Steam & Excursion > Rose & Ballash: ST&E 2-6-2 #3

With shortlineboss's recent question about the current location of former Stockton Terminal & Eastern 2-6-2 #3, here are a few photos of the locomotive during its brief service life on the noble STE by Al Rose courtesy the Western Railway Museum Archives and Ray Ballash courtesy the Southern California Railway Museum.  According to the book The Slow Tired & Easy R.R., Dolbeer & Carson Lumber Co. #3 was acquired by the ST&E in February 1953 at the behest of the road's new president, Dr. John M. Hiss, mostly as a plaything rather than a serious addition to the motive power roster.  The ST&E had already partially dieselized back in 1947 with a 65 ton Midwest Locomotive Works centercab.  When #3 arrived, the road donated its old 4-4-0 #1 to Travel Town in Los Angeles, CA. 

1) The Western Pacific roundhouse forces in Stockton, CA put the engine in servicable condition, complete with pinstripes, whitewalls, and red axle ends.  Al Rose was present for a photo session with the freshly outshopped engine on the ST&E trestle over the Stockton Diverting Canal on July 8, 1953, with Dr. Hiss in the cab. 

2-3) The engine was tapped for two excursions in rapid succession.  The first was a "mixed train" sponsored by the Central Coast Railway Club on November 15, 1953, with #3 pulling wooden PFE refrigerator cars 38674 and 73617 along with SP coach 303 from Stockton to Linden, CA (I don't have a flyer for this one, but Rose didn't take any photos showing it east of Linden). There weren't any turning facilities at Linden, so the special was rearranged to put the coach on the east end of the same two reefers, and No.3 pulled the lot back to Stockton tender-first, with many riders opting to make the return journey atop the tender. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/25 00:29 by Evan_Werkema.

---

---

---

4) The other excursion was sponsored by the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society.  It ran on June 6, 1954, seven months after the Central Coast trip, and the club newsletter complained after the fact that the trip was undersubscribed, with practically more people chasing than riding.  The #3 was facing west this time, leaving Stockton tender-first pulling Western Pacific "excursion gondola" 6121 and shorty Sierra coach #6.

5) The Sierra coach was dropped somewhere along the way (presumably at Linden), with the trip continuing to near the end of track at Bellota.  The ST&E had received permission to abandon the bit from Fine to Bellota in August 1953, but the track was still in place pending ultimately unsuccessful negotiations with the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association to acquire it for their streetcar museum.  There wasn't even a run-around at Bellota, so this view shows the return trip westbound between Bellota and Linden with #3 pushing the WP gondola.

6) Rearranging the train at Linden once more, the return to Stockton was accomplished engine-first.  Rose caught it crossing the Stockton Diverting Canal trestle.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/25 00:25 by Evan_Werkema.

---

---

---

7-9) The book doesn't describe how much actual revenue service #3 saw, and it may only have been fired up when Dr. Hiss was in town and wanted to play trains.  Nevertheless, the engine did have a respectable coat of road grime on it when Ray Ballash found it in the late afternoon of February 5, 1955 moving another PFE reefer around near the company's enginehouse south of Miner Ave. in Stockton next to the diamond crossing of the Central California Traction line and the SP Oakdale Branch. 

The book indicates that #3 was out of service by the end of the year as Dr. Hiss moved on to other avocations, finally selling off the railroad in 1958.  The locomotive apparently remained stored on ST&E property from then until it was donated to the California State Railroad Museum in March 1988.  Page B4 of the March 31, 1988 edition of the Sacramento Bee carried a photo of a father and son watching a Southern Pacific diesel switcher tying onto the locomotive, with a brief caption entitled "Steamer's Last Journey" indicating that "an old-time steam locomotive...was donated to the California State Railroad Museum."  Ten days later, following letters from readers and the museum, page B4 carried an Ombudsman item fleshing out the "bare-bones caption" a bit more, stating the ST&E was the entity donating the locomotive, that it had stored it in "good working order" since 1955, and that "...the steamer most emphatically isn't on its 'last journey.'  The museum will start using the engine this summer on its riverfront excursion runs."  That last bit didn't pan out either, and as JDLX mentioned in the other thread, the partially disassembled engine has since "journeyed" to the Timber Heritage Association in Samoa, CA.  

https://www.timberheritage.org/locomotives-collection



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/25 00:27 by Evan_Werkema.

---

---

---

Thanks for posting these, Evan!  I very much appreciate it.

The #3's original tender sure led a rough life.  Comparing the last two photos you posted to one of the #3 in Eureka near the end of its D&C life shows the WP pounded out many of the dents in the tender shell, but not quite all of them.  Some photos shot of it from other angles show the tender had some substantial impact damage on the right side rear corner as well.  The damage to the tender and related issues are what led ST&E to arrange with somebody to trade tenders between it and the McCloud River #21 when it passed through Stockton on its way to scrap at the very end of 1955.  The info in the book does raise the question if the #3 ever steamed with the former McCloud tender, the ST&E at least applied a coat of black paint to the "new" tender as shown in the second shot by Charles Heimerdinger Jr., but there are a few photos of the #3 in the enginehouse with the tender still carrying full MR lettering.  Finally, the last photo is one I shot of the #3 in Samoa last winter, THA has the locomotive back together and stored inside.    

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV 
  

 

---

---

---

Linden, CA.   Hometown of Yankees superstar Aaron Judge.

Great series, thanks!

Great follow up post, great info, story and photos.
Good to hear it's inside too.
t4p.

Once again an excellent post, thanks for the effort. And that shot near Bellota, we see so many taken
there, brings us up to a grand total of one!

Out 

Photographiv Time Travel at its best!
Bob

All are fascinating photos. Many thanks for posting!

I resided in Stockton 1969 - 1976 and never once heard about this locomotive. The ST & E was rarely in the news and I rarely encountered activity on that RR. 
 

Thanks to both Even and Jeff for more info

Mike Root
Madras, OR

JDLX Wrote:

> Some photos shot of it from other angles show the
> tender had some substantial impact damage on the
> right side rear corner as well. 

Here are a couple of black and whites Al Rose took during the Central Coast trip showing the dents in the tender's right rear corner.  Not sure where the first one is - did ST&E have a puny little water column like that at Linden, or is this at Stockton?  The second view showing the the tender decorated with railfans on the return trip I'm pretty sure is at the corner of Ketcham Ln. and Archerdale Rd. just west of Linden:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/sEuQsK9hJMTVVRSu9

---

---

This is an uncredited shot I recently acquired of the #3 at Camp Carson, Dolbeer & Carson's woods camp up the Elk River Valley south/southeast of Eureka and sometimes confused on this board with the Carson in southern California, dated 15 October 1951.  WP (or someone) obviously straightened the ladder on the back of the tender, the other curious major modification is they replaced the cowcatcher pilot with a footboard.  The #3 by all appearances ran tender first down to the log dump and then engine first back to camp, and given the number of cows along the line I can see why D&C wanted that pilot.  Otherwise the dents on the tender look about the same. 

I'll add one more shot of it at Camp Carson.  I've always liked the overall appearance of the #3.   

Interesting discussion!

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV

---

---

That is interesting to see a cow catcher pilot on both the front of the engine and the rear of the tender.   That definitely tells you this engine spent a lot of time traveling in reverse to warrant that arrangement.   Thanks for the photos and for pointing that out.

I believe the water column shot would be at Stockton. The column in Linden was not near any large buildings
and stood quite late, like into the 80's.

Out