Can anyone out there tell me if Southern Pacific ever used 2-8-2 Mikados to pull passenger service.
Also, what did the paint job on the engine look like and what type lettering did it have ?.
The reason I’m asking is because I just recently bought a Kato Western Pacific
Mikado that I’d like to bash into a Southern Pacific, but can’t seem to find any information on it…
“Thanks”
trainluver1
http://espee.railfan.net/espee.html
some good info there.
Thank you Mr. Jones… That answered a lot of my questions.
trainluver1
The 2-8-2 was a rare breed on the SP and a rare find on the Pacific Lines, the vast majority were assigned to the T&NO and Cotton Belt until replaced by diesels whereupon they and other displaced steam power migrated to the Pacifc Lines.
As a rule they were never assigned to passenger service, not even commute service in the final days, they did serve as helpers in passenger service, not unusual on a road where a 0-6-0 was considered helper power!
SP began painting the smoke box fronts on Pacific Line engines silver in 1946 at which time the word LINES was dropped from the tender lettering. The firebox sides continued to be Graphite.
Prior to 46 Graphite was used on the smokebox, being mixed locally it could vary from light grey to almost black. There is documentation, but no photographic evidence of SP applying special green passenger paint to a 2-8-2 during the 1920s.
I have records listing such a 2-8-2 painted by the Sacramento Shops although positive ID as to which 2-8-2 has eluded me, otherwise they toiled in basic black, some may have retained the red widow and cab door frames for a splash of color .
I recommend you choose a specfic prototype as details could differ vastly within the same class, namely headlights, pilots, running boards and of course tenders.
Good luck on your project, I’m planning on a similar project using the Lionel USRA 3/16 scale 2-8-2 as the baisis.
Dave
There is an account of Mikados in mail train service in John Signor’s Tehachapi. See page 191. The engines used were #3271 and #3318. Trains were #55-56.
And for the record COTTON BELT never had a single solitary Mikado. Not one!
No Mikes on psgr but how about 2-10-2s. There’s a video out, SP in the 40s, that has a shot of a 2-10-2 in psgr service, I believe at Colfax, and a 2-10-2 was standard power on the local psgr between Dunsmuir Ca and Ashland Or. The problem w/ the conversion you’re contemplating (other than the absense of one pair of drivers) is the SPs passionate love affair w/ the Vanderbilt tender, an atraction that seems to have escaped the WP.
First edition of A Century ofSouthern Pacific Steam Locomotives by Guy L. Dunscomb.
Page 249 shows SP MK-6 #3265 with train 328, a whaleback tender, 2 RPO’s, & 2coaches.The location is Shasta Springs, California, the Dunsmuir-Grants Pass connection. This train was discontinued in 1952. Wilber Whittaker photo 1951.