Nostalgia & History > The Only SP Camelback

This is one of the 8X10s Key Route Ken sent me.  The only information on the photo is this, "1 & only Camel Back on SP."  It's road number is 2282.  I could not find it in the usual rosters I check.

Enjoy,
Marty Bernard



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/19 00:03 by MartyBernard.

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I found this description with a little more info: steamlocomotive.com

"The Southern Pacific Railroad only had one Camelback locomotive. It was number 2282 built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1900 for is Sonora subsidiary in Mexico. This 4-6-0 was built specifically to burn inferior Arizona coal."

The same photo with less of the foreground and background opaqued-out appears in this old thread:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,3044050

Diebert & Strapac's Southern Pacific Company Steam Locomotive Compendium says the locomotive was built in September 1900 as Ferrocarril de Sonora 18.  According to page 404 of the book:

"Some anthracite coal was available for rail and industrial use in Northern Mexico, and the Sonora Railway decided to test its virtues as a locomotive fuel."

The engine was sold to parent Southern Pacific just eight months later in May 1901, becoming SP 2282.  It was rebuilt at Los Angeles in 1906 with a new boiler and lasted until 1928.  At the time of the book's publication, the authors had only uncovered three photos of the locomotive, all in its pre-1906 Wootten firebox / "Mother Hubbard" configuration:

1) A builder's photo of F.C. de Sonora 18 that appears on page 404 of the book,
2) The photo of SP 2282 on the Los Angeles turntable that Marty posted, which this site says was taken in May 1901: https://sphts.smugmug.com/PL-Steam-Locomotives/460/Misc-460/
3) A tight 3/4 roster shot of SP 2282 that appears on page 169 of the book, which according to the caption was taken "apparently at Los Angeles about 1903."

Camelback questions come to mind:
Who rode in the left side of the cab, where were the Firemans' gauges and valves?
If the fireman shoveled coal, where did he stand between the back of the engine and the tender.
 

Lairport Wrote:
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> Camelback questions come to mind:
> Who rode in the left side of the cab,

Brakeman, if there was one on the engine.

> where were the Firemans' gauges and valves?

What gauges and valves does a fireman need? A grate shaker and maybe  a steam gauge on the backhead.  Tri-cocks, both injectors, and all other controls were within reach of the engineer on the right in the cab.  In fact, many railroads put these controls on the right side under the control of the engineer on conventional engines, right up to the end. of steam

> If the fireman shoveled coal, where did he stand
> between the back of the engine and the tender.
>  
He stood on the front deck of the tender, which was exactly the same place (and with the same weather protection) as 'most any other engine built before about 1910.  The idea of putting the fireman on the deck inside the cab didn't much catch on until after the turn of the century, and most engines were "deckless", with the boiler extending right thru the cab to the rear wall as seen in this photo.

-LD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/19 07:09 by LarryDoyle.

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