Had a reason today to pull out my U.S.A. Passport and when leafing through the blank pages showing background photos of such American icons as Independence Hal, the Liberty Bell, Mt. Rushmore, Longhorn Steers, River Steamboat, an American Farmer, etc., I was surprised to see a photo of a steam locomotive! I had never noticed this before. It appears to me that the engine is a Santa Fe 2-8-2 heading up a typical "steam era" freight. First car behind the tender looks like a typical 40' boxcar, then a string of empty flats (with wood stakes) and then a number of additional "high cars". There is a high wood trestle curving to the right, but to me, it appears that the freight is on straight track, so maybe the two photos are a "combination'. My guess is that the actual photo exists, and perhaps someone can identify it. What is interesting to me is the locomotive itself. As I said, my guess is a Santa Fe Mike, but I may be wrong. The number is hard to read and the first two of the four engine numbers appear to be 10 (a one and a zero), but if this is REALLY a AT&SF Mikado, the numbers are wrong as 10xx Santa Fe series engines were 2-6-2's with high mounted headlights, unlike this loco with its headlight center mounted on the smokebox. My guess is that the first number is a 4 and not a 1. This would make sense as the Santa Fe had 4000 series Mikes. The last two numbers are hard to read. My guess is that the last number is a 6 (again only a guess). The third number is the hardest to make out. So maybe 40x6. Now what has any of this to do with preservation? Well, do any of you remember the story of the three Santa Fe steamers in the Kaw River mud in Topeka, Kansas? Two of them were Mikes and one of those two was supposedly the 4076. Get the connection now? There has been a number of talks over the years, about trying to dig out one, or more, of those three AT&SF engines. Now might we have a "government" reason to do so? The "passport" 2-8-2?

Les

Info on the three engines in the river

viewtopic.php?t=10313

I'm all for that Les!

As compared to the SP fleet of Mikes, most, if not all of the ATSF ones were heavy Mikados.
They ran all over the system, including the branch to the Grand Canyon. I have negs of a couple of them there.

On a side note, it is becoming more and more difficult to get a passport stamp. In Sydney the other week, I had to really go out of my way and New Zealand was a total bust. Coming home to SFO, the US Immigration officer stamped my passport on request but warned me that stamps are going away in about a year. Yuck.

I suspect that passports will eventually become visa only. I handle passports quite frequently as I am a passport acceptance agent (have been for over a decade). Quite a few things have changed over the years. Citizens can no longer have visa pages added to a current passport-you have to reapply and get a new passport issued. Photograph requirements have changed (no eyeglasses in photo) and applications can only be completed in black ink.

how about this 2-8-2. This photo is from the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum. These 2-8-2 did not make it to the SP but they did get the speed recorders the EP&SW used. Thank you Vernon Glover for bringing this photo to my attention.

Robby Peartree

Robby,

This looks like a standard USRA Heavy Mikado, no?

Thanks,

Rob Gardner

You are correct. These locomotives were sold in short order. They were not well liked by the EP&SW.

Robby Peartree

Wonder why they weren't like? It seems most of the USRA locomotives were pretty universally liked and copied.

The Pennsy didn't like any of the USRA power forced upon them, most likely because they had little say in the design of them. They did keep a few of the Mikes, classed them as L2s, but for the most part after they got total control back from the USRA the government power was sold off as quickly as possible

It was my understanding that Pennsy's 30 0-6-0's, the light 2-8-2's, and heavy 2-10-2's lasted through WWII.

What USRA power did they let go?

The belief is that they did not have the performance of the 2-8-2's the EP&SW already owned.

Robby Peartree