last steam
From: "Bill Anderson" bill@fedshra.org
Passenger service from Sacramento to Folsom ended in 1939. The last diesel freight run we believe was around 1986 (to Placerville). We have a photo by Alan Aske showing a steam locomotive at the Folsom Depot in 1956.
When was the last steam run to/from Folsom/Sacramento?
Bill Anderson
posted from CPRR Discussion Group at 6:22 PM
4 Comments:
From: "Wendell Huffman" wendellhuffman@hotmail.com
Bill, that's a good question. The answer – if it can ever be found – is probably recorded in some kind of internal SP motive power assignment records with which I am not familiar – and which may not even exist.
Diebert & Strapac (p.27) say the last steam freight train on the SP was 30 November 1956. That train photographed by Alan Aske on 5 July 1956 at Folsom and on the Fair Oaks branch may well have been the last. I wonder what motivated him to photograph that particular train. What did he know?
For all I know the last passenger train of any kind was the Sacramento County Historical Society excursion of April 1963, which went all the way to Placerville. It ran out town down Front and out R, just like the old SVRR line, but did not actually run into Folsom itself.
According to D&S again, the last steam powered train of any kind (north of Mexico and not counting the Owens valley narrow gauge) was an excursion on 19 October 1958. My memory (of a newspaper article--not the event itself) is that the locomotive piston road was torched on that locomotive (4460) while the locomotive was still standing with its returned train at the Sacramento depot.
However, there was an article in Trains some years back about a steam locomotive taken under its own power to some cannery to serve as power source well after that 1958 run. And I vividly recall a steam locomotive (an 0-6-0) operating under its own power, and without train, on R street. We were in recess at Coloma School when it passed, and even then it must have been remarably rare in our young minds as everyone on the playground ran to the back fence to watch it. I insist that had to have been in the school year 1958-59--and most likely the spring of 1959, because I recall the teacher – immediately after that event – recounting his summers as a locomotive fireman while he was in school. Which it means it had to have been while I was in 6th grade. It is entirely possible that these two events were related – they have to move a locomotive that hasn't run in a long time, so fire it up and take it out R street to make sure everything is working. In fact, the locomotive I recall ran out from the west (from the shops), went past the school at 47th street, and very soon returned heading back to the west – never to be seen again. (Now I'd really like to find that Trains article! it was after I moved here in 1991.)
Wendell
From: mikadobear45@yahoo.com
The latest SPH&T quarterly has a feature on "last" of Espee steam and it seems there may have been quite a few late unofficial runs using handy steam power that was on hand and good for a few more miles. When was that "last" run to Folsom with duded-up SP Ten Wheeler 2248 – 1955?
A quick review of all the extant backissues of Western Railroader and Nor Cal Railfan and Ferroequinologist newsletters between 1956 and 1960 should nail down the bulk of them. CSRM has all those old periodicals, so it shouldn't be too hard. Nevertheless, the unofficial last runs may have escaped even railfan news reporting if something happened when no one was looking or expecting it to occur.
–Kevin
From: mikadobear45@yahoo.com
The latest SPH&T quarterly has a feature on "last" of Espee steam and it seems there may have been quite a few late unofficial runs using handy steam power that was on hand and good for a few more miles. When was that "last" run to Folsom with duded-up SP Ten Wheeler 2248 – 1955?
A quick review of all the extant backissues of Western Railroader and Nor Cal Railfan and Ferroequinologist newsletters between 1956 and 1960 should nail down the bulk of them. CSRM has all those old periodicals, so it shouldn'
From: "Arnold Menke" waspman@cableone.net
Wendell: I guess you are not a member of the SP Hist. Soc. otherwise you would be aware that the last issue of SP Trainline has an article by Tom Dill on Steam's Last Gasp. He chronicles all the final steam movements. For example, 2827 was under steam on the Arvin branch in Jan. 1959 for a movie. 2833 pulled train 418 on 12-1-56, perhaps the last such operation. March 7, 1959 2582 went to Pittsburg for stationary boiler service. Aug. 27, 1959, 2582 and 2836 went to Salinas for stationary boiler service. In 1960 2836 again was used as a stationary boiler in SF. No mention of an 0-6-0 such as you described, but according to Tom's records the only switchers still on the SP Oct. 9, 1959 were 1221 1272 and 1298. Arnold
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