01
August 2022
Immediate Release
Houston Icon set to return to steam!
Southern Pacific 982
Media Contact:
Trpouston@gmail.com
TRPA officially announces SP 982 slated to return to steam.
TRPA New Website: (developed & designed by ZAF / GS Travel Lines)
TRPA acquires Great Northern Vanderbilt tender
Southern Pacific steam locomotive number 982, long a fixture in Herman Park and in later years Minute Maid Park, will return to the rails under the leadership of the Texas Railway Preservation Association. Millions of Houstonians and visitors from around the world have seen this Houston icon, and now, she will be restored for railfans and tourists alike to ride behind the Houston icon.
The Texas Railway Preservation Association, owners of Southern Pacific 2-10-2 number 982, are announcing that they will return the locomotive to service. The locomotive, built as Southern Pacific 3651, was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1919. Originally assigned by Southern Pacific to handle long passenger trains up severe mountain grades, the Southern Pacific 3651 performed in this service until 1922, when she was sold to the Texas and New Orleans Railroad, which was a wholly owned subsidiary to the Southern Pacific, in 1922, and assigned to freight service in 1922, working out of Glidden, Texas.
In 1929, the 982 was assigned to Houston,Texas and was maintained and repaired at the Hardy Street roundhouse and shops. During World War Two, the 982 handled oil trains to eastern rail connections in Shreveport; trainloads of sulfur out of New Gulf for explosives and fertilizer; lumber from East Texas; steel to build new ships at Todd Shipyards; troops and sailors heading off to war; livestock to feed a hungry nation. The 982 received cross balanced drivers and was also assigned to pull the second section of the Argonaut between Houston and San Antonio.
The locomotive was stored serviceable in 1956 and was donated to the Houston Jaycees in 1957, when the locomotive was placed in Herman Park.
The 982 lived in Hermann Park for almost forty years, three years longer than she was in service, before dark clouds once again gathered on the horizon. Her home, Hermann Park, was being redesigned, and there was no longer a home for the 200 ton locomotive, and her scrapping appeared imminent.
The Houston Jaycees stepped to the forefront, spearheading an effort to save and move the locomotive. Operation Choo Choo. was a fund raising effort to move the locomotive to another location. The City Of Houston donated the land, and the locomotive was moved to its new location outside Minute Maid Park.
The 982 was displayed at Minute Maid Park until she was tabbed to be part of a museum where the 982 would be a focal point. The 982 was moved again, this time to the museum site, where the building would be built around her...but the locomotive would lose her tender in the process due to the fact the locomotive would not fit in the designed building with it. The 982, sans tender, was cosmetically restored, then placed in a protective shroud.
But, it was not to be. The museum project was shelved, leaving the now tenderless 982 shrouded, homeless, and with an even more uncertain future.
The TRPA set to work at that point to preserve the 982, and the locomotive was donated to the TRPA in 2020. The locomotive was moved from its display site at Minute Maid Park to its current storage location until a more suitable location can be found.
Thanks to the generosity of the Museum Of Transport in St. Louis, a replacement tender for the 982 has been acquired. This tender, a six axle Vanderbilt tender, is historic in its own right, being assigned to Great Northerns’ first 2-10-2, number 2100. When the 2100 was scrapped, the tender was assigned to another locomotive, and it eventually ended up in St.Louis. The bigger tender gives the 982 more range for fuel and water in todays’ operating environment.
Current plans call for a complete rebuild of the 982, purchase, lease, or donation of a building to serve as a shop facility, and acquire and renovate several heavyweight cars for use as a complete train set capable of entertaining 500-1,200 guests. There has been serious interest to host the 982 for trips, and those relationships will continue to be nurtured during this period.
