Southern Pacific Class GS-1
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The Southern Pacific GS-1 was a class of conventional 4-8-4 "Northern" type
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...
operated by the
Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...
(SP) and its Texas subsidiary the
Texas and New Orleans Railroad The Texas and New Orleans Railroad (TNO) was an American rail company in Texas and Louisiana. It operated of railroad in 1934; by 1961, remained when it merged with parent company Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific. Morgan's Louisian ...
(T&NO) from 1930 to 1956. A total of fourteen were built by the
Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railway locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, Eddystone in the early 20th century. The com ...
, numbered 4400 through 4409 by SP and 700 through 703 by T&NO.


History


Design and abilities

During the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
in the 1930s, the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) needed more power for their heavy passenger train service... They ordered a batch of fourteen 4-8-4 GS-1 locomotives from the Baldwin Locomotives Works between May and July 1930. The prefix ''GS'' indicates ''Golden State''. Originally, the GS-1s' operating boiler pressure was , but would eventually increase to . The GS-1s were the first SP steam locomotives to have the cylinders connected to the
frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...
in one piece. These locomotives operated on saturated steam for the
injector An injector is a system of ducting and nozzles used to direct the flow of a high-pressure fluid in such a way that a lower pressure fluid is Entrainment (hydrodynamics), entrained in the jet and carried through a duct to a region of higher pres ...
, steam heat, hydrostatic lubricator, power reverser; and
superheated steam Superheated steam is steam at a temperature higher than its vaporization point at the absolute pressure where the temperature is measured. Superheated steam can therefore cool (lose internal energy) by some amount, resulting in a lowering of its ...
for the oil-burning equipment,
feedwater heater A feedwater heater is a power plant component used to pre-heat water delivered to a steam generating boiler. Preheating the feedwater reduces the irreversibilities involved in steam generation and therefore improves the thermodynamic efficiency o ...
pumps,
air pump An air pump is a pump for pushing air. Examples include a bicycle pump, pumps that are used to aerate an aquarium or a pond via an airstone; a gas compressor used to power a pneumatic tool, air horn or pipe organ; a bellows used to encoura ...
s,
booster Booster may refer to: Amusement rides * Booster (Fabbri ride), a pendulum ride * Booster (HUSS ride), an evolution of the Breakdance ride * Booster (KMG ride), a pendulum ride Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Booster, a cha ...
, and
whistle A whistle is a musical instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It is a type of Fipple, fipple flute, and may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a s ...
. They were designed to traverse through
curve In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line, but that does not have to be straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point. This is the definition that ...
s as sharp as 18 degrees.


Revenue service

The first four locomotives, Nos. 700-703, were assigned to the Texas and New Orleans (T&NO) subsidiary, while the last ten, Nos. 4400-4409, were built for SP's main fleet. The GS-1s were assigned to various
passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...
s throughout the SP system, and ended their careers on the San Jose-
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
''
Peninsula Commute The Peninsula Commute, also known as the Southern Pacific Peninsula or just Peninsula, was the common name for commuter rail service between San Jose, California, San Jose and San Francisco, California, San Francisco on the San Francisco Peninsu ...
'' service. No GS-1 locomotives survive.


Fleet details


References


Bibliography

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Further reading

* GS-1 4-8-4 locomotives Baldwin locomotives Passenger locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1930 Steam locomotives of the United States Scrapped locomotives Standard-gauge locomotives of the United States American Passenger Locomotives 2′D2′ h2 locomotives {{US-train-stub