Century of Southern Pacific Steam Locomotives by Guy L Dunscomb with dust jacket. Includes map supplement and amplifications/additions adn corrections
Copyright 1963
THIRD EDITION
first printing 1984
480 pages
Section Two--------------------363-433
Corporate history
Section Three-------------------Miscellaneous Electric cars, McKeen Cars, Gas Electric cars, more photos, etc.
800 illustrations, 2 color plates, 18 division maps.
The historic Southern Pacific, the road whose rails extend from the Pacific Ocean to the Great Salt Lake, and from the forests of Oregon to the Mississippi has operated or controlled over 16,000 miles of railroad. It operated in eight states and the Republic of Mexico; it had the longest north-south route of any railroad on the North American continent; it operated nearly a thousand miles of electric lines, and over a thousand miles of narrow gauge lines, San Francisco Bay and Mississippi River ferry boats, Sacramento and Colorado River steamers, and oceangoing steamships, and now operates, in addition to its rail properties, fourteen hundred miles of pipe lines and twenty-five thousand miles of truck lines.
It was in February, 1863, that active construction started at Sacramento on the SP's parent Central Pacific, and was carried on under the management of the famed "Big Four," Huntington, Hopkins, Crocker, and Stanford, until a connection was made with the Union Pacific at Promontory, Utah, in May, 1869. Since that date nearly three hundred railroad organizations have been consolidated to form what is known today as the Southern Pacific Company, and over four thousand steam locomotives have appeared on the scene, and have now forever departed.
It is of these locomotives and companies that this book is written, for of all that has previously appeared in print, nothing has presented the pictorial coverage of the steam locomotives that is found here, nor has there ever before been a systematic listing of all the companies, well-known and obscure, that took their place in the forming of the west's largest transportation system. Included as a supplement to the book is a set of eighteen maps covering the SP empire when it was at its greatest, and by the use of these maps and the text in the book, the reader may trace the development of practically every mile of railroad now or previously under Southern Pacific control.
158 pages plus 6 unnumbered pages of detail photos.
Illustrated by photographs including a color plate at page xii by M.F. Kotowski (also used for jacket art), engineering diagrams and schematics.
An excellent book which includes interesting text on robberies, accidents, technical information and pictures of all 60 of these oddly configured 3-cylinder behemoths used in the US.
Description
Between 1900 and 1950, Americans built the most powerful steam locomotives of all time--enormous engines that powered an industry of colossal scale and intensity.
They were deceptively simple machines yet even as the technology was being perfected it was becoming obscure (and obsolete.)
Despite immense and sustained effort, they remained grossly inefficient in their use of increasingly costly fuel and labor.
In the end, they baffled their masters and, as soon as diesel-electric technology provided an alternative, the steam locomotive disappeared from American railroads.
Drawing on the work of eminent engineers and railroad managers of the day, this lavishly illustrated history chronicles the challenges, triumphs and failures of steam locomotive development and operation.
CONTENTS
PREFACE Page
The Southern Pacific Company--5
The Steam Locomotives----------10
Section 1 -- STEAM LOCOMOTIVE PHOTOGRAPHS
American (4-4-0)----------------------19
Switcher (0-6-0)------------------------77
Switcher (0-8-0)------------------------91
Mogul (2-6-0)----------------------------95
Prairie (2-6-2)--------------------------115
Ten Wheel (4-6-0)-------------------121
Pacific (4-6-2)-------------------------163
Consolidation (2-8-0)-------------181
Twelve Wheel (4-8-0)--------------205
El Gobernador (4-10-0)-----------225
Atlantic (4-4-2)------------------------227
Mikado (2-8-2)------------------------243
Berkshire (2-8-4)---------------------253
Santa Fe (2-10-2)--------------------257
Decapod (2-10-0)--------------------263
Articulateds (Various)------------265
Mountain (4-8-2)--------------------289
General Service (4-8-4)-----------301
Southern Pacific (4-10-2)-------319
Miscellaneous (Various)--------323
Narrow Gauge (Various)--------349
SECTION 2 -- CORPORATE HISTORY
General-----------------------------------363
Pacific Lines---------------------------364
Texas and Louisiana Lines----422
SECTION 3 -- MISCELLANEOUS
Electric Cars---------------------------434
McKeen Cars--------------------------443
Gas Electric Cars--------------------446
Miscellaneous Pictures----------448
Significant Dates--------------------463
List of Companies------------------475
Last Minute Developments------------------------478
Personal Remarks------------------479
Finis----------------------------------------480
First edition of this comprehensive history of the Southern Pacific line, focusing specifically on the steam locomotives in use from 1862-1962.
Over the years the SP had over 4000 steam locomotives and this book is intended to provide a pictorial review of those engines as well as a systematic listing of the nearly 300 railroad companies that were consolidated into SP over the years.
The book is divided into three sections:
Section 1 is a pictorial of the 21 classes of steam locomotives;
Section 2 is a corporate history;
Section 3 covers miscellaneous subjects such as electric cars, McKeen cars, gas electric cars, significant dates, and list of merged companies.
Profusely illustrated with black & white photographs, all with detailed captions.
With Map Supplement consisting of 18 maps of Southern Pacific's Divisions showing each at its greatest extent. 480 pages.