Re: Wood to Coal Chronology

From: "Randall Hees" hees@ix.netcom.com

As best I can tell while the WP locos were used anywhere before 1869, once the line opened they were mostly returned to the Sacramento to Oakland run. News reports of the many accidents and other problems on the [Western Pacific Railroad] generally call out engine names, and there the WP engines show up frequently (as does the CP Huntington)

The generally accepted story is that 8 of the 10 WP locos were still in the crate when the CP took over the line. At the time the summit tunnel was delaying eastward progress, and at least one of the WP locos was sent in pieces over the hill to opereate on the disconnected track along the Truckee River.

Industry is the odd duck as it is renumbered 25 to replace a lost CP loco while the others get numbers in the 160's and 170's when folded into the CP

Randy Hees