With last week's posts mentioning A Number One, Cigarette and Shack, I had to watch Emperor of the North again tonight. Okay - here's the deal. I remember riding the Oregon Pacifc & Eastern out of Cottage Grove and seeing Mikado No. 19. I was sure that - as you'd expect in Oregon - No. 19 was an oil-burner. But in the movie, she's definitely burning coal. Bill or any of you fans reading this - did she ever burn coal in real life, or was the coal tender borrowed and painted just for the movie? A passenger train in Emporer (called "#29") pulls a Vandy oil tender. Looks like it could have been a Mikado or Consolidation. Anyone know where this loco came from? Wasn't that No. 19 in Stand by Me, and didn't she sport a square oil tender there? Scott
No. 19 when orginally built was a coal burner, but she was converted oil sometime in the early 20's. My theory is that she was converted to oil while she was in Mexico before being purchased by the McCloud River. In Emperor of the North the oil tank in the tender was removed and a small one put in place and the coal load put on top. The tender is a generic Baldwin tender I guess you could say and the oil tank is a seperate piece that sits in the coal space. If you're ever around Yreka when the 19 is out and you get in the cab and look at the tender you'll see the gap were the oil tank sits. She wasn't converted back to coal for the movie. And I believe converting her back over to coal would have been a pretty expensive task. There are a few scenes in the movie were you can see the firing valve in the cab. In the movie the 19 wasn't burning coal even if it seems like she is. Thats the magic of Hollywood. Plus I believe the smoke clears up a little too quickly for a coal burner, but I've only fired the 19 and no coal burners so I could be wrong. As for the other engine. It was OP&E No. 5 and was/is a 2-8-0 and is somewhere in Texas the last I've heard and it was used for both the mail train and the passenger train in the movie. Hope this answers some questions. And this question is probably No.1 on the imaginary FAQ list for Emperor of the North.
The OP&E 5 is in a museum in Galveston Texas. The 5 is a 2-8-0 and was painted differently on each side to make two locomotives out of one.
The 19 did have a brief appearance in "Stand by me" too. The MrCloud #25 had the longest appearance in the scene when the kids were trying to get off of the trestle as the train approached.
Tim definitely covered it there. The scenes where you can see the firing valve the best is the "Almost A Head-On" scene, with lots of shots focused on the backhead. If you look closely you will see it.
Tim, Mr SP, Bill and Matt - thanks for the history. Nuts! Thought I was close to having an excuse for my coal-burning Bachmann 2-8-0 on the Siskiyour Southern. Time to rewrite history, I guess. Scott
I'm a little late to this thread...so please forgive me. I have a couple things to add. The tender behind the #19 is NOT its original tender. The #19 today carries the tender originally matched with the McCloud #18, which had been ordered by the same outfit that later purchased the #19 but went to the McCloud after the financing for the original deal fell through. The tender swap actually involved four different McCloud locomotives, all 90-ton Baldwin logging mikes, spaced over about fourteen years...it started when the McCloud purchased their #16 from the Silver Falls Timber Company of Silverton, Oregon. The McCloud shopped the #16 when it arrived in 1939, and when it emerged the shop mated it to the #18's tender. About the time this happened the McCloud picked up their #17 from the Pacific Portland Cement Company, and upon arrival the McCloud shop assigned its tender to the #18. The tender originally mated to the #16 then went to the #18. The final swap happened in 1953, when the #19 and #16 traded tenders just prior to the #19's sale to the Yreka Western. The #19 showed up at least twice in Stand By Me, first near the beginning when the one kid plays chicken with the oncoming train and then a shot later in the movie when it passes the four kids early in the morning. OP&E #5 worked a lifetime for the Magma Arizona Railroad. OP&E bought it in 1972 after the Magma Arizona finally bought diesels. The OP&E sold it to the Moody Foundation for use in the Galveston museum in 1978 along with a large collection of other equipment. Jeff Moore Elko, NV
Wow, Jeff!!! I learned something from this post. I never knew that the 18 had been originally ordered by the Caddo & Chocktaw RR along with the 19 (#4 then)! But wern't they built about a year apart with #18 being the senior loco, and then it was sent directly from Baldwin to the Panama Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915?? I had noticed the number "17" etched by welding on a plate on the tender of #18 while she was in storage at the YWRR, and often wondered how that happened. Thanks for the info. And ... where in the heck have you been keeping yourself??
It never ceases to amaze me how much info you can pick up on a forum like TB! I can post a question at bed time, go to bed and next morning get up to a post (or several - from all over the world) that's like reading a book on the question I asked. Incredible! Scott
Yeah ... and ya don't even have to put yer glasses on! And Scott, I haven't forgot about getting together with you two. I expect that Karla and I will be making a trip to Medford soon. We like to go to the Bebee Farms to buy Peaches and other yummy stuff. I'll give you a call before we leave here.
Bill- It's been a while since I last posted here...to tell the truth, my participation in this board dropped way off when it started requiring you to log in to see the "Last 24 Hours of Trainboard" link. The true origins of the #18 surprised me a little bit too. I've seen a few conflicting statements about how the locomotive got to San Francisco, however...at least some sources indicate that Baldwin sent the locomotive to the Pan-Pacific Exposition, with the sale to the McCloud happening at some point during the event, but I would tend to believe that the McCloud purchased the locomotive before the fair, as there are builder's photographs of the #18 lettered for the McCloud River on the BLW turntable. The few pictures I've seen of the fair show the locomotive lettered for the McCloud River, and it joined a display train consisting of two log loads, a McCloud boxcar, and a caboose that were part of a much larger display sponsored by the McCloud River Lumber Company, the Weed Lumber Company, and the Red River Lumber Company. The Pan-Pacific people wanted every major industry in California represented in the event, and the three lumber companies banded together to represent the pine logging industry. The three companies built a house entirely out of the products of their three mills, complete with a fireplace of native volcanic rocks, with the McCloud River Railroad display train thrown in as an extra bonus. The dates of this locomotive provide a little additional help. The #18 shows a build date of September 1914. Original McCloud roster books I've seen show two different dates, November 1914 and January 1916. My guess is that the 11/1914 date is when the McCloud purchased the locomotive and 1/1916 is when they placed it in service. The #19 in one roster source shows a build date of April 1915, seven months after the #18 rolled out. My understanding is that Caddo River Lumber Company's financing for what would become the #18 fell apart, which made it available for sale to the McCloud. Apparently they got things pulled together in time to pick up what would become the #19. That's all for tonight... Jeff Moore Elko, NV
I guess I don't really have to put my glasses on, but by the time I'd back up far enough to be able to read the screen, my arms would no longer reach the keyboard! :smile2: Ed .
I know what you are talking about, Ed. I have ruts in the carpet where the wheels on my chair are moved back and forth to and from the computer. Jeff - Thanks again for the information. I do know for sure the builder's plate of #18 was a couple of hundred units prior to that of #19, (I have a photo of both, somewhere in this mess!).
