The Beginning of a Trend and the Continuing of a Trend

This the beginning of a trend in my blog publishing. The next three post cards are going to show the continuing trend in the Western Pacific Railroad to purchase larger and larger locomotives.

This is a photo of the Western Pacific Locomotive No. 173, built by American Locomotive Company of Schenectady, N. Y. in 1924. Its cylinders are 26 by 28 inches; it has 73 inch drivers and a tractive effort of 44. Like in most railroads, the locomotives became larger and larger as the technology and the load demand increased. This post card and the next two show some of the growth in the Western Pacific Railway's locomotive roster. The steam engine reached its zenith on the Western Pacific in 1938 with the delivery of four 2-8-8-2’s from Baldwin and seven 4-6-6-4’s from Alco. Of the 208 steam locomotives that had been on the rolls of the Western Pacific, all but thirty-one of them were delivered new. Of these 208 the railroad started business with in 1909, just over half that many, not considering engines used in construction which did not become a part of the regular roster. There were sixty five 2-8-0’s, numbers 1-65; thirty six 4-6-0’s, numbers 71-106 and twelve 0-6-0’s, numbers 151-162, all new machines, plus two second hand 4-6-0's acquired with the Alameda & San Joaquin Railroad, a total of 115 engines. The succeeding years saw the acquisition of the only 2-6-0, three more 4-6-0’s, one more 2-8-0 and four more 0-6-0’s to round out the smaller power. The first big power arrived in 1917 in the form of five 2-6-6-2’s. See https://www.wplives.com/about-wp/motivepower/steam.php for more details. This post card was published by Bob Fremming from Dallas, Wisconsin.