Hol-
The gloss of the cylinders fooled me. Magnifying the image shows the normal jacketing in place. The photo looks to me like it was taken at Aurora what with the track elevation (rail lines up with the level of the tender deck) but somebody should be able to identify the church steeple in the background and the lattice light towers.
Thanks,
Charlie
That's not the Baldwin builder's photo of 300 but instead a Hedrich-Blessing photo they took for the Q after the engine was repainted and fancied up for the Century of Progress. With the background opaqued and the image heavily retouched, the photo was used for a number of publicity purposes, including the widely distributed postcard with the engine's specs that was handed out at the expo. What you see on eBay is the retouched version of the photo, with clouds airbrushed in for a background.
I'm attaching both the builder's photo and the Hedrich-Blessing photo (of which I have an original, unretouched print), and looking closely at the 1933 view (taken either at Aurora or Galesburg -- anybody know which?), you can see that the same continuous cylinder jacketing is present as when the 3000 was delivered. But at a glance it certainly does look like the much earlier jacketing of Baldwin Vauclain compound cylinders, and the retouched version only serves to highlight that appearance.
Hol
All-
Noticed something interesting in eBay item 351620576738, a builders photo of S4 #3000.
The Cylinders are not enclosed in a common wrapper but appear to be individually finished.
Anyone else ever see anything like this?
Charlie Vlk