Sothern Pacific Berkshires

[ben13]

Does anyone know if Southern Pacific Railroad had Berkshires (2-8-4)?

[AltonFan]

Yes, Southern Pacific did have Berkshires.

According to Guy L. Dunscomb’s A Century of Southern Pacific Steam Locomotives:

QUOTE: the ten engines of this group, classified B-1, were acquired in 1945 to keep the Rio Grande Division operating under the stress of the final days of the War. They were built by Lima in 1928 as coal burners and were numbered in the 4000 series on the B&M. They were converted to oil in 1949 and 1950 and transferred to California. All were scrapped in 1950 and 1951.

Guy L. Dunscomb, A Century of Southern Pacific Steam Locomotives. Third Edition. San Jose, CA: The Train Shop, 1984. Pages 253-256

They had Coffin feedwater heaters (the kind that look like hoods hanging from the smokebox), although there is a photo in the book of one of these engines with the Coffin feedwater heater removed, and the original tender replaced by whaleback (?- looks like an inverted bathtub) tender.

According to the book, seven identical engines were obtained from B&M by the Santa Fe. (Who also had their own Berkshires.)