The TRPA has a NEW WEBSITE, GOING LIVE MONDAY AUGUST 29TH, 2022! Want to support TRPA's mission to preserve, restore, and operate Texas railroad archives, machinery, and structures? Want to be a part of the team and develop or learn skills? Have a business that wants to partner or market with TRPA or Southern Pacific 982? Have engagement or academic photography needs, or a film project and need a subject? On our new website you can handle those tasks and more. Sign up for memberships, become a volunteer that works with YOUR schedule (no experience required), follow the blog and see updates for the TRPA and work on 982, and much more.
Online store of exclusive merchandise and exclusive items like work wear, collectable historic memorabilia and much more, coming soon!
Click the link on or After Monday August 29th, to be taken to the website; Trpahouston.org
-MEDIA CONTACT-
Trpahouston@gmail.com
@Trpahouston
Kenneth Cotton- President-Texas Railway Preservation Association
(512) 779-9093
Micah Rogers - Strategic Business Development/ Public Relations- Texas Railway Preservation Association
(346) 228 - 5869
*TRPA and PayPal will never call or email you asking for personal information or confirmation of any sort. The link provided is protected for all transactions. For more information on how to protect yourself against scammers and fraud you can visit ;
https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/paypal-safety-and-security
.
If the tender off the GN 2100 is like the one in this picture, if is likely even larger than the six-wheel-trucked tenders on the SP F-4 and F-5 classes.
https://www.steamlocomotive.com/whyte/2-10-2/USA/photos/gn2178-davis.jpg
https://www.steamlocomotive.com/whyte/2-10-2/USA/photos/sp3738-laws.jpg
Here is a picture of the 982 four-wheel-trucked tender at the Heber Valley Railroad in Utah.
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,3513918
If you scroll down there is a discussion on how the 982's fuel oil tender ended up in Utah when 2-8-0 618 was being converted to fuel oil in 2014. Apparently it was the same size as the 618's coal tender.
Is there any business case for a Santa Fe-type steam operation? I consider C&O 1309 as a one-off. A low drivered 2-10-2, not so much.
63.5-inch drivers on the SP F-1 Class. Probably good for 40-45 mph maximum.
They were delivered with tender capacity of 12,000 gallons water and 4,000 gallons fuel oil.
Information on tender capacity from www.steamlocomotive.com
Southern Pacific F-1 2-10-2 class 3601-3651(982) (Baldwin 1919) were delivered with tender capacities of 10,030 gallons water and 3,120 gallons fuel oil.
Southern Pacific F-3 through F6 2-10-2 classes were delivered with tender capacities of 12,000 gallons water and 4,000 gallons fuel oil.
Great Northern Q-1 2-10-2 class 2100-2129 (Baldwin 1923) were delivered with tender capacities of 17,000 gallons water and 5,800 gallons fuel oil.
Backshop Is there any business case for a Santa Fe-type steam operation? I consider C&O 1309 as a one-off. A low drivered 2-10-2, not so much.
It probably depends on just where they're going to run it and how much trackage is available. Speeds in the 40 MPH range are tolerable for excursion riders as most want the ride to last anyway. The novelty of riding behind steam is the attraction, more so than the speed.
In the meantime, deep in the wilds of South Jersey SMS Rail Services' restoration of Alco 0-6-0 #9 is approaching completion and passenger excursion operations are being seriously considered on a 14 mile section of railroad between Pilesgrove and Swedesboro. They think it's more than do-able. Let's see what happens.
Here is a nifty six-minute video showing QJ 2-10-2 6988 with its 59-inch drivers picking 'em up and laying 'em down pretty well across Iowa.
Of course, everything's bigger in Texas, so perhap 982 with its 63 1/2-inch drivers will be scattering the longhorns someday as it rips across the grasslands of eastern Texas.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FUGv2L3dFl8
That was a FAST six minutes! And that QJ can really move!
I kinda wish they'd get rid of those ugly-a$$ smoke deflectors though, but what the hell, it's not my engine or my place to tell them what to do with it.
Flintlock76 In the meantime, deep in the wilds of South Jersey SMS Rail Services' restoration of Alco 0-6-0 #9 is approaching completion and passenger excursion operations are being seriously considered on a 14 mile section of railroad between Pilesgrove and Swedesboro. They think it's more than do-able. Let's see what happens.
