The Southern California Chapter of the Locomotive and Railroad Historical Society, also known as Railgiants Train Museum, held their second annual night photo shoot on August 29, 2015 at their museum site located on the Pomona Fairgrounds in Pomona California. Hudson type locomotive number 3450 was designed for high speed passenger service, and was the first of ten similar 4-6-4 locomotives built for Santa Fe in 1927 at a cost of $73,735.60 each. In the early days of its life, number 3450 charged across the Midwestern plains leading sleek transcontinental passenger trains with 73-inch driving wheels and a coal burning fire box. It was rebuilt in 1937 with 79-inch drivers and was converted to burn oil to increase its speed to over 100 mph. It hauled Santa Fe's Fast Mail Express, Scout, California Limited, Grand Canyon and Chief between Chicago & Colorado. Number 3450 was later assigned to service in California’s San Joaquin Valley, between Bakersfield and Oakland. The massive, 20,000 gallon tender was a 1952 modification. Mileage exceeding 100 times the distance around the earth was accumulated by its retirement in 1953. Number 3450 was donated to The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, Southern California Chapter in October 1955, by Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Today, number 3450 is the sole survivor of 10 similar units built, and is the Gateway locomotive of RailGiants Train Museum. Special thanks to our model Sam Calderwood for his efforts braving sparks and smoke to make this images possible. Photo by Steve Crise.
A continuously growing album of photos that IMHO reveal the awesome and seldom-seen beauty of the railroad world from the dimming of day to dawn's early light! From dusk to dawn, trains roll on! (I'm still finding gems of sunset-to-sunrise surprises!)
