Railroad Museum - 3 (Cab Forward Articulated)

Cab Forward Rods and Drivers - Sacramento  2025

Cab Forward Articulated - Sacramento  2025

"Southern Pacific 4294 is a AC-12 class 4-8-8-2 cab-forward–type steam locomotive that was owned and operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP). It was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) in March 1944 and was used hauling Southern Pacific Railroad's (SP) trains over the Sierra Nevada, often working on Donner Pass in California. Today it is preserved at the California State Railroad Museum (CSRM) in Sacramento, California." --Wikipedia

The locomotive is so large that I had to use the iPhone's wide-angle option to get a (stretched) photo of the whole engine. A Sony RX100 was used for the top photo.

In 1958 my father and I were visiting Southern Pacific's Taylor Yard in Los Angeles when I came across some cab-forwards decaying on the tracks. So I have a 67-year old photo of the soon to be scrapped number 4149.

Southern Pacific Number 4149 Locomotive - Los Angeles  1958

Flight to Zurich / South Dakota

Airplane Map - South Dakota  2019

Taken during our flight to Zurich. I was pleased to see that we were passing through (yes, above) South Dakota.

Below, some more older photos taken in South Dakota, on the ground.

Church Exterior - South Dakota  1958

Municipal Building (Aberdeen) - South Dakota  1987

. . . from the archives #91: Church - South Dakota, 1958

Church - South Dakota  1958

Abandoned church, photo taken with an Argus C3 during a family trip to the midwest.  (Rear of Nash Rambler seen on the left.) Statuary was all smashed up on the inside, but still amazingly intact.

Nice shot of the interior below.

Church Interior - South Dakota  1958

. . . from the archives #75: Cab Ahead Articulated, Los Angeles 1958

Cab Ahead Articulated - Los Angeles  1958

While writing yesterday's Tehachapi post, I recalled that I had taken a photo of one of Southern Pacific's monster cab ahead articulated steam engines (with a 4-8-8-2 configuration) some years ago. So I delved into my contact sheets and found the negative . . . taken in 1958 in Taylor Yard, in Los Angeles. By then diesel engines had taken over, steam was out and these sculpturally exquisite machines had been moved to side tracks, waiting to be sold for scrap.

When I took the photo these engines were known as "cab ahead," but now I see that they're called "cab forward." Same idea.

. . . from the archives #4: Pacific Electric Tower Car--Los Angeles, 1958

Although Pacific Electric streetcars stopped operating in Hollywood in 1954, the railroad yard just off of Santa Monica Boulevard still existed in 1958 when I took this photo. I used (I think) a small camera that had a collapsible bellows. The negative, made on medium-format roll film, is quite sharp!

Photo: Pacific Electric Tower Car--Los Angeles, 1958