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Originally Posted by MichaelRyerson
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Michael, That is a wonderful, albeit “artificial” image. What immediately bothered me was the date attributed to it - 1965. It is way off the map. For the casual observer the tip off might be the 1970’s van in the parking lot. For the nut cases like me the locomotive itself is the marker.
The locomotive is Southern Pacific GS-4 4449, today one of the most famous and revered operating steam locomotives in the country. Built in May of 1941 she worked for the SP only 16 years, until October 2, 1957, avery short life for a steam locomotive. On May 24, 1958 she was donated to the City of Portland, Oregon and put on display in Oaks Park. She was not looked after very well and the pacific northwest weather quickly took it’s toll on her as seen in my photo from 1969. Had her deterioration continued she might have eventually been cut up for scrap, but in 1975 she was one of two steam locomotives selected to Pull the American Freedom Train on it’s Bicentennial tour. This sparked a rebirth and new career.
After two years of heading up the Freedom Train she was returned to the City of Portland where the the Pacific Northwest chapter of the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society returned her to her SP “Daylight” colors of red, orange and black and began running her on public excursions. Today she is temporally out of service while undergoing another rebuild, expected to be completed in November.
Now, I described the photo as being an “artificial" image. 4449 is shown passing through Glendale Station during a April/May 1981 shippers special showcasing the "Glasshopper" a new type of hopper car built of fiberglass. It was designed to reduce tare weight while increasing payload.. We know it is this shippers special because the Glasshopper is just visible through the smoke behind the two red and orange passenger cars. h
Now, about the smoke. In the days of SP steam operations smoke was to be avoided when passing through populated areas and kept to a minimum while running. Indeed, the SP fireman’s handbook states that the locomotive is to be run with “a light haze of grey at the stack”. In steam days this little display would have found the engine crew called on the carpet immediately at the end of their run. At this point the engine had developed a problem that plagued it's return run to Portland, and while I no longer remember the exact details, I seem to recall talk of a bad load of fuel-oil. That said, all that smoke does make for a neat picture, especially when the magenta cast is removed.
Cheers,
Jack