A Little Contrast Between Std. Ga. and NG Power

Generally, I have been posting a non-Sumpter Valley related photo every other day from our SVRR Archive. Following that pattern this a non-SVRy day, but the next photo up in sequence is one of my favorites and is both SVRy and UP related. The location of this photo is at Baker, Oregon at the east switch for the UP, then OWR&N wye, looking north west. We have the back end of the Vanderbilt tender of one of UP's 2-8-8-0 engines. Note that it appears to have a head end brakeman cabin. These were mammoth engines nicknamed "Bull Moose" and were the common power on drag freights through the Blue Mountains of north east Oregon for many years. #3626 was built by Brooks in 1920 as a compound engine, later converted to simple in 1937, renumbered to 3526 and finally retired in 1949. Now for the narrow gauge side of the shot. The diminutive switch engine is none other than Sumpter Valley Ry. #100, which is a 2O ton gasoline mechanical engine built by the George Whitcomb Co. #100 was built in 1929, coming to the Sumpter Valley the following year. She has a six cylinder Climax gas engine that is reckoned in gallons per mile in terms of fuel economy. Notice that she has the dual gauge coupling system used on a number of SVRy engines in switching service over the years. #100 was traded in on a new bigger Davenport diesel mechanical switch engine in 1937, so that gives us a date range for the shot having been taken between 1930 and 1937. Sadly, the big 2-8-8-0 was scrapped, but #100 was recovered by SVRR and lives on restored and operational today. Of note in the photo is the SVRy Baker depot which is directly behind #100. The narrow gauge track splits and runs on both sides of the depot. The UP mainline would be off to the right of the shot as would the Baker UP depot. To the left of the photo was the transloading area where freight could be loaded across a dock from the standard gauge to the narrow gauge.