my ESPEE MODELERS ARCHIVE

California's Railroad to the U.S. 1861 - 1996

10 units built

Text to follow...

From Arnold Menke:

Many Mt¹s eventually received multiple bearing crossheads. Mt-2's, of course, were built with them. Disc main drivers were applied to many of the 4300's; these were mostly Universal discs, no Mt-5's had Boxpok's. The installation of multiple bearing crossheads and disc wheels was not always simultaneous, some engines did not get both, and some got neither. Only occasionally were disc drivers and multiple bearing crossheads added when the skyline case was installed (4370). I have listed below known dates for application of this equipment taken from SP's Descriptive Record of Locomotive cards in CSRM. Application of disc main drivers and multiple bearing crossheads sometimes was not recorded on Descriptive Record of Locomotive cards. For these engines photographic evidence must be used. Whenever I have lacked such evidence I have given "no" with a question mark to indicate that verification is needed. First entry after the engine number is the date of application of multiple bearing crossheads. Second entry is date of application of disc main drivers. Except as indicated above, Universal discs were used.

These appear to be the first SP engines built with Pyle National cast aluminum headlights.

References:

• Southern Pacific's Mountain Classed Mt-5 Steam Locomotives by Richard K. Wright
• A Century of SP Steam Locomotives - Guy L. Dunscomb
• SP Co. Steam Locomotive Compendium by Diebert & Strapac
• The 4300 4-8-2's Southern Pacific's Mt- Class Locomotives (Revised Edition) - by Robert J. Church
• Southern Pacific Steam Pictorial Vol.2 by Dunscomb, Dunscomb & Pecotich
• Volume 8 -- Southern Pacific Mountain 4-8-2 Pictorial - by Duane Karam Jr. & Jeff Ainsworth, Monte Vista Publishing