AT&SF 2926 is finally hot

Hi All
I saw this up on their Facebook page, after years of work, it is finally paying off, the first fire has been lit in the locomotive, and she finally under steam for the first time in 60 years.

That's good news! Though crude in comparison to the New York Central's Niagaras (Grin!), the 2900s were a good example of the final flowering of American big steam designs: ATSF's last new steam, and one of BLW's final efforts(*).
They were (all? most? some?) oil fired. My guess is that, tank trucks with pumps being easier to use than coal loading conveyors, that would make them a bit easier to operate in excursion service.

(*) Yes, BLW continued to build steam locomotives for several years, but I think many of their later steam locomotives were less ambitious designs than the ATSF Northerns. Certainly Baldwin's final conventional steam locomotives for U.S. service, the C&O 2-6-6-2s of 1949 were very much a "retro" style!

Allen Hazen wrote:That's good news! Though crude in comparison to the New York Central's Niagaras (Grin!), the 2900s were a good example of the final flowering of American big steam designs: ATSF's last new steam, and one of BLW's final efforts(*).
They were (all? most? some?) oil fired. My guess is that, tank trucks with pumps being easier to use than coal loading conveyors, that would make them a bit easier to operate in excursion service.

(*) Yes, BLW continued to build steam locomotives for several years, but I think many of their later steam locomotives were less ambitious designs than the ATSF Northerns. Certainly Baldwin's final conventional steam locomotives for U.S. service, the C&O 2-6-6-2s of 1949 were very much a "retro" style!

With the exception of the 3751 class (as delivered) all Santa Fe 4-8-4's were oil fired.

Stuart

Thanks, Stuart!
(Did the Santa Fe ever -- in the latter part of the steam era -- convert steam locomotives from oil firing to coal or vice versa? If, as makes intuitive sense to me, dieselization on the Santa Fe proceeded from west to east, there must have been locomotives originally purchased for use on the west end that "migrated" east late in their careers. Would any of them have lasted long enough in, say, Illinois, for it to make sense to modify their fireboxes (and, perhaps even more of a task, their tenders) to use coal? ... I know that when the Pennsylvania, in the mid-1950s, rented a bunch of Santa Fe 2-10-4 for use in Ohio, they were oil burners.)

This should be of interest to those who have followed the restoration of this locomotive:

CNET

Fair Use:

The Santa Fe 2926 was sitting in a park in Albuquerque in 1999 when the New Mexico Steam Locomotive & Railroad Historical Society bought it for a token $1 payment and began a restoration project lasting more than two decades. On Saturday, the mighty locomotive moved itself down the tracks under its own steam power for the first time in many long years.

What seems ironic is how especially interested Uncle Pete is in preserving the heritage of his road, but Warren (reportedly a "closet fan") appears to have none.

Well, at least this Society has "stepped up to yhe plate" to do their part.

Well, Uncle Pete's interest in his heritage is of long standing-- witness 844's claim to never having been retired. I don't think Santa Fe had a steam program after dieselization, so it probably didn't have the shop space or tools required to restore a steam locomotive to working order. And BNSF, even before Warren's investment in it, doesn't seem to have had much interest in memorializing any of its predecessor companies.

All the more reason to be glad that the society has stepped up to the plate!

And, to the East down here, Mr. Hazen, Topper wants to memorialize his predecessors with "heritage" liveried engines, while, alas, Chessie seems to care less.