Baldwin 4-6-2 Pacific Steam Engine , SP 2472 Locomotive

A beautiful steam engine in full HD!
Retired by Southern Pacific in 1957 after more than 30 years of service, this engine was painted brown and "abandoned" as a "playground fixture" at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds. (I can verify that - I played on it!). Ironically, being marooned at the fairgrounds may have actually saved it from being scrapped. (That, and the excellent work by the Golden Gate Railroad Museum.) Watching on YouTube, a detail you might miss - those are 73" drive wheels!
Hope you enjoy the movie!
(comments welcome)

Thanks again to Maskedmancher for all the help!
Some of this was shot with a Kodak Zi8, and some shots were from a Flip Ultra HD (later enlarged). And yes, the Flip DID survive the cowcatcher strike, but the footage from that run did not! Knock the batteries completely out while filming and you will loose the shot!

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Festival Train a Vapeur

[4freespeech]

That has to burn #1 fuel oil or kerosene, 'cause I grew up with coal steam

locomotives and never saw one pound up a grade with clear stack exhaust

like a few of those shots did. Terrific good photography, and the old blue

truck is a '48-'52. I had a '51 that exact same color. They had different grilles

'47 and before and '53- after. Very clear, solid video. Some on here bounce

around so much you get a headache, but this is world class.

[Blimpaccident]

@4freespeech You know your trains! Glad you liked the video - Thank you! I had a 40 Chevy half ton for a couple of years. Straight 6, 3spd, splash oiling, glass fuel pump, no door locks, sit on the gas tank, a crank to hinge the windshield forward, oil bath air cleaner, 6 volt gen w/ starter button on the floor board. The single cylinder (tiny) brake resevoir was under a cover by your feet, the driveshaft was enclosed by a tube, the bed was had real wood slats, and Chevrolet in lower case script

[Blimpaccident]

@Blimpaccident (continued:) and "Chevrolet" in lower case script across the tailgate. The shifter for 1940 was a long handle straight to the transmission with an H pattern - with reverse at the top left. I'm not sure it was doing more than 60mph on the freeway in top gear, and I nearly rolled it on city streets by whipping a corner too fast. Great truck though, and definitely wish I still had it!

[WoelkerVideo]

Excellent video.

Very great job.

[Blimpaccident]

@WoelkerVideo

Thank you very much! I am looking forward to filming it again, hopefully with a better camera. The Zi8 is nice, but I would really like to be able to do a pan zoom. I will check out your channel soon - it looks great!

Mark

[terry46619]

AWESOME video and like everyone else, the old Chevy truck was a killer addition!!

[Blimpaccident]

@terry46619 Thank you! Love this locomotive, so it was great to film. Hats off to GGRM for the beautiful restoration! GGRM is collecting an outstanding set of still photos on Flickr.

[jpfo1776]

Delicious nostalgia. Beautiful video. IMO the 4 6 2 Pacific was the Queen of locomotives. Thank you.

[vancouverbluz]

amazing video, it's hard to believe that that was made 110 years ago.

[ThomasRivette]

Cool shots. This vid is better than mine. Oh by the way, about the shot from under the train, I'm thinking about doing something like that for our Labor Day run. How did you do it?