Found an interesting Edison 1890's RR video on Youtube of the SP's Overland Mail
I was looking through Youtube the other day, and I was looking for a certain silent film. I thought I had seen most of [Thomas Alva] Edison's silent films of RR's recorded in the 1890's, but I came across the following one of the SP's "Overland Mail" (which I guess could be any train), capturing a double-headed train around a corner. The film details the number of each locomotive (although I didn't realize that until after), so I looked closely at the tenders and was able to write down the numbers. I remember being told that switching locomotive tenders around was a famous practice of the CP/SP, but I decided to look them up on the roster anyway:
No. 1360: 4-4-0, originally: ?
No. 1779: 4-6-0. originally: ?
Unfortuneately, when I tried to look them up on the rosters, I couldn't find either of them. I saw locomotives numbered 1362-1368, and locomotives numbered 1770-1776, but no engines with these numbers. Does anyone happen to know if they engines were even SP/CP, or were they from another RR, or did I miss something entirely?
The other question I had was about an SP locomotive I saw in a book once, numbered 1008.
However, it is very different from the one listed. The engine is a 4-4-0T, with no tender, a crane attached to the smokebox/pilot, and a small collection of tanks and cylinders under the cab. I own a copy of the book, so I can scan it if you'd like. The engine is simply described as a works pilot, but I have never seen any of pictures of it before. Does the museum have any other resources about it?
—Mike
posted from CPRR Discussion Group at 12:14 PM
2 Comments:
From: "Jim Wilke" woodburner@earthlink.net
Locomotive 1008 is indeed a Central Pacific engine, but the 1008 number was not assigned until 1901. There is a different engine listed as 1008 in the 1891 roster.
The engine you ask of was originally Rambler No. 104, built by the Rogers Locomotive & Machine Works in August, 1868. It was one of a group of Rogers engines that all bore names implying fast running - Rambler, Rusher, Rover, Stager, Pacer and so on. It was put into service on the Central Pacific in March, 1869, after a shipment by sea from the factory.
As built, Rambler was a splendid first class machine. It gleamed in polished brass and Russia iron. Its cab was varnished walnut, and it was fitted with a columnar bell stand, the best Rogers had, which indicates a wine color scheme with vermilion wheels and an ultramarine blue panel on the tender, with a gold leaf "104" in a center medallion that was painted vermilion.
Photographs show sister engine Stager No. 108 in service hauling passenger trains in Nevada around 1869, and other engines in the class working Southern pacific traffic in during the 1870s in Tehachapi and San Jose.
Most of them were sold or scrapped by 1900, but the former Rambler survived as a lowly shop engine until 1915. The remarkable thing is how original this engine was, even then.
—Jim
From: kylewyatt@aol.com
Your first question relates to locomotives under the 1891 Southern Pacific numbering scheme.
4-4-0 #1360 was built by Baldwin in 1883 as Oregon & California #27. It remained #1360 in the 1901 renumbering, and was scrapped at Brooklyn (Portland) in 1913.
4-6-0 #1779 was an A. J. Stevens loco built in the Southern Pacific Sacramento Shops in 1887 as Southern Pacific #215. In 1901 it was renumbered #2189, and was also scrapped at Brooklyn in 1913.
As to 4-4-0T #1008, it was built as a 4-4-0 by Rogers in 1868 as Central Pacific #104, named Rambler. It successively became Sacramento & Placerville #3, Northern Ry #1021, Oregonian #11 (when they were standard gauging that line), SP #1427 (in 1891), assigned #1202 in 1901 but promptly renumbered #1008, rebuilt as a 4-4-0T in 1905 at Brooklyn, and scrapped in 1915. The crane was apparently added when the loco was rebuilt as a 4-4-0T.
—Kyle Wyatt
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