CSSHEGEWISCHThat 0-6-0 should feel quite comfortable among those various Baldwin switchers.
It would! The original idea was to restore the 0-6-0 (The president of SMS remembered it from his days at the New Hope & Ivyland) and use it occasionally for switching and deliveries in the same way they use the Baldwins, kind of a "corporate toy" for lack of a better term and an attention getter. But apparantly with new trackage available they've gotten the idea of "Hey, you know what?"
And that's a good thing!
'76, coincidentally Trains has a great article on the QJ 2-10-2 this month. Apparently the design of the QJ 2-10-2 had its genesis in the Baldwin USRA 2-10-2. American design from the 1910s is equally impressive in the 2020s.
kgbw49 '76, coincidentally Trains has a great article on the QJ 2-10-2 this month. Apparently the design of the QJ 2-10-2 had its genesis in the Baldwin USRA 2-10-2. American design from the 1910s is equally impressive in the 2020s.
Quite true. Also under-the-skin the Chinese made a number of efficiency improving modifications to the basic design as well.
[quote user="Backshop"]Is there any business case for a Santa Fe-type steam operation? I consider C&O 1309 as a one-off. A low drivered 2-10-2, not so much./quote]You'd be right, of course. I don't think there's really an operating model behind either the UP or the SP 2-10-2, though... at least I haven't seen any indication of a 'feasibility plan' comparable to what was developed for T1 5550.
What OUGHT to be done with one of them is the 'beauty treatment' given to the T&P 2-10-4s (there is a 'free' Trains article discussing some of the details). This included a "proper" main driver capable of accommodating angled mass, and lighter-weight reciprocating parts. With proper lateral-motion devices at least on the leading and trailing driver axles, and a little Gladstone-like taper on those flanges and tires, you'd be a long way toward practical 40-to-45mph running speed, and a proper 3-axis-damped lead truck ought to be simple to arrange within 'prorotypical appearance' (or substituted for the 'historic fabric' when the engine was to be run...)
If there is a business case, it would involve securing enough cars and enough amenities to make trips of the appropriate trainlength and capacity possible. I don't think there is a lasting 'fandom' for either class that would be a draw in its own right (at least for very long) but "big steam is big steam"... and more power to it!
[quote user="Overmod"]
BackshopIs there any business case for a Santa Fe-type steam operation? I consider C&O 1309 as a one-off. A low drivered 2-10-2, not so much./quote]You'd be right, of course. I don't think there's really an operating model behind either the UP or the SP 2-10-2, though... at least I haven't seen any indication of a 'feasibility plan' comparable to what was developed for T1 5550. What OUGHT to be done with one of them is the 'beauty treatment' given to the T&P 2-10-4s (there is a 'free' Trains article discussing some of the details). This included a "proper" main driver capable of accommodating angled mass, and lighter-weight reciprocating parts. With proper lateral-motion devices at least on the leading and trailing driver axles, and a little Gladstone-like taper on those flanges and tires, you'd be a long way toward practical 40-to-45mph running speed, and a proper 3-axis-damped lead truck ought to be simple to arrange within 'prorotypical appearance' (or substituted for the 'historic fabric' when the engine was to be run...) If there is a business case, it would involve securing enough cars and enough amenities to make trips of the appropriate trainlength and capacity possible. I don't think there is a lasting 'fandom' for either class that would be a draw in its own right (at least for very long) but "big steam is big steam"... and more power to it!
The 982 and her F1 sisters were timetable restricted to 55 MPH, and she is equipped with both lateral motion devices on the front set of drivers and cross balanced main drivers. She pulled passenger trains in regular service on occasion, and was assigned to pull the second section of the Argonaut, a passenger train running between Houston and San Antonio. She has the ability to pull whatever a 4 -8-4 can pull, but not as fast, as she won't need to run better than 50-60 MPH. If you want to see her run, please buy a membership or become a sponsor. Thank you.
