Sumpter Valley Ry. #17 in the Roundhouse

This is scanned from a print that I donated to our SVRR Archive. Here we see Sumpter Valley Ry. Mike #17 in the South Baker Roundhouse on March 17th, 1935. #17 was the second of three nearly identical Baldwin Mikes purchased by the Sumpter Valley. #16 and #17 came in 1915 with #18 arriving in 1916. The photographer just happened to catch several of the upgrades to the engine that she had over the years. Note the air cylinder above the crosshead which was for the pilot flanger. There doesn't appear to be an AFE number for this, so it was probably installed in 1915 just prior to ICC valuation. We see the Rushton stack applied in 1927 as well as the second of two 11" air pumps which was added in 1923. #17 was converted to oil burning in Aug. of 1941 making it the last operational Mikado on the Sumpter Valley with retirement finally coming in 1944. The story doesn't end there but gets very sketchy. She along with #16, #18 and #50 were sold to the government of Peru in 1945 where they all saw continued service. #17 was still around in 1960's but exactly when she was scrapped has not been determined.