SP-4274 over Donner Pass

[otrcman]

This is a documentary of the last cab forward locomotive over Donner Pass in 1957. Truly the end of an era.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRFla4S8vVc

[TXGOAT2]

1957: The International Geophysical Year, Sputnik rocked the world, '57 Chevrolets could be bought brand-new, and I saw polar bears in Brackenridge Park zoo in San Antonio. I haven't seen any since. They looked bored, and had green moss on their fur. I can imagine them saying, "It's really not the heat, it's the humidity..." There was a railroad through this area that was active until about 1970. It's long gone, and the tracks are long gone. As I recall, the train was freight only, and hauled wheat out in season, scrap metal out, general freight and Pearl beer in. The tracks ran about a mile west of where I'm sitting, and I'm sure steam locomotives once used it. Some remaining concrete culvert structures along the right of way are dated 1928. It was diesel electric by the time I came along.

[david_dewey]

That is a copy of a commercial video, and while it is a great show, it is posted on U-Tube without permission of the copyright holder, so it will likely be taken down soon. I am just a few years too young to remember these engines! AAUGH! I would love to see the sole remaining Cab Forward restored to operation, but it isn't going to happen in this world!

[Norman Kling]

During the 1940's until 1950 my parents owned a Furniture factory about a block north of the Glendale, Ca. railroad station. There was a grade crossing right next to our location. I can remember seeing both rear cab and front cab engines pulling long trains every few minutes. This was on the main route from Los Angeles to San Francisco. There were many trains carrying tanks, army trucks and jeeps up the coast. I can remember a boy who lived up the street from me coming down there one Saturday. When the guards were down we crossed the street and were looking at the trains. There was a lot of traffic and we had to wait until the next train came to get back across. Meantime my parents were wanting to go home and we were stuck across the street. So we had to leave later and rode in my grandpa's "machine" which was a Model A Ford.
Norm

[TXGOAT2]

I don't think any cab forward engines were used in this area.

[david_dewey]

I think you are correct. AFAIK, the cab forwards were used only on the west coast, and I don't think they ran much farther east then Sparks, Nevada. Big engine, requiring large turntable or a wye to turn around. I know they went into Oregon quite often, but don't know how far north they were used. They really were a specialty engine to move the goods over Donner Summit, and the long tunnels and snowsheds there. As traffic needs shifted, they roamed the SP territory, and they passed through my hometown, Dunsmuir, although up there the big 2-8-2 engines (I think that was the class) were called "Dunsmuir Mallets" for their pulling power on the grades to Mount Shasta and Ashland, OR.

[Burger in Spokane]

I recently saw a video of a cab-forward on the Cascade Cut-off, that
dropped off the Inside Passage line, to Springfield/Eugene, bypassing
the old Siskiyou Line. The video was shot just east of Springfield. Did
they roll them all the way up the valley to Portland ??? Did the SP run
them over the Siskiyou Line ???

I always found the aesthetics of the cab-forwards to be less than good
looking. But they certainly are interesting. I poured myself over the
example sitting in the museum in Sacto, but was much more interested
in the ancient stuff and narrow gauge.

[A Whiteman]

Oh blow, I was a bit too slow - its gone already.

[Jonah D'Avella]

Does anyone have a picture of the kind of eingine?

[Duey_C]

Yep, it's gone already.
Just turn the engine around and run the piping.
To keep the exhaust gasses from the engine BEHIND the crew, SP came up with the Cab-Forward 4-8-8-4.
Less asphyxiation problems for the engineer and fireman in the tunnels.
Maybe not handsome but served the purpose. I have a 70's RivaRossi HO somewhere here. Runs really bad.
Boxpock drivers. I think a very neat engine!

[david_dewey]

Brent,
Cab-Forwards were not allowed on the Siskiyou line. Tunnel 13 at the summit has quite a crown in it, going from upgrade to downgrade very quickly. If you had a normal level of water in the glass going up the hill, it would dip out of site going down the hill. Lack of water on the crown sheet leads to boiler failure and an immediate dispersal of the locomotive parts in a large area. It seems to me an old head even said the Daylight engines weren't allowed on the line. Of course the narrow clearances in place on that line probably also limited locomotive size.

[Burger in Spokane]

Yeah, ... that rapid parts dispersal issue was a real problem.

[TXGOAT2]

I'm pretty sure there are no snow sheds or tunnels anywhere in this region. The only road/rail tunnels I've ever been in were a short subway type line that ran from a parking area near downtown Ft. Worth to the Leonard's Department Store, and a quasi-tunnel, really a long highway underpass that went under the runway at Great Southwest Airport between Ft. Worth and Dallas. All that is long gone now.

[Norman Kling]

I have never seen in Texas a mountain as tall as the Sierras in California. The snow sheds were built along railroad tracks on a mountain side so the snow would not fall directly on the tracks. The tunnels were cut through some of the ridges along side canyons so that the track could go in a straighter line along the side of the mountain. Some highways are built that way too. There were a series of subways in the Los Angeles area which I remember riding through when I was a boy. There was a trolley about a block from my grandmother's house which went from Glendale to Downtown Los Angeles. It ran along the streets and along separate right of way and over trestles and finally for about the last mile went through the subway to the Subway Terminal in Los Angeles. Across Hill St from the original Broadway Department Store. There she bought me a little boy's suit which was just like my dad's suit.
Norm

[TXGOAT2]

The highest point in Texas is Guadalupe Peak, at 8751 ft above sea level. The surrounding desert is around 5300 ft above sea level. It's a somewhat dome-shaped mountain. El Capitan is almost as high above sea level, and features a 1,000 ft sheer drop. It's more of a spire than a mountain, and probably the more impressive of the two to look at or climb.