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| Jim Wren paid a visit to the Oakland
Roundhouse on January 16, 1962. The structure is still in use by the railroad
but in the early 1970s, after the cessation of the California Zephyr, the
building would be torn down. |
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| Taking a swing on the
Oakland turntable is switcher 507, an Alco S-1 rated at 660 horsepower.
The 1942-built diesel was still making money for it's owner when Jim exposed
this image. However, on July 23, 1970, the unit was sold to Chrome Crankshaft
and brokered to the Central Valley-based Stockton, Terminal and Eastern.
The green and yellow car in the background is a retired Key System articulated
street that today is part of the collection of the Western Railway Museum
at Rio Vista California. |
WP Combine 402 and
Steam Engine 334
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WP coach 402 has had
a long and varied history, starting life as a Denver & Rio Grande car,
and sold to the WP for use on secondary trains.
The 402 was built by the Pullman
Co. in March of 1888 as D&RG 812. It was renumbered to 900 in 1890.
Fifteen years later, in 1905, the car was rebuilt to a combine (combination
coach-baggage) and renumbered 707.
On 12/29/24 WP purchased the car
for $3300 for use on the Reno Branch. It was overhauled during 1925, and
given its number of 402. It was last used on an excursion in 1951, and
retired in 1962, the year of this photo. In 1976 the car was fully restored
to D&RG 550 and put on
display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.
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Resting quietly on the
roundhouse whisker tracks is WP steamer 334. The 1919-built 2-8-2 locomotive
was classed MK-60 by the railroad and it was used extensively until the
early 1950s when the WP competed dieselizing the railroad.
Engine 334 was last used in regular
freight service in October of 1952 then stored at Stockton, California
for almost four years before being reactivated in March of 1956. It was
subsequently used on a couple of railfan excursions then placed in storage
at the Oakland roundhouse in June of 1957.
Five years after Jim took this photo
of No. 334 the engine would be donated to the Western Railway Museum in
Rio Vista California where it would be placed on display.
It was the last steam engine on the
WP property except for engine No. 94, which left in 1979 for Rio Vista.
WP 334 at Western Railway
Museum, 1979 (Ken Rattenne)
Go
to the Western Railway Museum web site |
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