Steam & Excursion > Steam in Northern Arizona

Grand Canyon Ry. has completed a heavy rebuild of 2-8-0 29. She operated yesterday for testing in the Williams yard & made two trips today to Red Lake (Mile 9). Trips to the Canyon will follow. I was told that she performed really well.
While I reported late last summer that she was steamed for the first time in some years, the months following were focused on her running gear.
Plans are for her & 4960 to split duties this summer.
While not always considered the most asthetic of designs, this Consolidation is a real impressive machine. Unless her tonnage ratings have changed since the rebuild, she was rated @ 555 tons up the 6 miles of 3% between Anita & Imbleau (formerly Apex).
The high craftsmanship evident is typical of what comes out of the Williams locomotive shop.

Thanks for the update. That is good to hear. Our only time to the GCRY was in July of 1993 on a very heavy traffic day plus the rim replenishment water tank car which had
something like 25,000 gallons. They budget 100 gallons of water per mile to determine
water allocation I found out later.

We hit it just right that day and had a terrific steam show. No. 29 was used that day in place of #18 for the extra power it provided but even so with the very heavy train, the FA diesel boosters were needed. At the time 4960 was literally up on blocks outside the shops.

The trip was worth every penny as my wife, kids and even the normally crotchety
mother-in-law had a great time.

The crew gave #29 quite a workout tipping in the diesels on the worst grade but only after #29 was gasping at a walking pace. The sound including the #29 whistle was just magnificent.

After the trip I asked the crew about the flat land running with the big S curves and they said the throttle was full out and the max speed 42-45 mph.

As you mentioned I have no doubt that #29's power rating has been given a significant
boost with this rebuild. It will be a fine complement to the 4960 and every bit as
entertaining.

We will be visiting the GCRy again this summer so this is great news. It'll be fun to
see the line-up on our trip day.

Thanks again for the update.

To BulletBob...
I thought I'd add a little to what you wrote about the watercars. They carry 16,000 gallons of treated water when full & that adds about 97 tons to the train. Practice was, and may still be, to short-fill the steam loco @ the Grand Canyon with enough water to get it home. That way, the watercar lasts 2-3 days & is hauled empty back to WMS.
During steam season, it seems as if you were either filling the locomotive's tender in the morning or evening or filling one of the watercars. Numbers on those were 874, 907, 929 & 932.
Also, that whistle that you comented on belonged to 4960. Unless things have changed, 4960 has a loaned 6 chime on her now and 29 gets 4960's old 5 chime again. 18 had my Hancock 3 chime on her for a 5 year period for the steam seasons 1998-2002.

Hello Nite

Thanks for the update, correction and additional facts. I will save that for reference
ahead of the visit. 16,000 gallons of water is still alot of weight to pull along with
those heavy weight coaches.

You are right about whistles being interchangeable and they often swapped out for various reasons including crew interest.

We had occasion to visit Fort Worth two years in a row and rode the Tarantula each time.
On the second year the whistle was clearly different, having a very sleek important
sound like it should be on the express.

I asked the conductor about it and he said the engine came with 6 whistles and they
swapped them out every week or so for variety. He thought the whistle that day
was originally off an SP Daylight GS engine. It was sure a delight to hear that thing work the city streets on the south Tarantula loop. The hair would practically stand
up on your neck.

Why does the Grand Canyon have to cart the water to the rim? Whgen I was there in 1992 I didn't see a water car but with a 4-hour layover they might of done something when I wasn't looking.

GCR uses watercars to spot at the Canyon wye for replentishment of steam locomotive tenders. Once you leave Williams, there is really noplace to take water until you get to the Canyon & what is there is untreated & only for emergency.
Softened water is put in the tankcars & left at the Canyon. When the crew lays over the the 3 or so hours until departure, they service the locomotive & use a small gasoline-powered pump to transfer water from the tankcar to the tender. As I mentioned before, they don't always fill it, but put enough in to safely get back to Williams.
I remember that we never left the shop in the morning without having the water level in the tender up into the neck of the hatch & just out of sight in the glass. After backing nearly a mile to the carshop, you'd have a little switching to get your train, then you'd back to the depot. The locomotive would sit on the spot for almost 2 hours until the road crew left town. All this time you were entirely on what water you had left the shop with.

A question. Was Doyle's aux. water bottle enough to keep 3751 in water for that whole Saturday of photo runbys etc.during the RLHS convention in Aug 2002. Also I imagine that 4960 needed plenty of water at Grand Canyon that day. Is this true?

I was on that trip, but didn't pay attention to that. Eric Hadder would know & he reads these posts.
Tom

The geology of the south rim of the Grand Canyon is such that the substrate, almost to the depth of the Colorado River where you run into the equally dry Vishnu Shist formation, is tilted down to the north. As a result, what little rainfall, south of the canyon, that is absorbed by the ground runs along the substrates to the north and emerges as springs in the southerly cliffs of the canyon. Consequently, there has been no build up of an underground water table for several hundred miles south of The Canyon. The GCRR, like the ATSF before it, has to bring in water rather than pump it up over 5000 feet from the level of the Colorado (also known as the Grand - hence the "Grand Canyon") River. IIRC, even drinking water is hauled in.

Geologically, it sure ain't Nebraska!