Steam & Excursion > Time Appears To Have Run Out For This Once Proud Steam Giant!

The date is August, 1952 and sitting on a track to the side of the Western Pacific.D&RGW yards in Salt Lake City, Utah is a line of dead steam locomotives.  In the head of that line is the once proud WP 4-6-6-4 #407.

Built by ALCO for the WP in February, 1938, she has less than 14 years of service behind her. She is far from worn out.  The only reason that her side-rods have been removed and the WP herald stripped from her tender flanks is that WP had completed their rapid dieselization program which rendered her suddenly obsolete.

In just a few days, she and her sister 4-6-6-4's will be added to a WP freight train bound for California for one last trip.  That trip will end at a scrap yard in South San Francisco.

Martin



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/21 03:03 by LoggerHogger.

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....here.  This was one of the scrap yards in South City back in 1959, and it probably preceeded by some years the SP cab forward in this picture.  Sad place.

JBWX 

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