Nostalgia & History > SP4342...if I could bring back one engine

As a kid I grew up with the 4300's because they were regular power on the San Francisco peninsula commute trains my father road five days a week.  By the time I was old enough to pay much attention, they had disappeared into the scrap line at Bayshore where I captured this picture around 1958.  Perhaps I am prejudiced, but in my mind they were handsom beasts.  But all of them went to scrap.  In this picture the 4342 looks to be in excellent shape, perhaps even had a recent shopping.  I am told it was not unusual for engines to be shopped, stored awaiting a call that never came, and then scrapped.  Not long after this picture was taken I hired out into engine service, and had one call for messenger service on an AC moving off this line of engines to a scrap dealer somewhere south of Watsonville Junction, which is as far as I got to ride.

JBWX

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Looks like Bayshore's 0-6-0T shop switcher 966 coupled to 4342's tender.  The date given previously was January 5, 1958:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,884545,884760#884760
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,4184658,4185375#4185375

The 4342 would have been out of service since the end of steam on the commutes in mid-January 1957, although Diebert & Strapac's Southern Pacific Company Steam Locomotive Compendium indicates it wasn't formally vacated from the roster until September 1958. 

Photographer E.K. Muller caught the engine in action a few times in its final months of service.  He has it on the commutes a couple of times, as in the first view at California Ave. with train 124 in September 1956, but most of his photos show it on freight on the other side of the bay.  In the second photo, she has 70 cars of extra freight in trail eastbound at Elmhurst, and in the third she is westbound at Newark.  None of Muller's photos show stars on the wheel centers (indicating spring-pad lubricators), which make me wonder if somebody decided to "dress up" the engine for photos after she was placed in the deadline.  Photos courtesy the Western Railway Museum Archives.

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Thanks for a NICE series! Brings back great memories from 1956.

Larry

Both my memory and my filing system are obviously defective.  I had no record on my hard drive of previously scanning that image, and no recollection of having posted it previously.  Oh well.  

JBWX

No problem with a repost.  It's a nice photo and good recollections to go with it.

Fine photos of a great locomotive.

Ed

My apologies, Ed, I should have checked your slides as well.  Turns out you also tagged 4342 on the commutes a few times:

1) Heading toward The City on morning westbound train 125 at South San Francisco, CA in March of 1956.  Those ultra-low-profile switch stands in the foreground are interesting - they look like the kind usually countersunk into the pavement for switches on street-running.

2) On final approach to the terminal at Third & Townsend in San Francisco, CA on westbound train 137, with Fourth St. Tower in the background and the flagman protecting Fourth St. itself in June 1956.

3) On eastbound train 124 departing San Francisco in June of 1956, possibly later the same day?  The engine does indeed appear to have the remains of stars on its wheel centers in photos 2 and 3.

Three photos by mundo.

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I'm a Frisco fanatic, but always thought those 4300s were very attractive engines, with or without the skyline casing.  I'm thinking the engine crews liked them also.

When I first saw the title of this thread, I thought you were talking about the SD9E version which unfortunately is also long gone.  

What a nice expansion and contribution to someone's long-ago memory.  Only on TO.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

Frisco1522 Wrote:
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> I'm a Frisco fanatic, but always thought those
> 4300s were very attractive engines, with or
> without the skyline casing.  I'm thinking the
> engine crews liked them also.

In my early days as a young fireman on the SP in the 1960's when I brought up the subject of favorite steam locomotives
to my engineer of-the-day; they all cited the 4300's as their favorite. Ease of firing, better ride quality were the reasons most
often mentioned.

Any takers for an open window on that first coach of Train 124 in mundo's photo? 

Charlie
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/19 08:46 by cewherry.

The subject and photos are a pleasant start to my week. My one and one SP cab ride was in SP4337 in 1954.

Nice photos! The 4300s were a great looking class of locomotives. They were the favorites of the old head engineers I met on the SP, best running engines. Interestingly, my HO Athearn 4-8-2 is also my best running locomotive.

A pair of them on the headend of the SJ Daylight between LA and Bakersfield was something to behold, especially taking 51 up the grade out of Mojave in the morning.
My very favorite railroad scene...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA