City - Sacramento State - CALIFORNIA Country - United States
About
This photo was taken at the Sacramento, California Train Museum. It is the only surviving cab forward 4-8-8-4 steam engine of the 256 owned by Southern Pacific Rail Road. This engine was in service from 1944 to 1956. It was built with the cab-forward because the smoke and heat experienced while traveling through tunnels and snow sheds was overwhelming to the engineer, fireman, and switchman in the cab. Putting cab forword solved this problem.
The engine was designed to haul heavy trains over the mountains to flatter country where it was switched out to a faster and more efficient engine. The "tender" car carried 22,000 gallons of water and 6,100 gallons of oil. Under heavy load, the train was able to go 40 miles before refilling the water and oil. The photo has some blur due to 2 second hand held exposure.
Thank you Phil for taking the time to view and comment on my photo. I took the time to look at some of your work and found it outstanding. Some day I hope to get my art of photography close to your level. Darryl
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{K:250401} 2/17/2014
