Most of those who know me know that Burlington office cars and Mallet articulated locomotives are my two favorite Q equipment subjects, and I have accumulated more data and images of them than any other Burlington subject. So the photo Brian posted of T-2
4104, along with a recent eBay offering of brand new 4106 beside the Alliance roundhouse with everybody in the area posing on the big engine, have been extremely pleasant and unexpected "gifts" for me. While I can't be certain of the location of the 4104
image, it is a real gem, and I'm fairly sure it was taken at Arvada, Wyo. I've cleaned up the image a bit and am attaching it and the 4106 photo (which, of course, I bought) and have written what I think is a credible description of the 4104 photo:
It's a calm but frigid late winter morning, with remnants of the last snowstorm still on the ground as T-2 Mallet 4104 takes water from the wooden tank at Arvada, Wyo., before running light back to its home base at Sheridan. The big Mallet, only a couple
of years old, has helped an eastbound freight up the grade from Sheridan, cutting off at Arvada and turning on the wye there before taking coal and filling the tank for the trip back to Sheridan, running light. That it's a cold day is attested by the steam
escaping from 4104's high pressure rear cylinders, twin single-lung air pumps and boiler-top pop valves. And the cab curtains are down and in place in the event the notorious Wyoming wind makes the 58-mile trip back to Sheridan even colder. The steam from
the pop valves nearly obscures the giant windmill that pumps well water into the Arvada tank, which happily is not frozen up this day as the fireman poses for the photographer while he completes the task of topping off 4104's tank, having already refilled
the tilting coal compartment and placed flags in the tender's stanchions. As locomotive efficiency and tender coal capacity both increased in the Teens, Arvada's wooden coal chute would be abandoned and replaced by a modern Ogle steel chute 20 miles farther
east at Echeta.
As I said, there is no way of being certain this photo was actually taken at Arvada, but the description fits what can be seen in the image, and there aren't many other locations where that would be the case, so I'm fairly certain it's Arvada.
Hol
[Attachment(s) from
harleyhorse74@gmail.com [CBQ] included below]
Wondering if anyone recognizes this depot. The lady who owns the photo thought it was in Alliance, NE. I don't think the Alliance depot had a peaked roof line. I''m not even sure if it is a CB&Q structure. She also has a photo of CB&Q 4104 and
thought the photo may have been taken in Ellsworth, NE. Was this locomotive ever assigned to western Nebraska?
Thanks,
Brian
