Madam Queen waiting on a siding in Ricardo, New Mexico. March 1943. Jack Delano Photo, Library of Congress collection
The few Sante Fe cabooses I remember seeing were all running cupola forward. Was this the norm for the Sante Fe?
All the pics I've ever seen confirm that. And it stands to reason, if the purpose of a cupola is to serve as a vantage point for keeping an eye on the train.
A quick survey of the photos in my collection seem to indicate about a 50:50 split. I don't believe the railroad had any standard direction. Perhaps they just hung them on the train in whatever orientation they found them and did not figure it was worth their time to turn them one way or the other. Or the different crews liked them in their own preferred direction and had them turned if possible.
Another photo taken by Jack Delano, probably on the same day as the photo posted a few posts above, in March of 1943, this time in Laguna, NM, is from a caboose with the cupola toward the rear. You can see the smoke jack which would be more or less in the center of the car.
I seem to recall that from somewhere. However, I would think, other than the novelty, what would be the point of spending so much on a locomotive like that? A monster 10 coupled driver beast would not be welcomed on any class-one railroad or even most tourist railroads. It would pound the rails too much. The UP with their monsters is able to suck it up and repair things and consider the PR benefits outweigh the extra maintenance. I remember one of the 3985 trips through Houston years ago just destroyed an interchange curve they routed it through to get it to a display track next to the Astrodome. They were lucky to make it through without derailing while they crawled around it.
The pic of caboose 1579 shows that cartoon of on the side " Watch out for Axy Dent", but look at the upper cupola window-something has smashed thru it!
Milwaukee Road had similar hatches on one end of they're Ribsides for loading long lumber like 2x4's.
Them newfangled covered hopper things will never catch on. Mark my words. What the hell are they good for when it's not harvest time? Where you going to park them all while you wait for next year?
They loaded grain into any box car and even stock cars. A temporary "Grain Door" was placed inside the regular door. It was usually cheap wood or card board that had a gap at the top to blow the grain in. The grain doors were held in place by the pressure of the grain on the inside and were broken open prior to unloading. Stock cars were steam cleaned and totally lined with card board to keep the grain from leaking out. This image shows a grain door in place.
4-8-4 Northern # 2908 is charging through Alva, Oklahoma on November 17, 1953. One of a 30 unit order from Baldwin in 1943-44. Rodney Peterson photo.
The "Madam Queen" number 5000, shown earlier, was not the first Texas type owned by the Santa Fe. Locomotive 3829 was delivered from Baldwin right after WWI and was basically a 2-10-2 in the 3800 class with a Commonwealth 4 wheel truck wedged under the firebox. The 5000 came along a decade later and was much larger, sporting 69 in drivers and was designed as a true Texas type. The depression intervened and no more of the type were ordered until 1936. The newer 5001 class were delivered with 74 in drivers and higher boiler pressure. These photos are from Rodney Peterson. Mountainair, New Mexico on November 14, 1953. Yeso, New Mexico on April 5, 1953 Clovis, New Mexico on November 16, 1953
