Steam & Excursion > Former Southern Pacific locomotive looking for a home.

SP Locomotive Looking For a New Home
Back at the turn of the last century, looking to expand their empire the Southern Pacific was constructing new lines as well as buying existing ones. In northern California and southern Oregon, under the name of California & Northeastern Railway, SP constructed the 86-mile railroad from Weed, CA to Klamath Falls, OR. This included the acquisition of twenty-two miles of the Weed Lumber Company’s logging railroad, which SP reconstructed to their standards in 1905-1906.
 
One of the locomotives used by the C&NE to build the railroad line was a former Northern Pacific 4-4-0. It was built in May, 1881 by the Portland Locomotive Works (of Maine) as NP #205 (b/n 382). It weighed 70,000 lbs, had 60” drivers, and 17 x 24” cylinders.
 
I became interested in this locomotive several years after retiring and moving to southern Oregon in 1994. I was doing research for our Southern Oregon Railway Historical Society on the several railroads in the Medford area that once connected with SP’s Siskiyou Line. One of these railroads was the Pacific & Eastern Railway Company (P&E). It was a James Hill-backed line that took over a bankrupt 12-mile railroad called the Medford & Crater Lake Railroad (M&CL). It took the M&CL a while to build the twelve miles to Eagle Point, at which the M&CL had no money left to buy locomotives and rolling stock. They did have a dedication of the line using a borrowed train.
 
What got my interest was the boiler on this ex-Northern Pacific locomotive. The steam dome was not in the normal spot close to the cab. Instead the sand dome was, with the steam dome between it and the stack. That is when I started my research and soon learn it later became a Southern Pacific locomotive.
 
In 1901 the C&NE Railway acquired the 4-4-0 and gave it the number one. It was used in constructing the C&NW, and later became a SP locomotive in 1906 when the C&NE became part of the SP. Well the SP had no use for a 25-year old, lightweight oddball locomotive so they stored it at the West Oakland roundhouse in 1907-1908. (See photos)
 
In June, 1911 it was sold to Erickson & Peterson (contractor) for $3,500. They used it to construct the 12-mile Amador Central Railroad. (It was off the A.C. in 1910, although it may never actually have been an Amador Central locomotive.)
 
From there it was sold to the Pacific & Eastern (retaining the number 1). It’s job was run daily passenger trains between Eagle Point and Medford, and when the P&E finally reached Butte Falls it hauled passengers on the 32-mile run between Butte Falls and Medford is the image which got me interested in this locomotive. It shows P&E No. 1 in front of the SP Medford depot on May 20, 1909; ready for its first trip to Eagle Point with wooden combo car P&E 1001. Having arrived on a SP freight train the day before, it was steamed up and tested before its inaugural passenger run. Notice the steam dome between the stack and the sand dome. On the side of the tender is a triangle enclosing the words "The Crater Lake Route.”
 
The Hill people operated the local road between Medford and Butte Falls at a profit, in spite of a large corps of high-paid officers and office equipment as a connecting line with the Southern Pacific until WWI came on. The war restrictions so hampered branch roads that the company found it unprofitable and abandoned the local road, forcing the trustees of the original bondholders in the sum of $150,000 to foreclose its lien.
 
In 1920 Mr. M.D. Olds of Michigan purchased the P&E for $190,000. It is believed that P&E 4-4-0 #1 went to the Brownlee-Olds Lumber Company when they purchased the P&E and its dilapidated rolling stock. The final disposition of this former SP owned locomotive is unknown.

Photo #1 - Ex-Northern Pacific 4-4-0 #205 was acquired for their subsidiary California & Northeastern Railway to build a railroad between Weed, California and Klamath Falls, Oregon. It came to the SP proper in 1906 when the C&NE became part of the SP. Not having much use for this locomotive it was stored for a few years at West Oakland roundhouse. This R.H. McFarland shot was taken in 1907.

Photo #2 - C&NE #1 looks a bit scruffy when R.H. McFarland returned in 1908 for another portrait. The following year C&NE #1 was sold to contractor Erickson & Peterson for $3500. They used it to build the 12-mile Amador Central Railroad in California. Soon thereafter was acquired by the Pacific & Eastern Railway and shipped to Oregon.

Photo #3 - This is the photo that began my research of this locomotive. It shows Pacific & Eastern No. 1 in front of the SP Medford depot on May 20, 1909; ready for its first trip to Eagle Point with wooden combo car P&E 1001. Having arrived on a SP freight train the day before, it was steamed up and tested before its inaugural passenger run. Notice the steam dome between the stack and the sand dome. On the side of the tender is a triangle enclosing the words "The Crater Lake Route. It was the unusual placement of the steam dome that peeked my interest on the locomotive's history. 
 

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Photo #4 - P&E #1 with its daily passenger train at P&E's yard and depot located about a mile from the SP depot.

Photo #5 - This undated photo of P&E #1 shows it tender-less and decrepit on a spur at Eagle Point, OR. This is the last image we know of showing what was once a SP Company locomotive.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/20 09:58 by TonyJ.

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TonyJ Wrote:
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> Photo #4 - P&E #1 with its daily passenger train
> at P&E's yard and depot located about a mile from
> the SP depot.
>
> Photo #5 - This undated photo of P&E #1 shows it
> tender-less and decrepit on a spur at Eagle Point,
> OR. This is the last image we know of showing what
> was once a SP Company locomotive.

Photo #5 needs flipped. Note in all other photos the air pump is on the engineers side, also the number 1 on the cab is backwards.

Here you go.

Martin

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Does the locomotive still exist?
Where is the locomotive now?
Why is it looking for a new home?
How much 'damage' has been done?
Whare are your recommendations on its preservation?
Why save it?

​W.

Paragraph 9

The final disposition of this former SP owned locomotive is unknown.
 

Sounds like looking for a home during it's multi-owner operating career.
Interesting old-school essay.
t4p.

Thanks for sharing all the research you conducted on that loco, Tony.

OK......

I understood from the title that an existing locomotive was being made available, 
and needed to be removed or moved.

I hadn't expected a tale that relates chasing a trail of numbers into the 
woods of unsolved life mysteries...

My Badd...

​W.

RailBaron84 Wrote:
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> TonyJ Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Photo #4 - P&E #1 with its daily passenger
> train
> > at P&E's yard and depot located about a mile
> from
> > the SP depot.
> >
> > Photo #5 - This undated photo of P&E #1 shows
> it
> > tender-less and decrepit on a spur at Eagle
> Point,
> > OR. This is the last image we know of showing
> what
> > was once a SP Company locomotive.
>
> Photo #5 needs flipped. Note in all other photos
> the air pump is on the engineers side, also the
> number 1 on the cab is backwards.

Thanks for noticing it. Obviuously I need new cheater glasses!

Thank you Martin.

Wow!!~

Before reading the text I glanced at the photo and wondered "What Hollywood idiot put the whistle on the sand dome"?   Very unusual.

There were some oddities with placement of sand and steam domes on ancient locos. Some had three domes...

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

Frisco1522 Wrote:
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> Before reading the text I glanced at the photo and
> wondered "What Hollywood idiot put the whistle on
> the sand dome"?   Very unusual.