While building a layout and taking care of other priorities,I’m currently assembling a couple of trains as elements show up on Ebay assuming I can set my hands on them at decent prices that is.I model N scale and wish to eventually have these consists completed with a relatively prototypical accuracy.I’m not that much of a purist but still want to put some effort into these projects so that I can have the feeling to be “pretty close” to the real thing at least.
I have three projects on mind,one being the UP’s Portland Rose that is slowly taking shape and the two other ones are the SP’s Daylight and Lark trains.The first one is a no brainer as buying the Kato set will do but the Lark has me wondering on a small point.I have been fortunate to find a car set on Ebay (new) all schemed and lettered but these are Pullman Heavyweights.Searching for infos on the Lark,I found that the Lark was often pulled by the same GS4’s as the Daylight,being in fact the night version of the latter.But the Kato set doesn’t feature HVW cars but rather lighter cars (Budd’s ?).So my question is…did GS4’s ever pull Heavyweight Pullman’s or if my consist be much more realistic with Mountain,Hudson or Pacific types locos?I will put a GS4 in front of my set(have one and love it) just the same but I’m curious to know.I believe that a GS4/HVW combo would be slightly off in time span,am I right?
By the way,does someone know if there is a historical society (like UPHS) devoted to Southern Pacific?SP doesn’t exist anymore (shame) so infos may be hard to come by.Thanks.
Hello “Jacktal,”
The streamlined GS class locomotives were obviously designed for use with the Daylight trains, but in practice they handled just about every type of passenger train the SP ran, including San Francisco Peninsula “commutes” in their last days.
As far as the Lark, it was a heavyweight train in Pullman green and SP olive until streamlined in early 1941. There are photos of GS-3 class streamlined 4-8-4s pulling the heavyweight Lark. The streamlining was done piecmeal, as the new lightweight cars were delivered between February and June. During that time the Lark ran with mixed consists of two-tone gray lightweights and heavyweights in their original paint schemes.
The GS-4 4-8-4s were delivered over a year, between April 1941 and April 1942. That leaves a brief period in the spring 1941 when a streamlined GS-4 might have been (probably was) assigned to a mixed-consist Lark. After the Lark’s streamling was complete, it was commonly pulled by GS-4s (painted non-matching orange and red!).
So long,
Andy
So my question is…did GS4’s ever pull Heavyweight Pullman’s or if my consist be much more realistic with Mountain,Hudson or Pacific types locos?I will put a GS4 in front of my set(have one and love it) just the same but I’m curious to know.I believe that a GS4/HVW combo would be slightly off in time span,am I right?
Depends on the train. Prior to the 1949 introduction of the “Starlight”, there was a train called “The Coaster” (trains 69 & 70) that was heavyweight with mixed coaches and Pullmans and was often pulled by GS-4’s in full Daylight paint.
One of the things you’ve got to remember is that many of the GS-4’s were de-skirted after WWII and painted black although one or two actually had Daylight paint on the cab and tender for a short time after de-skirting.
Valley trains (e.g. “San Joaquin Daylight”, “Owl”, “West Coast”, etc.) could get GS-4’s north of Bakersfield. The latter two trains were generally all heavyweight in the steam era, although a streamlined car or two could show up in the consist. However, if assigned a GS-4, it would more likely be a deskirted black engine as the Daylight painted engines (#4449-4457 and GS-5’s #4458, 4459) that were left were pretty much reserved for the Coast route.
Hope this helps.
Andre
Whenever Athearn gets around to releasing its HO-scale model of SP’s Mt-class (e.g. 4300 series, e.g. 4-8-2), you ought to get one or more. They were more versatile than the large-drivered GS classes, and traveled on all major SP routes. To quote Robert Church, “The Espeee 4300’s could well have been designated the railroads’s general service locomotives. These lanky 4-8-2’s proved in service to have just the right combination of technology to allow high-stepping grace at the head of a string of varnish, or the gutsy brawn to knuckle down and walk away with a heavy tonnage freight. The big engines were a favorite of roundhouse dispatchers and crews alike, for their dependability, on any assignment whatever, was beyond reproach. Their 73-inch drivers gave them a versatility not surpassed even by their later GS-class stablemates.” The Mts did it all: premier, secondary, and commuter passenger trains, streamlined and heavyweight, as welll as freights.
Mark
I’m always amazed at how fast and competent answers come by on this forum,many thanks indeed.Well,it pretty much seems like my GS4 has it’s work cut out.Engine 4431 (all black wartime) will pull nine SP Lark schemed heavyweight Pullman’s and likely a few more Pullman green heavies,as I have some of these too.I do have a heavy Mountain (Spectrum) but being a C&O unit,it won’t fit much and I don’t know of any SP 4-8-2 existing in N scale.I could repaint it but for now,my layout construction will go first.And then,why not a C&O unit pulling the Lark?May have to remove a few cars though.After all,it’s my layout.For the time being,it’ll likely happen sometimes.Thanks again guys.