The Strasburg rivets
arrived in early December and Stockton Locomotive Works wasted no time
getting the mud ring rivets installed in the boiler. The firebox sheet
installation and riveting is 98% complete as of the end of 2021.
Update 03/29/2022
Our
drivers were taken to the California State Railroad Museum and their
wonderful shop for turning. We contracted with Stockon Locomotive
Works for the work, using the CSRM wheel lathe.
Shirley Burman sent
these fantastic Richard Steinheimer photographs of the 1744 being
repaired in the Sacramento Shops in November of 1956. The
1744 appears to be getting running gear work as while it is difficult
to see in the photograph, the #3 axle is out from under the locomotive
in the first photo. Sitting next to the 1744 is SP1258, an
0-6-0 switcher undergoing boiler work. The 1258 is currently
on display in Martinez, Ca.
Here are Dick's words, taken from the envelope of the shop negatives.
"It was near the end of
a century of SP steam power when I took a trip to Roseville and
Sacramento shops. Lines of dead engines stood at Roseville
and the shops were filled with nearly dead steam power at Sacramento.
Only the shop switcher was in steam, though shopmen worked on
the steam power as they had for a century. Good shop scenes
inside. November 1956." Stein
We
are lucky Mr. Steinheimer took
these pictures in the shop that day as who would have known that both
the #1744 and #1258 would be preserved for the enjoyment of future
generations. The SPH&TS book on the Sacramento Shops
mentions that while steam locomotives were being stricken from the
roster, work was ongoing in Sacramento in preparation for an expected
traffic surge in 1958 (the expected surge never happened).
The SP #1744 most likely was used on the Southern Pacific end of steam
fantrip in 1960 because she was repaired and then stored in Sacramento
making her an available small enough locomotive to operate a train down
the Walnut Grove Branch.
Please
help us with restoration of the SP1744.
