I am responding to Charlie Mutschler's post on Wednesday as to why the White Pass didn't also buy the 3 Baldwins from SVRy. I have a little speculation to offer. The SVRy had already converted #17 to oil burning in Aug. 1940, presumably at the same time they were converting the 250 & 251 (Uintah 50& 51) along with OLC #7. #7 accordind to "Rails Sagebrush and Pine" was converted in 1941. In other words over a cousrse of a few monthes the RR converted the prime motive power to oil. #17 wasn't taken out of service till 8-1-44. My speculation is this that SVRy may not have had any interest in selling the 3 Baldwin Mikes at the time they sold 19 and 20. In 1940 and throughout the war I imagine there was a good deal of uncertainty as to how long the RR would remain in operation, probably no definite end in sight at that time. The #50 Baldwin 10 wheeler wasn't taken out of service till 12-31-41. Trying to answer one question seems to bring up several more. The 19 and 20 tenders were used with 250 and 251. the 16 and 18 tenders were sent to the WP&Y with 19 and 20, yet the official date out of service for 16 and 18 is 1-1-43. Obviously they can't have been operated without tenders and my understanding is the 19 and 20 were shipped out in 41 so there seems to be some contridiction.
Another question I have is why were 19 and 20 sold instead of the Baldwins which were 4 to 5 years older. !9 and 20 supossedly had slightly higer TE than the Baldwins, so it seems like they would have been more desirable to have kept, unless they were due for major boiler or other repair work. It might be interesting to see if they received major shopping when they reached the White Pass.
