Recently we had an inquiry about our Oakland Terminal #101 diesel locomotive. #101 is a Baldwin model DS-4-4-1000. Baldwin was a huge producer of steam locomotives in the US including …
Recently we had an inquiry about our Oakland Terminal #101 diesel locomotive. #101 is a Baldwin model DS-4-4-1000. Baldwin was a huge producer of steam locomotives in the US including our own Clover Valley Lumber Co. #4 and our new to us Southern Pacific #1744, however, it was never overly successful in transitioning to the diesel electric locomotive market. That makes #101 more unique and makes this type of locomotive harder to find in preservation.
The inquiry was from a modeler looking for some detailed images of the rear platform of the #101. So on a recent visit to our Brightside yard, one of volunteers grabbed some detailed shots around the #101 which is currently stored awaiting from mechanical repairs to its running gear. This is another project where new hands would be very welcome around the yard. To learn how to volunteer, please check our Volunteer section of this website.
So here are a variety of detailed photos of the #101 which we hope will help modelers answer their detail questions. If we missed anything or you would like a different angle or close-up, please us know here. Thanks!
The Pacific Locomotive Association (PLA) is pleased to announce that the frame & running gear from the recently purchased Southern Pacific #1744 has been moved from Colorado to the Niles …
The Pacific Locomotive Association (PLA) is pleased to
announce that the frame & running gear from the recently purchased Southern
Pacific #1744 has been moved from Colorado to the Niles Canyon Railway. The running gear was loaded on a heavy haul
truck in Alamosa, Colorado on Monday 8/31 and unloaded this afternoon at
Brightside yard. The PLA owes thanks the
many donors who have helped finance the move from Colorado. We are also grateful to the employees at the
San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad who have been instrumental in helping with
the process to move the 1744.
The 2-6-0 Mogul built by Baldwin in 1901 operated for many
years out of Oakland on the Southern Pacific Western Division and in
California’s Central Valley where the Moguls were fondly called “Valley
Mallets” by their crews. The locomotive
was made famous in later years by operating on several of the last steam
railfan excursions on the Southern Pacific.
After many years of operating around the United States, the #1744 is
returning home to once again to operate through Niles Canyon on the last leg of
the transcontinental railroad.
The Pacific Locomotive Association will move the boiler, the final piece of the locomotive still in Colorado, to a contract shop for repairs later this month. This move will finish the project to move the locomotive back to California. With the running gear onsite, NCRy volunteers will now begin the inspection, repair and reassembly of the running gear in preparation for the eventual operation of the locomotive on the Niles Canyon Railway. The PLA plan to return the #1744 to service will not be a quick or inexpensive proposition but we are looking forward to the future when she will once again steam on the Niles Canyon Railway. Our non-profit all volunteer heritage railway encourages donations to help return this classic Southern Pacific Locomotive to service. Please visit our Steam Department website to see more information and progress updates as the rebuild begins.
The move of the SP 1744 frame seemed to be a simple process but as usual nothing is simple and things got more complicated as we delved into the details. …
The move of the SP 1744 frame seemed to be a simple process
but as usual nothing is simple and things got more complicated as we delved
into the details. The frame &
running gear being over 10’ wide would be a wide load on a truck, but what type
of truck would be required? While we
knew the weight of the locomotive, what would just the running gear weigh? Using our resources, we talked with anyone we
could think of that had moved a locomotive in pieces to see if they had weights
on both the boiler and frame and got the best information from Steve Lee of
Wasatch Railroad Contractors who supervised the recent move of the SP&S #539
2-8-2 from the Grand Canyon Railroad back to Washington. His weights on the boiler and running gear gave
us a rough approximation of the running gear percentage of the total locomotive
weight. As we knew the weight of all the
parts shipped in March, the parts weight was subtracted from the locomotive
weight to get an estimated weight of 113,400 pounds for the boiler and running
gear. However, we did not know the
weight of the boiler shell as it sat in Alamosa. Not knowing the boiler weight, we could only estimate
the running gear weight and it was too close to 80,000 pound weight limit to
risk using a shorter trailer, so Renn Transportation ended up using a nine-axle
truck and trailer able to carry more weight.
Fortunately, we did use the bigger trailer as based on truck scale
weights the running gear ended up weighing around 90,000 pounds.
In Alamosa, Stathi Pappas removed the grease cellars and
prepared the frame to roll by cleaning the axles and applying new grease. The axles were blocked so they would stay in
position when the frame was lifted. Stathi
supervised on August 31st, 2020 as two Monte Vista Crane Company
cranes lifted the running gear off the rails and onto the rails of the waiting
Renn Transportation truck. In addition
to our thanks to Stathi for his help, the PLA wants to give a huge thank you to
the San Luis and Rio Grande Railroad employees for their assistance with the
move.
Peter, our driver with Renn Transportation, skillfully drove
the loaded truck over the Continental Divide across 10,857 foot Wolf Creek Pass
heading west through Colorado, then Arizona, through Las Vegas, onto I-15 across
the California border, over Tehachapi to the Central Valley and into the Bay
Area. PLA volunteers built an unloading ramp
at Brightside Yard on September 2nd and the locomotive running gear
was rolled off the trailer and onto the rails of the Niles Canyon Railway. The long journey back home to California is
over where the locomotive began its career working for the Southern Pacific
Railroad nearly 120 years ago.
Due to the many COVID-19 restrictions and the inability to properly plan, we are extremely saddened to announce our popular Train of Lights event for the 2020 Holiday season will not be feasible this year.
Niles Canyon Railway’s Train of Lights heads into the dusk along Highway 84
Normally we like to share happier news on our website, but we wanted to let everyone know as soon as possible. Due to the many COVID-19 restrictions and the inability to properly plan, we are extremely saddened to announce our popular Train of Lights event for the 2020 Holiday season will not be feasible this year. Typically, we would begin preparations for this event now in early September and even earlier in August, but unfortunately we are unable to commit the necessary resources. Our concern is this signature event with current pandemic restrictions will not be everything people have come to expect, and we must be cognizant of the health and well-being of our volunteer corps who span all ages.
As this was our principal fund-raiser for the year, we still need to meet our financial commitments for the current and first half of the following fiscal year. If you would like to support us to help us get through this challenging time and loss of our operating revenue, you can make a donation or consider joining us. Membership is a great way to support our railroad, and it comes with many other perks as well. You can do both on our website via the links above.
Please understand this was a difficult decision for all of the volunteers here at Niles Canyon Railway. We do have our upcoming September steam runs if you would like a chance to support and ride with us. More details on those trips can be found on our website here.
We are hoping and our volunteers are fully committed to returning the Train of Lights to the rails of our Niles Canyon Railway if the conditions allow in 2021. Thank you again for everyone that has ridden our train over the many years.
The Niles Canyon Railway continues to follow the shelter in place order put in place in Alameda and surrounding counties in the Greater Bay Area to reduce the spread of …
The Niles Canyon Railway continues to follow the shelter in place order put in place in Alameda and surrounding counties in the Greater Bay Area to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Therefore, all train rides (Field trip trains/ Sunday train rides/Beer on the Rails/Riding the Rails for Relay) and volunteer efforts are cancelled until further notice. We will keep everyone updated as time goes on. In the meantime, we will keep posting interesting photos of our museum operations and from our archives on our Facebook and Instagram sites as a way to keep sharing our museum’s mission. We ask everyone to please stay safe, and we hope to be back out of the engine house soon enough.
