Engines

     Eventually, I'm going to need an engine for my railroad, but for now I have time to consider my options. For a steamer, smallish six-coupled drivers will be needed to negotiate #4 turnouts and still have tractive power to make the grades. SP's saddle tank yard goat is a hum-dinger of an engine that checks all the boxes for me, in addition to being funny looking, which is an added bonus. I've always been fascinated by utilitarian industrial designs, and this is a perfect example of that genre.

Electra in San Francisco, 1906

     But I'll undoubtably want an electric as well, just so I can have the fun of stringing live overhead. The Electra was built in 1902 for the North Shore R.R. in Marin County, but I remember her as the little red steeplecab that my brother and I played on as children. Since before I was born, she has lived at Travel Town in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. A great part of her life was spent as Pacific Electric 1544, and she worked the Torrance Shops. Today I live in San Francisco, Electra lived in Marin; I one lived in Hawthorne, Electra lived in Torrance. Seems she's always been in a town adjacent to mine.
     I could build her just as the original was made. A recycled cab unit, with two chopped-off tender tanks welded on, formed the superstructure. A couple of power trucks, and she's ready to run. Oh, of course I'll need to add a pantograph, instead of the trolley pole. For yard and switchback operation, it's a must.

     But I'll need a diesel just to round things out, and a boxcab is just the ticket. This one I could really have fun scratchbuilding, with all the rails, grab irons, chains, and bells. I could even model the cowboy too!