images of
Southern Pacific 3420
Over the years
This collection of photos are to provide the website visitor a record of how Southern Pacific 3420 has changed over the years. As we are able to locate and publish photos of 3420 we will bring them to you.
This photograph of Southern Pacific 3420 was taken at Douglas, Arizona on September 2, 1952.
Photographer J.E. Whittaker
This January 20, 1953 view of of the fireman’s side of Southern Pacific 3420 was taken at El Paso, Texas. The photo location was west of the roundhouse on Piedras St.
Photographer:
This photograph of the fireman’s side of SP 3420 was taken on the ready tracks at the Piedras St roundhouse in El Paso, Texas. With the two photographs above, we see 3420 in the final configuration as an oil fired locomotive. This photograph was taken in January 1953.
This photograph shows 3420 at El Paso Union Depot a about a year after the dedication to the city of El Paso. Note the rear head light is still in place. The rear headlight will disappear early in the years on display.
The rear of the Santa Fe roundhouse can be seen in the background.
A few years later we see another image of 3420 this time without the rear headlight. We also see that a low level fence has been installed.
This view of the fireman’s side of 3420 on display in front of El Paso Union Depot is from the 1970s.
In this view 3420 has begun the journey from the display location in front of El Paso Union Depot to continue the restoration work atWyler Industrial Works at Sixth St. and St. Vrain.
Success! The start of El Paso’s 4 Centuries ‘81 Celebration commence with 3420 as the star of the show.
3420 at night. A lot of time on a steam engine is not glamorous. If you have heard that steam locomotives have a personality, a steam locomotive will often show its personality when you least expect it. In this case, the deteriorating fire brick in 3420’s firebox resulted in the fear of shutting the engine off and an all night vigil was scheduled to keep the engine hot.
Another view of the night vigil with the glow of the lights of the City of El Paso in the distance.
On September 11, 1983, Southern Pacific 3420 after being on display at the Amigo Air Show, Southern Pacific 3420 traveled from its storage at El Paso Water Works near Biggs Field to the FreePort McMoRan Copper Refinery. 3420 and the growing collection are entering the west end of Alfalfa Yard.
Photographer Unknown.
On June 12, 1984 Southern Pacific 3420 made her last appearance out on the Southern Pacific Mainline. Southern Pacific GS4 4449 was returning from New Orleans, Louisiana to Portland, Oregon. New Orleans was the site of the 1984 World’s Fair.
At the last minute an effort was put together to have the two locomotives doublehead from Alfalfa Yard to El Paso Union Depot.
Jack Neville captured this image of the two locomotives together on the westbound journey.
In this image Southern Pacific 3420 and 4449 are at El Paso Union Depot. The Blue Flag on the Cab of 3420 indicate that personnel are working on under or between the equipment and that the equipment is not to be moved or coupled on to.
For those of you familiar with the modern railroad operating rules, please note that this photo was taken on June 12, 1984 and the railroad rules then do not necessarily reflect the current rule book.
Southern Pacific 3420 operated on May 4, 1985, in the copper refinery for the national convention of the R&LHS. The locomotive operated on several of the tracks within the refinery. The smoke in the photograph was for the benefit of the photographers at the time.
The Southern Pacific caboose was later traded to Border Steel for its scrap value for one of the two Santa Fe CE-2 cabooses in the collection today.
The following three views of 3420 were taken in 1995 by Robby Peartree. The Aluminum/silver paint is a high temperature coating for the boiler. Historically railroads covered the boilers with a protective coating or paint called red lead. This modern coating does not have the environmental concerns of the historic coating. Photo by Robby Peartree
Here is a view of the fireman’s side of SP 3420 from November 2017.
This view of the engineer’s side of SP 3420 was taken November 2017.