All,

Just saw this morning a FB post from the Northern Pacific Railway Museum that they conducted their first test fire of former NPRY S-4 class 4-6-0 No.1364 yesterday in Toppenish. For those who would like to see the FB post, here is the link to it.
https://www.facebook.com/NorthernPacificRailMuseum

This is a major milestone for this group that has been laboring tirelessly for many years to get to this point. Here's hoping that initial operations aren't too far off for this group.

Thanks,

Rob Gardner

I'm very happy to see this and hope to see her running in the near future. I was involved in repainting here back when she was in Pt. Defiance park in the late 60s. A group of 4 of us scraped and painted, and sat in the cab dreaming...

Congrats on the #1364 fire up. Equally to MC for the recent fire ups of #1385.

I have often wondered about the similarities of the two big 4-6-0s. Just how close are they? Both were made by same company in the same years. CN&W ordered a bunch of these as their R-1 class and if not mistaken the NP S-4 were ordered in bulk. Both classes of locomotive were used till the end of steam on both roads. I know the R-1 were superheated later as an "aftermarket improvement". I know very little about the NP and their aftermarket improvements on the S-4 class. Did they suffer from defects like the R-1 class boilers did stemming from the super heater install? Have never heard that the CN&W R-1 referred to a "catalog" engine but after so many were built by both CN&W and NP I question the term.

I have wondered also about big steam restoration. I see in Oregon where they used a smaller 2-8-2 {Polson #2} for shorter excursions and how well those seemed to work out. So the Steam Railroading Institute has one of the three surviving R-1s with plans of eventually using her. I would think this trend to using a smaller locomotive might become a "new" trend. Not to replace big steam but to supplement big steam? Thoughts?

The Polson #2 pulled a very nice {to me very long} consist, the CN&W R-1 and the NP S-4 are also capable of pulling a reasonable train on level or near level trackage. Maybe not for mountain railroading? For some it might be a possibility worth looking into? Again thoughts?

Regards, John

The NP S-4s were built as Vauclain compounds and simpled after WWI. They were superheated as they were shopped in the 20s. The S-4s were very successful and operated until the end of steam. They were considered easy riding and easy to fire. Mostly, they operated on the many branchlines on the west coast.