SP 4-10-2 5027

[sptrainnut]

I'm going to give this a try and see if I'm doing it right or not. This is a shot taken in the late 40's very early 50's by my dad, Gordon H. Motts. At the time, he worked for the SP in the signal maintenance section here in El Paso. He was also a professional photographer.

[SP 9811]

three cylinder 4-10-2...AWESOME!!

[huskerherb]

Welcome aboard sptrainnut. I look forward to your participation in the forums and to the posting of your father's SP images. I'm a huge fan of SP's Daylight.

[sptrainnut]

Thanks Herb, this is a great forum and I'm looking forward to seeing and learning and partisapating in it. There are some great pictures in here and I'm working on adding more shortly.

I too am a fan of the daylights, actually the 3800's are my favorites and the GS class is right on its heels. I truly believe that the SP and the greatest engines and paint shcemes of any of the railroads.

Thanks again for the welcome.

[huskerherb]

You're most welcome sptrainnut. Thom has done a brilliant thing by bringing this forum to us fans of the SP.

If I may say, I'm a dyed in the wool fan of the ATSF, but quickly grew to love the SP during the time period when I lived in the San Francisco Bay area in the early 1980s. Thankfully I had many years to shoot both railroads before mergers took them away.

[sptrainnut]

Herb,

The SP is my favorite road, I also like the SF. I model in On30 and plan to free lance the Nevada County Narrow Gauge, and someday plan on having an HO switching layout that will be mainly SP with some SF thrown in for fun and variety.

My dad worked for the SP when I was little and I worked for them as a switchman back in the early 70's. I also belong to the local historical chapter that is in charge of SP 2-8-0 C-19 #3420. This engine was restored back in 70's I believe, kind of foggy on that right now, but it was restored and was used in the bicentennial of El Paso. When the 4449 went to the Worlds Fair in New Orleans in the 80's on the return trip the 3420 was put on the head-end and double-headed with the 4449 from the Alfalfa yards down to the depot. This was the first time for an SP double header since the end of steam operations. Somewhere I have the pictures of this event and when I can find them I'll post them. When we arrived (4449) I was lucky enough to be able to ride in the cab of the 4449 down to the depot. This was a thrill of a lifetime for me although I had already been in the cab numerous times, just not while it was running.

I have also been lucky enough to run the 3420 and to my best guess, I'm the only one left in the group that knows how to run the engine. All of the rest of them are gone, unfortunately, the old girl needs about $250,000 to $300,000 worth of work on her. She needs a new set of flues and possibly a new front flue sheet. FRA will probably require all kinds of tests on the boiler before they will OK it to run again. The above amounts may be on the short end of what is really needed to do the job right. I have tons of pictures of the 3420 and if there is interest I'll post them as time permits.

Oops, sorry for the long windedness, I got carried away.

Cheers,

J. Motts
sptrainnut

[thespcaboose]

Welcome aboard sptrainnut!! A lot of us here have some fond and awesome memories of the Southern Pacific.

Don't worry about how long the posts go. You're amoung friends who enjoy hearing stories about the SP.

[espeefoamer]

We love photos and stories of SP steam.Keep 'em coming! ;D

[thespcaboose]

sptrainnut,

I look forward to seeing more of the photos in your collection. Like espeefoamer said, keep the photos and stories of SP steam coming.

[tomkerby]

As a retired SP engineer out of Tucson the photo brings back a lot of memories. I am trying but I am unable to place the location. Where is the 3420 now. I remember it in front of the passenger station for what seemed like years. I was the pilot engineer on the 4449 on the AFT from Phoenix to Tucson. At that time we had enough steam qualified engineers and fireman to take the train from Yuma to El Paso but unfortunately McCormack, or so we wre told nixed the idea. I just happened to be in the right place and the right time and caught the trip. After thinking a little more, the location looks like the East water plug at Deming, New Mexico.

[sptrainnut]

Good Morning Tom and Everyone,
Well I finally made it back after a very long absence, I was having problems connecting to the site for some reason and couldn't get in. I finally gave up after many weeks of trying and was doing some house cleaning and came across the link and gave it a shot. After a couple of tries, I was able to get in, yippee, now I have a lot of catching up to do. Tom, thanks for placing the location of the shot that my dad took. When I think back, I believe that very well might be the location you spoke of. My dad traveled all over the Southwest to shoot the SP.
Funny that you spoke of the 4449, did you get to work on it when it came back through in the full daylight colors on the way to the Worlds Fair back in the early 80's, (the exact years slip me right now)? Our group worked the train from El Paso to San Antonio, was that ever an experience. We were car hosts or whatever you wanted to call us. On the return trip from San Antonio, after coming over a very long bridge over a lake, the draw-bar pin dropped unexpectedly and the engine and tender separated and the engine shot off and the rest of the train came to a nice gentle stop. The guy who was the fireman at that time, a great big dude, walked back about 3/4 of a mile behind where the train had stopped and found the pin and carried it back. I remember him saying how heavy it was. They had just enough steam pressure to back the engine up and reconnect the tender and then they dropped the fire so as not to damage the crown sheets. The little local fire department donated two suction hoses from one of their trucks and they were able to make up new water lines from the tender to engine and then we continued on. about two or 3 hours late. Held up a lot of traffic and the SP was not a happy camper. When we got to El Paso the next day, the 3420 was waiting for us down at Alfalfa yards, all steamed up and looking really good. They backed the 3420 onto the main and coupled up to the 4449 and Doyle took the throttle and cracked it open and they opened the throttle on the 4449 and they had an SP doubleheaded train for the first time since they ceased steam operations on the SP. What a great site that was. Sorry, I don't have any pictures of this as I was on the train and couldn't get off to take any . The 3420 started moving and got about 200 yards and 2 flues on the front sheet let go and that was all she wrote, the 4449 pushed the 3420 the rest of the short distance to the depot.
The 3420 is now stored down by the Acid Plant at the Phelps Dodge (it has a new owner but I can't remember their name) Copper Refinery and is not in the best of shape anymore. It is truly a shame to see what is happening to it. It is slowly rusting away because of the acid fumes and has never been completely repaired to full running condition like it was back in the 80's. We did run it a few times after wards but it now needs some pretty major repairs and they don't really have the money to get them done. Besides that, the UP has stated that it will never run on UP rails again. Basically, it is stuck where it sits unless someone with a great deal of "pull" can make arrangements to get it moved.