Nostalgia & History > Last steam out of Roseville?

question-?the last years and type of steamers to help "City of San Francisco" out of Roseville up the mountains? Any photos? Thanks.

We've all seen those two pics of steam on 102--
don't recall seeing one of 101 with steam.
Guys were arguing about whether a steam helper
was usual for 101, but no one had evidence.
If helpers were usual with E2s, did they
continue with PAs? No one knows.

I have an SP video which shows #102 with what appears to be the second COSF consist, so would likely be around 1940. Narrations can be very inaccurate, but this one stated the COSF got a helper each trip eastbound, in the film it was a 4300. My guess is that #102 got helpers so long as the train was EMD powered. The PAs went into service around the time the COSF went daily in 1947, and I would wager that they spelled the end of regular helpers for #102. #101 had a much shorter grade coming westbound and may not have required helpers even during the days of EMD power. AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

timz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> We've all seen those two pics of steam on 102--
> don't recall seeing one of 101 with steam.
> Guys were arguing about whether a steam helper
> was usual for 101, but no one had evidence.
> If helpers were usual with E2s, did they
> continue with PAs? No one knows.


Perhaps if a diesel failed, yes, but by late 1950s on long conists, F unit helpers were common

I checked some dispatcher's train sheets for 1953. The normal pattern for #102 City of San Francisco was 12 cars pulled by a pair of Alco PAs, with a pair of F unit helpers added Roseville to Norden. I did note several days in July where an AC cab-in-front steam helper substituted for the F units. This didn't seem to have anything to do with train length or tonnage, but simply availability of power at Roseville. In December, with light freight traffic, there were plenty of F units available so no steam helpers were used.

Best regards.
RL Cabin