be missing in the photo above, which makes me wonder if the date is after September 1955, when the 334 was made operational and sent to Oakland for a stint as a stationary boiler.  In any case, it seems likely that when the photo was taken, 483 and 486 were the only WP 4-8-4's left.  The engine behind 165 is probably the 483, with the 486 obscured by the B-unit to the right. 

Earlk Wrote:
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> For those you don't know, WP 165 was built in 1919
> by ALCO-Schenectady for the United Verde Copper
> Co. in Jerome, AZ as their #86.  Phelps Dodge
> bought out United Verde in 1935 and rolled it into
> their fleet of engines.  PD had a small fleet of
> these husky ALCO 0-6-0s in use in their Arizona
> copper mines in Morenci, Ajo & Jerome.  When the
> Jerome mines closed down in the early 1950's, #86,
> along with sisters #'s 87 & 88 were sold to the WP
> through a dealer.  Twin sister WP #164  (x-UVC
> #86) is displayed in Oroville.

Actually, 165 and sisters were sold to the WP on September 17th, 1927.  UVCC has experienced a downturn and did not need all its power.  

Z