I believe as you do, Bret, that SVRy No. 17 was the only locomotive besides the 250 and 251 to be converted to burn oil. Earl Emlaw’s record indicates as much, as you say, and Garrie Tufford makes the same statement in his article in the June 1994 Stump Dodger.
Jerry, the photo you may be referring to shows No. 19 with a straight stack, standing on a roundhouse track and facing the turntable in the South Baker yard, with one of the old diamond-stack Moguls (?) beyond. To me, the tender appears to be empty in that photo. There are no side-boards for wood, but neither do I see an oil tank in the tender.
A photo in the McCord collection at the Baker County library (Tr-8) shows No. 19 with a straight stack and a high heap of slab wood in the tender, ready to depart from the Baker depot with the daily passenger train.
Earl Emlaw’s record states that both No. 19 and No. 20 were obtained new in 1920 and that Rushton stacks (the SVRy’s distinctive so-called "cabbage stacks") were installed on No. 20 in 1927 and on No. 19 in 1929. I’ve seen several photos of Nos. 19 and 20 with Rushton stacks and the familiar high stacks of slab wood in the tenders.
Mikados No. 19 and 20 were originally numbered 102 and 101, respectively, by the builder. The builder’s photo of No. 101 shows it with a low-profile diamond stack, neither a straight stack nor a Rushton, and again in that photo the tender appears to be empty (i.e., no oil tank).
To summarize, I believe that locomotives No. 19 and 20 were bought new as Nos. 102 and 101; were renumbered and straight stacks installed shortly after their arrival in 1920; that Rushton stacks were installed in 1929 and 1927, respectively; and that both locomotives burned wood for the entire time they served on the Sumpter Valley Railway.
I hope there will be some additional discussion on this, as it would be good to tie it down once and for all, if we can.
