Burlington S-3 Pacifics were quite common on the C&S, though almost exclusively on trains 29-30 north of Denver, and those locomotives, all oil-burners, were not leased but were part of the pool engine arrangement instituted in September 1927. (Earlier I incorrectly said this agreement dated to 1918, but that date is when the joint operation of Denver- Billings passenger service began.) The power for 29-30 was serviced at the C&S Seventh Street roundhouse, so Q S-3s could be found there almost daily. It was for service on 29-30 that the C&S F-3C Pacifics (373-375) were converted to oil-burners. C&S light (F-3A) Pacific 350, originally converted to oil for service on 29-30 when light engines could still handle that train, in later years regularly powered Denver-Cheyenne trains 31-32, though coal-burning F-3As were also used on that train.
The attached view of Q 2974 at the Seventh Street roundhouse on May 14, 1939, with the landmark smokestack of the old Zang brewery visible above the locomotive, is typical of 29-30 power. This photo was taken by Keenesburg, Colo., resident Joe Schick, but just nine days earlier, on May 5, Bernard Corbin had photographed the same locomotive in nearly the same spot, shooting several views from slightly different vantage points and trading the extra negatives. Schick's images is a classic "rods down" view, while in Corbin's shots the side rods were up. This was in an era when photographers routinely asked hostlers to move locomotives into "rods down" positions, and Schick, a regular in the Denver yards and thus known by most of the hostlers, may well have done that, while Corbin, visiting from Iowa, probably did not feel comfortable in asking.
Only three S-3s were ever leased to the C&S and FW&D -- one to the former and two to the latter -- and all three were coal-burners. The Denver leased two of the heavy Pacifics only because fate intervened. CB&Q S-3 No. 2959 came to the FW&D on July 7, 1935, for use as an extra passenger engine at Amarillo. (As I noted earlier, both Amarillo and Childress retained coal chutes through the 1930s, and it was only south of Childress that the Denver was 100% oil-burning.) At 10:52 p.m. on March 26, 1937, the 2959, while running north with the three cars of No. 2, collided head-on with a southbound 25-car extra freight behind C&S 2-10-2 902 at Royce, New Mexico, 8 miles north of Clayton. No. 2 was making 50 mph and the extra 12-15 mph when the collision occurred, so it was miraculous that the only fatalities were the 2959's engineer, who died upon impact, and the fireman of the 902, who died several days later of his injuries. Sadly, engineer Horan of the 2959 was found to be at fault, for ignoring an order that instructed No. 2 to wait at Royce until 10:55 p.m. The attached photos show considerable damage to the tender of the 2959 and to the front ends of both locomotives. But the damage to the Pacific must have been greater than it appears, because the 2959 was dismantled at the Denver shops in February 1938 without being repaired. C&S 902 was repaired at Denver and lasted in service into early 1959.
To replace the 2959, the Q sent the 2971 to the Denver on April 1, 1937, and it remained on lease to the FW&D until returned to the Q on Sept. 20, 1938. The photo here shows the 2971 at Seventh Street in Denver in May 1938 during another of Corbin's frequent trips west to Colorado.
The other leased S-3, the 2955, was actually leased to the C&S, not the FW&D. It came west briefly during the summer of 1943 when wartime passenger traffic was especially high and was used between Denver and Amarillo. No photos have turned up showing it in this service, so the attached image is a Corbin view of it at Red Oak on Aug. 10, 1937.
As long as we're dealing with passenger power, the next topic will be the B-1 and B-1-A Mountains leased for service south of Denver.
Hol