I bought a negative from a bloke in England of the 3804, has to be shortly after Frisco got her. What's rare to me is that she has the original tender and is a coal burner. Negative isn't that great, but it was taken in 1920, so I sure can't complain. Don't 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 KC.
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 12hr 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'm 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 around 1920.
Where were the USRA 3800's based? Did they keep them all together at one location, or were they found system-wide here and there? K
Dandy photo, Don. Nice acquisition for sure. Good detective work, Darren. The compilation of steam locomotive assignments that I'd gleaned from old employee magazines: Steam Locomotive Assignments 1924-1933 showed 3803 and 3805 working in Tulsa. If 3804 was in the same class, I wonder if they would've been assigned to the same location, not unlike the 956-965 2-8-0s that were all assigned to North Springfield? Ken, I know I've seen photos of at least one - maybe two - that seemed to have been regularly assigned to Kansas City. I distinctly recall seeing a photo of one at the southern end of the 19th St. Yard near the American Royal building. Can't 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!"? 3748 is the one I remember seeing in KC. Page 221 of Frisco Power. The caption for photos of 3801 and 3804 both show them in Tulsa. The latter is a C.T. Felstead photo and shows 3804 as an oil burner. Quoth Collias, the Frisco "assigned [the 3800s] to southwestern terminals such as Tulsa...their apperance east of Springfield, MO was a rare event." Gotta learn to look before I leap. Best Regards,
It's the first photograph that I've seen of an as-delivered 3800. That's a very nice find, Don. Thanks for posting. Toward the end, 3802 was converted to coal and wound up in Birmingham. She was sold to Republic Steel during January 1952 and became 2-286; retired Aug 1966. One or two of the 3800's did work 19th Street.
I think they were coalburners only for a very short time. They were mostly assigned to Tulsa. I can remember as a young lad strolling through the Lindenwood 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 to Memphis in one full shift; I believe it's possible.
