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1105 Terminal Way, Suite 111     1-800-359-4870 (USA)
Reno, Nevada 89502     1-800 752-1836 (Canada)
Phone: (530) 836-1745     Fax: (530) 836-1748


      

Mainline Steam to San Diego
TOUR 50
TOURIST/RAILFAN
SEPTEMBER 21, 2008
CLOSED
RIDE BEHIND THE ATSF 3751 4-8-4 IN FIRST CLASS LUXURY
LOS ANGELES TO SAN DIEGO & RETURN TO SAN PEDRO
SILVER LARIAT: CZ VISTA DOME-COACH
COLONIAL CRAFTS: PRR SLEEPER-LOUNGE
*****VERY LIMITED SEATING*****
$460 PER PERSON!
Includes all onboard meals & drinks
Booking requirement...Membership in the AAPRCO included in ticket price.
(American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners)

 


SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 21, 2008
FULL GOURMET MEAL & BAR SERVICE INCLUDED

Join us for a full day mainline steam excursion from Los Angeles to San Diego and return pulled by the only operating mainline 4-8-4 Northern in California. The ATSF 3751 will pull the American Association of Private Railroad Car Owners (AAPRCO) 2008 convention train on this rare event.

You are invited to join us onboard two private luxury rail cars for this journey of 256 miles down the scenic California Coast . Our two rail cars will be part of a long and colorful all private car consist attending this annual convention.

The train length will exceed the capcity of Los Angeles Union Station. All passengers will be met at Los Angeles Union Depot and transfered by charter motorcoach to the nearby passenger train yard a few miles away, for loading. Departure is scheduled for 7:00AM from Amtrak's 8th Street Coach Yard for journey south to San Diego. Estimated arrival in San Diego is 11:00AM. All passengers will be unloaded at the Old Town Station which is 3 miles north of downtown. At the Old Town station connections can be made to the vast San Diego Trolly system. From here one can ride and connect with the entire trolly system including down to the Mexican border.

Departure from Old Town will be mid afternoon. Everyone will have approximately 4 hours in San Diego to enjoy the sights and have lunch. On the northbound journey the train will switch off of the mainline at Redondo Junction and head to San Pedro. Arrival in San Pedro is scheduled for 10:30PM. Upon arrival passengers not attending the AAPRCO convention in San Pedro will be bused back to Los Angeles Union Station. The passengers cars will be deadheaded empty from San Pedro to Los Angeles at a later time and date. No passengers will be allowed onboard for this segment.








BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ATSF 3751

Santa Fe paid Baldwin Locomotive Works $ 99,712.77 for No. 3751, the thirteenth 4-8-4 of 892 constructed between 1926 and 1950 for U.S. railroads. A joint design effort of Santa Fe Mechanical Engineer Howard H. Lanning, his staff, and Baldwin, Santa Fe's first 4-8-4 was a mixture of conservative design and the best locomotive technology of that time. Boiler pressure was set at only 210 pounds, even though many engines had been set at 250 pounds since 1917. Modern features included cast steel cylinders keyed to the engine bed, front-end American multiple throttle, Elesco feedwater heater, Duplex stoker, Nicholson thermic siphons in the firebox, which had a large grate of 108 square feet, and the Type E high-temperature superheater.

Walschaert valve gear with a multiplying lever to provide 9" of maximum valve travel, operated with a Ragonnet power reverse gear, was provided. The Santa Fe's own Layden exhaust nozzle was used. Tenders had a one-piece cast steel underframe, used six-wheel trucks, and held 15,000 gallons of water and 20 tons of coal. The 30"x30" cylinders resulted in high back-pressures at higher speeds, resulting in a decrease in the expected horsepower output. The 73" drivers were a good compromise for an engine used on both mountain and level territories, at a time when passenger train speeds seldom exceeded 65 miles per hour. The total engine weight of 421,000 pounds was only about four tons heavier than the heaviest 3800 class 2-10-2s but enough to make No. 3751 the largest engine on the system in 1927.



No. 3751 entered into passenger service on this difficult New Mexico division, with grades of 3.5 percent westbound and 3.3 percent grades eastbound over Raton Mountain (where 2-10-2 helpers were employed). Performance as compared to the 4-8-2s was so marked that Santa Fe ordered nine additional 4-8-4s, Nos. 3752-3760, which were delivered in early 1928; four more, Nos. 3761-3764 followed in 1929.

The 14 engines were assigned to a La Junta-Winslow passenger pool, over 636.5 miles, with engines cutting out at Albuquerque for boiler wash and inspections when required. Five daily trains in each direction were handled, including the crack Chief, the all-Pullman California Limited, the Fast Mail Express, the Grand Canyon Limited, and the Navajo. Depression-era reductions in passenger train mileage saw four trains each way via La Junta, making the 4-8-4s available for trains No. 9 and No. 22 between Winslow and Clovis, 503.5 miles.

