Steam & Excursion > Southern 4501 rolling south

Nov 1978
Southbound on the Southern headed back to New Orleans from Hattiesburg.

Gary

 

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Very nice shot

Posted from Android

This first-class view is made even better because of its looking-down angle.
Bob

That bright silver smokebox made photography in the sun a pain. Getting the right exposure for the rest of the engine, train and surroundings meant it would be overexposed and the detail burned out.
As far as I know, SR smokeboxes were graphite, not silver.

Frisco1522 Wrote:
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> As far as I know, SR smokeboxes were graphite, not
> silver.

In a few old B&W photos, the smokeboxes appear to be silver or aluminum. At the end, Spencer Shop mostly did flat black smokeboxes. The SOU shops often did what they wanted to do, so uniformity was not really the norm.

Posted from Android

I remember painting the smokebox on the 765, before we got it runnng the first time. There seemed to be a lot of silver pigment in there.

Victor Baird

Notch 7 wrote:

>> The SOU shops often did what they wanted to do, so uniformity was not really the norm.

Perhaps that would explain the extra yellow trim and off-white roof on derrick No. 903002.  (Please see page 34 of The Southern Railway [Flanary, Lindsey & Oroszi, 2018 by White River Productions.])   

 

I believe  that the traditional Southern Railway smokebox treatment was graphite and  linseed oil. 

I have heard accounts that Brosnan as VP - Operations in the late transition era ordered that smokebox treatment to be dropped. Supposedly he wanted steam locomotives to look really nasty.
 

ts1457 Wrote:
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> I have heard accounts that Brosnan as VP -
> Operations in the late transition era ordered that
> smokebox treatment to be dropped. Supposedly he
> wanted steam locomotives to look really nasty.

I wish I could remember the name of the South Charlotte district engineer that made Brosnan really nasty one afternoon at Atlanta Terminal Station. The engineer didn't blow out the stack of his Ps-4 Pacific before coupling up to no. 30. Brosnan came sauntering up in his white Panama suit and hat when no. 30 pulled. He got heavily spotted by the nasty black water and oil blown from the stack. He was said to be furious about steam for many years.

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Most excellent!

My Uncle Joe Wirth was a hostler at Lindenwood (St Louis) in the late 20s.  Dad told me that one of the Spot engines (2-10-2) had been sitting on the inbound lead most of the shift and Joe went out to coal and water it one of their officials came up the other side of the engine just as he cracked the throttle. Typical dress, panama suit/hat. He probably burned the suit after the bath he got.
I drove my beige 66 Galaxie up to Union to visit the Ill RR Museum and parked too close to the 1630 and ended up with a speckled Ford. Live and learn.