I bought a negative from a bloke in England of the 0-6-0 SLSF 3804, has to be shortly after Frisco got her. What is rare to me is that she has the original tender and is a coal burner. Negative is not that great, but it was taken in 1920, so I sure cannot complain. Do not have a clue as to location. Kansas City maybe?
Cool photo, Don. Looks like a freight house behind the engine, and over to the right sure looks like the West Bottoms area of Kansas City.
Rather than a freight house, might that be some kind of office building? Looks like some pull down shades on those windows. Just my opinion. Tom G.
The tender is darn near bigger than the power. What a statement that is to me. This begs me to question, could a switch crew work 12 hours on a tender charged as pictured? Bear in mind I have no practical experience nor knowledge of same. I bet a 0-6-0 switch engine had some "chili".
I am still researching, but it appears that the building's signs give a clue. "Gates Nichols Hardware" and "Bowers Furniture Hospital" shared an East Fifth Street address in Tulsa, OK around 1920.
Where were the USRA 0-6-0 3800s based? Did they keep them all together at one location, or were they found system-wide here and there? K
Dandy photograph Don. Nice acquisition for sure. Good detective work Darren. The compilation of steam locomotive assignments that I had gleaned from old employee magazines. Steam Locomotive Assignments 1924-1933 It showed SLSF 3803 and SLSF 3805 working in Tulsa, OK. If SLSF 3804 was in the same class, I wonder if they would have been assigned to the same location, not unlike the 2-8-0s SLSF 956-965 that were all assigned to North Springfield, MO? Ken, I know I have seen photographs of at least one, maybe two, that seemed to have been regularly assigned to Kansas City, MO. I distinctly recall seeing a photograph of one at the southern end of the 19th Street Yard near the American Royal building. Cannot remember which one(s) though, but would have to look. Best Regards,
Was it Kay Kyser that would say "That's right - you're wrong!"? SLSF 3748 is the one I remember seeing in Kansas City, page 221 of Frisco Power. The caption for photographs of SLSF 3801 and SLSF 3804 both show them in Tulsa, OK. The latter is a C. T. Felstead photograph and shows SLSF 3804 as an oil burner. Quoting Collias, the Frisco "assigned [the 3800s] to southwestern terminals such as Tulsa...their appearance east of Springfield, MO was a rare event." Need to learn to look before I leap. Best Regards,
That is a very nice find, Don. Thanks for posting. It is the first photograph that I have seen of an as-delivered SLSF 3800. Toward the end, SLSF 3802 was converted to coal and wound up in Birmingham, AL. She was sold to Republic Steel during January 1952 and became 2-286 She was retired August 1966. One or two of the 3800s did work 19th Street Yard in Kansas City, MO.
I think they were coal burners only for a very short time. They were mostly assigned to Tulsa, OK. I can remember as a young lad strolling through the Lindenwood Yard roundhouse after steam was retired and seeing one of them stored in there. I had never seen one before.
According to my great-grandfather, sixteen tons of coal would move a typical freight train from Chaffee, MO to Memphis, TN in one full shift. I believe it is possible.