Steam & Excursion > ATSF 2912 at Pueblo, CO, 22 Sept 2022

Visited Pueblo, Colorado, 22 September 2022. The well-maintained Santa Fe 2912 at the Pueblo Union Depot after dark.  BNSF provided a loaded coal train during our nocturnal visit.

#2912 was purchased by Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe on January 12, 1944 for $252,335.71. Wartime shortages of light weight materials resulted in ordinary metals being used for their construction. As a result, the 2900 Class of engines were the heaviest Northerns ever built. The engine and tender weighed 974,850 pounds fully loaded, more than a ton more than its nearest rivals. The pair are 16 feet high, 11 feet 9-1/2 inches wide, and more than 121 feet long.

AT&SF #2912 was used on troop trains and other work critical to the war effort in 1944 and 1945. After WWII, while other engines of the 2900 Class were assigned to passenger and mail service between Kansas City and Los Angeles, #2912 remained in freight service. 

​These engines were designed to run long distances with little maintenance except to add water and fuel. #2912 was retired from regular service on August 5, 1954, but remained on standby for peak demand until 1958. After logging 905,874 miles, #2912 was finally retired and written off of the AT&SF books in April 1959.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/22 03:26 by cozephyr.

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Greqt photos, especially the depot photo.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Beautiful shots.  The 2912 looks so good against the night sky.

Was restoration work performed on this locomotive in recent years?  I saw this locomotive during a 2010 visit to Pueblo and don't remember it looking this good.

I seem to remember a restoration effort some years back.  Don't know why it stopped.

Were there very many places other than a roundhouse where the stack extensions needed to be retracted?

2912 looks sharp!

cozephyr Wrote:

> #2912 was retired from regular service on August 5, 1954, but remained on standby for peak demand until 1958.

The 2912 made its last run in revenue service in 1955, not 1954.  Stagner's Santa Fe Steam - The Last Decade says the engine was got "Class 5-H" repairs at the Albuquerque Shops in early 1954 just before that facility stopped overhauling steam, but otherwise spent the year in storage awaiting a recall to service.  The recall finally came in June of 1955, when 2912 was among at least 17 of the 2900's recalled to service on the Plains, Panhandle, Pecos, and Slaton Divisions.  The chapter devoted to the year 1955 mentions the engine's final assignment: "2912 brought the last steam freight into Clovis on August 4, the GCF off the Slaton Division."  Stagner's Santa Fe Steam Survivors likewise shows 2912's out-of-service date as August 5, 1955.  Page 42 of Santa Fe Steam Finale in Kansas has a photo of 2912 pulling an extra freight westbound out of Wellington, KS in July of 1955.

Frisco1522 Wrote:

> I seem to remember a restoration effort some years back.  Don't know why it stopped.

When the 2912 was relocated to the grounds of the Pueblo Union Depot in 1994 from its original display site a few blocks away, the Pueblo Locomotive & Rail Historical Society had plans to restore the engine to operating condition:

https://web.archive.org/web/19981205074800/[url=http://www.pueblorail.com/about.html]http://www.pueblorail.com/about.html[/url]
https://web.archive.org/web/20020202035652/[url=http://www.pueblorail.com/tour/2912.htm]http://www.pueblorail.com/tour/2912.htm[/url]
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,873271,873939#873939

They did some disassembly - running boards, boiler jacket, rods - and sent out the air compressors for rebuilding.  I don't know officially what happened next, but the more charitable offerings from the rumor mill suggest the engine was in worse shape than anticipated, with a pricetag for full restoration to operating condition somewhere north of $3 million (as of 20 years ago).  The group was short of funds as it was, and enthusiasm for the project ebbed:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,143017

The Pueblo Locomotive & Rail Historical Society disbanded around 2003 and the pueblorail.com website went dark after 2004.  The Pueblo Railway Foundation was formed about that time to take over the former group's Pueblo Railway Museum that was developing on the former depot trackage just to the west of the depot itself. 

https://pueblorailway.org/

The 2912 project transitioned to one of cosmetic restoration.  The engine got a fresh coat of paint a few years ago, which helped its appearance a great deal, but it is still missing its running boards.  The 2912's rebuilt air pumps were recently traded to the Kentucky Steam group for use on their C&O 2716. 

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/kentucky-steam-pueblo-railway-foundation-swap-parts-for-steam-locomotive-restorations/

Elesco: Yes, the Santa Fe 2903 at Union, IL, Illinois Railway Mseum, has a list of places where the enineer was required to lower the stack extension. Looks like the person filling in the indentation letters got tired. But I know from talking to several ATSF engineers who worked these giants that there were several low clearance locations system wide. One was the lower track under the fly over at Rock Creek Jct. East of KC, MO. Looks like Raton tunnel is listed as well. 
Just found this copy of a document. 
Steve Rippeteau



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/22 06:03 by railscenes.

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