Spokane, Portland & Seattle 4-8-4 "Northern" Locomotives in the USA

Class E-1 (Locobase 1068)

Data from SP&S 2 - 1953 Locomotive Diagrams supplied in May 2005 by Allen Stanley from his extensive Rail Data Exchange. See also "The SP&S 700:, Pacific Railroad Preservation Association website at []; and "SP&S 700 Work Update" from the Oregon Rail Heritage Center blog at [], both last accessed 15 June 2023.(Thanks to Jackie Lien's 31 October 2022 email and 3 November followup supplying confirmation of the original tender's capacity.) Works numbers ran 62171-62173 in May 1938.

Said to have been identical to the Northern Pacific's A-3s (Locobase 932), which they immediately followed on Baldwin's production line. They had Worthington feedwater heaters, Timken roller bearings, 14" (356 mm) piston valves with 8" (203 mm) travel.

The one difference was the firebox, which on the SP&S engines burned Bunker C oil fuel. Jackie Lien sent Locobase a photograph from Spokane's Lacey Studios showing the 700's arrival on 21 June 1938 trailing a tender carrying 20.000 US gallons of water and 6,040 gallons (22,861 litres) of Bunker C. The later diagram included a tender with more oil capacity as shown in Locobase's specs.

The PRPA's account said that "typically" locomotives 700 and 702 hauled the SP&S's premier passenger service:

"This train-No. 1 westbound from Spokane and No. 2 on the return from Portland-included the Portland segments of GN's famous Empire Builder and NP's North Coast Limited. Both originated in Chicago (running over the CB&Q from Chicago to St. Paul) and were broken into two sections in eastern Washington, with one segment bound for Portland via the SP&S and the other bound to Seattle over the Cascades."

701 worked freight trains unless called on to fill in for one of the other two.

PRPA reported that "The engines' good looks and graceful operation soon earned them the nickname 'The Ladies.'" As the 700 was the first on the property, she became known colloquially as 'The First Lady of the Northwest' or simply 'The Lady.'". The Association also credited the class with "developing and maintaining" Spokane's prominence in the region.

These endured until 1960 when they were retired. 701-702 were sold for scrap along with all of the railroad's 4-6-6-4s to Oregon Steel Mills on 26 May 1960.. #700, donated tot he city of Portland on 13 January 1958, later resumed operation as an excursion engine.

Its long excursion career has meant that it exceeded its FRA 1472-day boiler life twice. Beginning in 2016, the 700 began an extensive rebuild which the PRPA summarized: "Removed all jacketing, lagging, tubes and superheaters; cleaned boiler interior and completed form 4 ultrasonic testing of boiler wall thickness; repaired firebox sheet and replaced fire pan; manufactured and installed new stay bolts, new piping on the boiler exterior, and new superheaters; replaced tubes, installed firebox brick, rebuilt air pump and check valve, repaired sand dome and steam dome; applied protective paint to boiler exterior; completed hydrostatic test."