Sierra Railway 2-8-0 "Consolidation" Locomotives in the USA

Class 18 (Locobase 13080)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 30, p. 177. Works number was 29790 in December 1906.

An earlier Escanaba & Lake Superior Consolidation order (Locobase 12722) was the obvious inspiration for this logging 2-8-0. The only big differences were the boiler pressure (this engine was set 35 psi higher) and the driver diameter, which was smaller. So the starting tractive effort was considerably greater.

The Sierra used the engine until 1953 with some runs during that time paid for by movie companies. In August 1966, the 18 was sold to Edward Cadiew for display at West Coast Mobile Homes (don't quite see the tie-in myself).

Class 20 (Locobase 14330)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 53, p. 294. Works number was 43344 in May 1916.

Small though it was, this little Consolidation was superheated, oil-fired, and used 9 1/2" piston valves to distribute the steam. Trundling along on 50 lb/yard (25 kg/metre) rail and around the 27 degree curves, the 20 worked for the SRwy (in 1935, renamed the SRR) until it was drafted by the US Army in 1942.

According to a May 2013 email from Kyle Wyatt, the locomotive was sold by the Army in 1948 to Kurth Brothers Lumber of Jaspar, Tex, who restored the number 20 and operated the engine until it was scrapped in 1955.

Class 22 (Locobase 14332)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 65, p. 258+. Works number was 53205 in April 1920.

This little Consolidation was essentially identical to the 20, which had arrived four years earlier (Locobase 14330). The only noticeable difference, other than a two-ton weight gain,

The Sierra Railroad sold the 22 in 1940 to the California Railway & Navigation Company as their second 41. It was scrapped in 1950.

Class 28 (Locobase 14333)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University Volume 65, p. 262+. Works number was 55246 in January 1922.

Unlike many of the other SRwy engines, the 28 has remained with the Sierra from its first day in service. It was put in storage in 1955 when the SRR converted to diesel power and moved its operation, but brought back into service in 1958 as a movie and TV locomotive. Operating on the original Jamestown, Calif, track, the 28 served the film industry well as well as passenger excursions to the end of the 1970s.

Railtown, as it had come to be named during the excursion years, gained an additional life when the State of California bought the assets and turned them into a state museum in 1983. 28 operated as a museum engine well into the 21st Century.