FIREMAN AND ENGINEER

I am employed by the Great Northern Railroad as a locomotive
fireman and engineer. The picture of engine No. 1473 was taken when
this engine was used in local freight service between Watertown and
Huron, South Dakota. It is an old main line passenger engine and an
oil burner. It was a very nice locomotive and has been scrapped
along with so many fine engines.

Locomotive No. 752 was a hand fired coal burner and a hard
steamer. I was glad to see her go to the scrap yard. It had a long
narrow firebox and was a saturated engine.

Locomotive No. 2555 is one of the largest two cylinder steam
engines owned by the Great Northern and was built for mountain
passenger service.

To give you some idea of the size of this engine, here are the
figures from the Great Northern blue print book:- Drivers 73′,
Cylinders 28×30, weight of engine 472,000 lbs., weight of engine
and tender, 844, 780, firebox length 144’x102′, inside
height of firebox front 94′, height of firebox back
71¹/₂‘, grate area is 102 square feet,
heating surface-tubes 5014 square feet, combustion chamber 108
square feet, firebox 335 square feet, arch tubes 48 square feet.
The total length of engine and tender 107’ two inches. The
total height is 15 feet 11¹/₂‘. The
boiler diameter at the largest point is 98’. This engine was
built by Baldwin in 1929 and carried 250 pounds of pressure.

I do not want to make a railroad magazine out of the ALBUM but
thought the figures would be interesting to compare with threshing
engines. I don’t care for the diesel locomotives.

The threshing scene was taken on the Oscar Briggs farm near
Florence, South Dakota, in 1942 and is a picture of my 25-85
Nichols & Shepard engine when still owned by Walter Wilbur. I
purchased this outfit in the Fall of 1948 and used it only for
threshing exhibitions.