Operational history
State Belt
No. 4 arrived in San Francisco with C. W. Bowen in tow on July 27, 1911. Bowen sent this note (PDF, 374 kB) back to Vulcan the following day stating that “all arrived O.K.” but also speaking of a few issues the Master Mechanic took with the locomotive as-delivered. Vulcan’s “closed-in” cab was not appreciated, and Bowen notes that they intend to cut the back of the cab out (which they did). He also reports on a sales lead brought about by a chance encounter with the manager of the Stockton Terminal & Eastern Railroad Company.
The Belt’s new six-coupled switcher demonstrated its worth in a test run which pitted it against one of their earlier four-coupled saddle-tank locomotives. According to Steam Locomotive & Railway Tradition‘s 1965 article on the engine, “up a short 7% grade [!!!] No. 4 pushed four cars to the the saddletanker’s three, and elsewhere handled as many as thirty cars without difficulty.”
Thus began the stealthy existence of the Vulcan in San Francisco. “Stealthy,” because no news and only a handful of photographs have emerged from this period. However, a combination of physical and photographic evidence suggests that No. 4 was involved in some sort of collision. The right front cylinder casting had broken and been repaired at some point, and the front bumper was replaced with one cast in Sacramento by the Southern Pacific. The tender water tank was also evidently modified during this period, showing patched-in metal and rivets (reinforcement?) along either side that weren’t present in the builder’s photos.
By 1924, increasing traffic and carloads on the State Belt had caught up with No. 4’s capabilities, and Harbor Commissioners Superintendent T. J. McGinty recommended that it be sold along with No. 5 (which had arrived in 1912). He wrote that the two engines “are in good mechanical condition, but too light for the work we are compelled to perform.” However, the locomotive held its place on the roster through the remainder of the Twenties. It was the Great Depression which ultimately “furloughed” No. 4 from harbor work, and it was sold in 1932 for $1500, to the railroad that advertised “Modern & Efficient Transportation.”
Modesto & Empire Traction Company
An industrious interchange line owned by the Beard Family, the M&ET runs east-west across its two namesake towns, connecting to the Southern Pacific (now Union Pacific) and Santa Fe (now BNSF) mainlines at either end and serving various industries along the way. Here, the Vulcan (renumbered to 5) was run and photographed more extensively than at any other stage in its career.
In their 1956 issue on the M&ET, the Western Railroader featured the photo below, showing No. 5 pushing an ingenious device for keeping tracks free of weeds:
Using old boiler tubes and a pair of freight car trucks, a pipe from the engine’s dome delivered steam to the tracks, scalding any vegetation that grew around it. The pipe can be seen in the picture on the left side of the engine.
The year which that photograph was taken in, 1938, turned out to be No. 5’s last year on the M&ET. By the end of the year, No. 5 was once again sold off.
A. D. Schader
Go West – again. The Vulcan’s purchaser was San Francisco-based contractor A. D. Schader, who kept its M&ET number and barged it to the then-new Treasure Island. There, it joined a smaller locomotive in delivering goods for the World’s Fair. Despite being the newer and almost certainly more powerful locomotive, No. 5 actually played second fiddle to its four-coupled saddletank partner.
No. 5 returned to the mainland after the Fair concluded, and received a boiler inspection from the Maryland Casualty Company on August 31, 1939 at Southern Pacific’s West Oakland Yard. After this, our information becomes more apocryphal as the Vulcan once again goes into stealth mode…
Odd Jobs?
Steam Locomotive & Railway Tradition‘s 1965 article makes a slew of claims as to the Vulcan’s history between 1939 and 1942:
In 1939 the 0-6-0 turned up at Southern Pacific’s West Oakland roundhouse lettered “TPC” and numbered “400,” and the following summer she was used for a month at Los Altos by Henry J. Kaiser’s Permanente Cement Company. The next assignment was on lease from Schader to the Oakland Terminal Railway, again as No. 5, in 1941.
Steam Locomotive & Railway Tradition, May 1965 issue, page 48
Two other apocryphal accounts of returns to the State Belt and Oakland Terminal in 1942 and 1943, respectively, are also mentioned, but dismissed by the author as “in-transit” appearances because of the locomotive’s known disposition in the summer of 1942, working for the U.S. Army (more on that in the following section). The Western Railroader‘s 1956 M&ET article corroborates the renumbering to 400 and usage at the Permanente quarry (or is possibly the source for those claims – neither article cites anything, making it difficult to trace), but mentions nothing of the stint at the Oakland Terminal Railway in 1941. SL&RT claims that “they never put a fire in her” during this visit, which might explain that omission. Our 1939 photograph at West Oakland does not show the lettering and numbering that SL&RT speaks of, and we haven’t been able to track down any other sources or information.
U.S. Army
The Vulcan returned to the Central Valley during World War II to report for duty as U.S. Army No. 6956. It hauled munitions, cargo and supplies for the Pacific Theater at the Sharp Army Depot in Lathrop. The Army replaced the driver tires with a new set made in 1941.
Naturally, being stationed in a military facility during a war doesn’t exactly make a locomotive photogenic. Only one photo (below) is known to have been taken of the locomotive during this period.
While the Army was “running the pants off” of No. 6956 in the Forties, another development was brewing which ensured the Vulcan would find no further work after the War. The diesel-electric locomotive had grown from a novelty to a practicality, with longtime locomotive builders like ALCo as well as newcomers like GM-EMD developing standardized and proven diesel models that were poised to flood the market as soon as wartime restrictions were lifted. Indeed, No. 6956’s original home road was already in the process of replacing its steam fleet with ALCo S-2 switchers.
Thus, when the soldiers came home, our iron horse was finally put out to iron pasture…