Kenneth Cotton
Executive Director
Texas Railway Preservation Association
https://www.trpahouston.org/
For the record, I'm a non-involved party with zero skin in this game. That said, one of my pet peeves, strictly for ascetic reasons, are steam locomotives with ridiculously disproportional tenders. I know from my forefathers there are reasons for what tender is used in what application and if I were in their boots I would apply those principals just as religiously as they did. Nevertheless, a large road locomotive with a tender the size of a bathtub looks blatantly ridiculous. The 982 with 2100's Vandy tender will look stunning! Cannot wait to see what y'all come up with.
Editor Emeritus, This Week at Amtrak
No F-1 2-10-2s on this video, but if this doesn't whet your appetite for 982, nothing will.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dCWy-JxZ_hs
Here is F-1 975 at the Illinois Railroad Museum.
https://www.steamlocomotive.com/whyte/2-10-2/USA/photos/sp975-priester2.jpg
https://www.steamlocomotive.com/whyte/2-10-2/USA/photos/sp975-priester1.jpg
https://www.steamlocomotive.com/whyte/2-10-2/USA/photos/sp975-priester.jpg
As an addendum to my earlier post, since I didn't really clarify one of my "concerns". I know that a 2-10-2 wouldn't have any problem with the tonnage or the lower speeds of excursion service. I was more questioning how "interesting" it would be to be behind a 2-10-2 that isn't really "working" versus a 2-8-0 that's giving it its all?
BackshopI was more questioning how "interesting" it would be to be behind a 2-10-2 that isn't really "working" versus a 2-8-0 that's giving it its all?
Or use a trailing diesel chassis (or even just a car with powered trucks) with a small power source for dynamic-brake excitation of a set of grids and fans. You may recall that in England they used this approach for full steady-state dynamometric testing at constant resistance up to the most severe grades...
Just as a comparison, up on the Polar Plains of Minnesota, each year 261 lopes along with a 13-car excursion train plus diesel on the Twin Cities & Western and has no trouble selling out or practically selling out every trip. it is in steam and sounds and smells like a steam engine and even though the throttle may not be up to the roof of the cab, people love it just the same.
I love to hear stack talk just as much as anyone else reading this thread. Nevertheless, the vast majority of ticket holders just want to see the "choo-choo" regardless of performance.
That said, the trackage around Houston is rather crowded these days and about to get more so if one believes the testimony levied during the CP[KC] merger hearings. So where is this beauty to run?
How about the PTRA? Not that it is not busy. But just for discussion.
kgbw49Just as a comparison, up on the Polar Plains of Minnesota, each year 261 lopes along with a 13-car excursion train plus diesel on the Twin Cities & Western
I'd guess that diesel in the consist is probably a condition of allowing 261 to operate on the TC&W's line, "Just in case." I very much doubt 261 has any trouble pulling a 13 car train by itself.
Also, if the diesel's on the trailing end it's most likely because there's no place to turn 261 around and the diesel pulls the train back to the starting point. The Western Maryland Scenic's been doing that with the 1309 excursions.
'76, you are correct about MILW E9A 32A (which is a beauty).
There is no wye or turntable on the Twin Cities & Western so 261 leads west from Minneapolis and 32A leads back.
261 "barely breaks a sweat" with 13 cars on the 30 mph railroad but it is still great to see it out on former home rails with most of the route being welded rail and all of the roadbed well-ballasted and well-maintained.
I am a donor to 261. We are fortunate to have 261 and 32A up here on the Polar Plains of Minnesota.
kgbw49'76, you are correct about MILW E9A 32A (which is a beauty).
Absolutely! It's a stunner! Jaw-dropping gorgeous!
Flintlock76 kgbw49 '76, you are correct about MILW E9A 32A (which is a beauty). Absolutely! It's a stunner! Jaw-dropping gorgeous!
kgbw49 '76, you are correct about MILW E9A 32A (which is a beauty).
0:23 to 0.25.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.