The May 1936 inauguration of the diesel-powered Super Chief and the need for relief steam power put No. 3751 in the San Bernardino shop for conversion to burn oil, which was completed in December. A 5,071 gallon oil tank was fabricated for the coal compartment in the tender, and the engine was assigned to operate between Winslow and Los Angeles. On the days the weekly Super Chief operated, No. 3751 was held at one intermediate engine terminal for possible relief. Through engine runs were established between La Junta and Los Angeles effective December 7, 1937; No. 3751 was put on this run, alternating with 11 new 4-8-4s (Nos. 3765-3775) when they were delivered beginning in April 1938. This 1,235-mile run was the longest steam engine assignment in the country at that time.



In 1938 the Santa Fe began an upgrading program on ten of the fourteen 4-8-4s. New 80-inch Boxpok driving wheels were applied, along with Timken roller bearings on all engine axles. The Elesco closed type feedwater heaters were replaced with Worthington 6-SA open type on the last four engines, which were out shopped at Albuquerque during 1941. No. 3751 was the next to last to be improved, leaving the shop on August 30. With steam pressure raised to 230 pounds, the maximum drawbar horsepower was 3,600 at 50 miles per hour, with 3,900 indicated horsepower at that speed. Increasing the size of the steam passages to and from the cylinders overcame part of the high back-pressure problem of the engine as built. A maximum speed of 90 miles per hour was permitted with the rebuilt engines, although documentation shows that No. 3751 exceeded 100 miles per hour several times.

The original 4-8-4s had been handling the Grand Canyon Limited between Los Angeles and Wellington, Kansas (1,534 miles) since January 1940; upon completion of its rebuilding, No. 3751 entered this pool. Operating requirements sometimes saw No. 3751 on a La Junta-bound train out of Los Angeles, but after delivery of the 10 newest 4-8-4s, Nos. 3776-3785, in the summer of 1941, this became less frequent. Effective May 23, 1942, the original 4-8-4s started running through from Los Angeles to Kansas City via Amarillo, a distance of 1,789 miles, setting a new record for through steam locomotive runs. During World War II, these engines handled both the Scout and the Grand Canyon Limited. On-time performance was not the best with the long stops to work heavy mail and express, but seldom was one of these engines cut out at an intermediate terminal due to failure. During the typical month of August 1943, the 14 engines averaged 18,435 miles per locomotive with a repair cost of 23 cents per mile, at a time when 3,600-horsepower diesels handling lightweight trains cost 32.4 cents a mile for repairs.



The larger 2900 class 4-8-4s built in 1943-1944 were assigned to the Scout and Grand Canyon Limited on September 23, 1945, when the end of the war permitted them to be spared from freight work. New passenger diesels started arriving in the fall of 1946, so 10 of the original 4-8-4s were shifted to freight service west out of Argentine yard, Kansas City, primarily to Waynoka, Oklahoma, and sometimes through to Clovis, New Mexico, a 637 mile district. No. 3751 retained its status as a passenger engine and was assigned to the Arizona division on trains No. 23 and No. 24, the Oakland section of the Grand Canyon between Barstow and Bakersfield, over the Tehachapi Mountains. Height restrictions at the numerous tunnels on this route resulted in the extension smokestack being replaced with a lower deflector type.



In 1950, No. 3751 was equipped with automatic train-stop equipment. That year also saw the last class 3 general overhaul for No. 3751 at Albuquerque; upon its release, it was assigned to the Los Angeles division. Working out of the Redondo Junction roundhouse, No. 3751 protected extra sections and special trains to Barstow, served as passenger helper out of San Bernardino, and handled the Del Mar Race Track trains and locals 75-70 between Los Angeles and San Diego. When a diesel was out of service, the 4-8-4 would handle the streamlined San Diegan trains, on time. Class 5-H repairs were made at Albuquerque in December 1951 and December 1952, and upon its return to Los Angeles, No.

3751 ran 3,954 miles in January and February 1953. March through June saw it stored serviceable, but the pioneer 4-8-4 was returned to service in July to assist in a heavy movement of special trains to and from the Boy Scouts' encampment at Santa Ana. After covering 5,319 additional miles, it was laid up at Redondo Junction on August 23, 1953. A 26-year career as a passenger locomotive was finished. Always dependable, No. 3751 didn't owe "Uncle John" a dime when it completed its last mile in regular service.





PHOTOS BELOW ARE OF THE SILVER LARIAT CZ VISTA DOME
AND COLONIAL CRAFTS LOUNGE-SLEEPER












PRICES     PRICES ARE PER PERSON

$460 PER PERSON (Adult or Child)
Full payment is due at time of booking

TOUR INCLUDES

*ALL ONBOARD MEALS
*ALL ONBOARD DRINKS
*ALL ONBOARD SNACKS
*FIRST CLASS ONBOARD SERVICE
* FIRST CLASS TICKET ON THE SILVER LARIAT & COLONIAL CRAFTS.

PHOTOS SUPPLIED BY THE
SAN BERNARDINO RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY


     

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Last modified: Thursday, 12-Jan-2012 08:18:42 PST