SVRy 19 and 20

The previous thread that I started quickly morphed to a discussion of Eng. 19 and 20 as to their large wheel diameter and large cylinder size with short stroke. I recently scanned some other material for our archive that relates, so thought a new thread appropriate. SVRy 19 and 20 came from Alco numbered 101 which became 20 and 102 which became 19. I have posted the builders photo for 101, a photo showing 101 under steam in S. Baker with a couple of company men in attendance, and a photo from the PNW. Chap. NRHS collection of 102/19 on the S.Baker turntable. Looks like the engine may just have arrived and is being set up as it doesn't have a stack installed. A lingering question has been "when were the numbers changed from 101, 102 to 20, 19 respectively". One course of speculation has been that the #'s may have been changed after both engine went through the Jan. 1921 round house fire. A recent donation to the archives included the attached locomotive inspection reports. The builders plates for the engines are marked "May 1920" and 19's inspection report is dated Sep. 2 1920, so the roundhouse fire theory is set aside and clearly the change was made between arrival at Baker likely in June 1920 and Sep. 1920.
The other point the inspection reports bring out that Jim Grigsby alluded to in his reply in the time table thread is the initial boiler pressure carried by these engines and their tendency to be slippery. Note that in Sep. the safety is set at 180 while by Nov. the pressure has been reduced to 170. Other SVRy records show 170 as the boiler pressure carried by these engine. As I recall from reading in the older book on the WP&Y "Gold Rush Narrow Gauge" by Cy Martin, the engines carried 150lbs. When 19 came back from rebuild in Portland as Jim said it operated at 170 until the early 2000's when it was cut back to 150.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2015 04:18PM by J.B.Bane.