Re: No 19 cab paint

Mike, the 19 and 20 were indeed in the fire. It occured 20th Jan. 1921. Bob Bergstrom sent me some info he found in a Baker Newspaper regarding the fire. The article said 5 road engines were destroyed in the fire and others damaged. Near as I've been able to tell consolidation #15 was the only one not rebuilt after the fire. It was originally an Alberta Railway and Coal engine. SVCartoad is the source of the photos and he has made me copies. I'd have to check with him to see how he feels about having them posted. There has been talk of producing a Pictorial out of the several photo collections that SVRy holds and that some of our members posses. I think this series of photos along with a series that shows the rerailing of #50 after it dove off into a revine somewhere on the Prarrie City extension, would be very appropriate and of general interest if such a pictorial were to happen. He told me that 20 had sustained damage in shipment (the engines were new in 1920, and at the time of the fire #20 had not hauled a revenue run yet as it was awaiting parts from ALCO. They appear less damaged than the other engines, as many of the old engines had wood cabs that were shown completly burned off in the photos. At the time of the fire Mike's 16, 17 and 18 along with 10 wheeler #50 were based at the Ausitn engine house. Consolidation #14 which was used as the S.Baker sw. engine was under steam and out in the yard at the time of the fire, so it is shown dragging the burned engines around and shoving them into the backshop for repairs.
The cab ceiling wood on #20 appears burned. I wonder when this happened? Did they not replace it from the time of this fire, or did something occur to it up on the White Pass?