NNG: F&W #1 - The Sespe - a ten-ton 0-4-0T

Hi, all -

SEVERAL months ago, I was asked via a p.m. for some detail photos of Fillmore & Western locomotive #1.
After many delays due to travel and family projects, etc., I have finally been able to locate a misplaced set
of photos, taken much longer ago than I remembered - the Fourth of July, 1993.  Rather than simply attach
them to an e-mail message, I've decided to post them here so that anyone interested can check them out.







"Sespe the Saddle Tank" - aka Thomas' American Cousin - was built in 1891 at Pittsburgh by the Porter Locomotive Company as their number 1236, a twelve-ton 2-4-2T for the Rogue River Valley Railway in Oregon. She was barely able to haul a single combine up the moderate grade from Medford to Jacksonville (especially when young pranksters greased the rails) and was soon sold to a local lumbermill. The lead and trailing trucks were presumably removed soon after to increase her tractive effort - putting all of her remaining ten tons on the drivers - and she somehow survived for the next fifty-five years in yard service.

In 1951, after five years or so in retirement, the little engine was purchased by Mrs. Chad O'Connor as a birthday present for her husband. He restored the engine to near-original condition (minus the lead and trailing trucks), and operated her on his back yard "layout" for several years. Short Line Enterprises of Valencia later acquired the locomotive, and took her along when they moved their movie-train operation to Fillmore, CA, in 1991. Extensive repairs were done and a maroon-and-tuscan paint job applied in 1992; the engine was renamed "Sespe." at that time.

Sespe was operated off and on for the next dozen years or so on special occasions in Fillmore (such as hauling F&W owners and volunteers across town for lunch or entertaining the visiting 2472 crew), and also appeared at nearby events such as the Citrus Festival in Santa Paula and the opening of a new highway bridge in Saticoy. She even starred in the Ventura County fair parade a couple of times; hauled on a large truck with smoke billowing and whistle blowing, she won a first-place trophy both times (see [ngdiscussion.net]).  Firebox troubles sidelined her back in 2004, and although repairs have reportedly been completed, so far as I know she has not been fired up for some time.

- El Abuelo Histœrico, Greengo y Curmudgeoño de los Locomoturas Viejos y Verdes,
aka Der Grossväterlich DünkelOlivGrünDampfKesselMantelLiebHabender



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/25/2014 12:27PM by Russo Loco.