Good to go for another 15 years! Having completed her 1,472-day boiler inspection, the Sumpter Valley Railroad's "other" engine is quickly going back together. When this photo was taken at the McEwen Shops in October of 2013, she had passed her hydro testing and was awaiting a test steam-up with the FRA in attendance. That has since occurred and she's been declared fit for duty. The appliances that are missing in this photo and the boiler lagging have already been re-installed. She is expected to be back in service by December of 2013 and should see service on the line's Christmas Trains if all goes well.
The 19 and her sister engine, the 20 (stored out of service at the SVRy), are identical locomotives and the only ones that the railroad ever purchased new from the factory. The pair were built in 1920 as wood-burners, but were later converted to burn oil. They served the SVRy for 20 years, until 1940, when the line purchased a pair of big articulated engines. The two quickly became surplus and were sold to the White Pass & Yukon in Alaska. There, they spent another 18 years, hauling freight between Skagway and White Horse. Retired in 1958, the two engines sat unused in the Skagway Yard until 1977, when the restored Sumpter valley Railroad inquired as to whether or not they could be donated back to their home operation. The White Pass agreed and the two were repatriated to Oregon, where they sat until the mid-1990s, when funds finally became available to restore one of them to operation. It was decided that the 19 was in the better condition of the two, so she was given a complete overhaul before going back to work hauling tourists on her home rails in 1996. The recently completed 1,472 was the 19's second since returning to Oregon.
