Tag Archives: California State Railroad Museum

Death Valley Scotty 1955

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McGowan Productions, Inc.

I first heard about this train-laced TV episode from an article in Trains Magazine of April 2012. “Speed and Spectacle” by John Hankey mentioned Santa Fe Railway putting together a replica of the Scott Special of 1905 (see above) including one of the actual steam locomotives used (ATSF #1010), for an episode of Death Valley Days. I was intrigued.

Built by Baldwin in 1901, #1010 is a 2-6-2 and was used on the Needles, CA to Seligman, AZ segment of the Scott Special’s run. It was refurbished by Santa Fe Railway in 1954 specifically for the TV episode. ATSF #1010 was donated in 1979 to the California State Railroad Museum where it is preserved as a static display.

Let’s explore Death Valley Scotty’s record-breaking run to Chicago. Highball!

Headlight extinguished and with both engineer and fireman in the gangway, Santa Fe’s replica of the Scott Special poses on double track for its portrait in this ATSF publicity shot from the above-mentioned “Speed and Spectacle” article.

Thanks to Trains Magazine for providing useful background information about Death Valley Scotty’s record-breaking run of 1905. Los Angeles to Chicago in just under 45 hours. Whew! Why, that’s an average speed of 50.4 mph!

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Shadow of a Doubt 1943

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Universal Pictures

Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten star alongside the Northwestern Pacific Railroad (NWP) in this Hitchcock classic. I know. It’s not particularly obscure, but I already had a DVD lying around…

Anyways, the two train scenes in this picture feature steam engines and old heavyweight passenger equipment. The coming and going of Uncle Charlie (Cotten) happens at the Santa Rosa train depot which is still in existence as a visitor’s center.

During filming, NWP was a subsidiary of Southern Pacific Railroad and we are treated to 3 different locomotives: #140, an Alco-built 4-6-0 (seen above), #142 a Baldwin-built 4-6-0 (seen below) and #2708, a Baldwin-built 2-8-0. A sister NWP 4-6-0 #112 survives and is preserved at the California State Railroad Museum…the only NWP steamer remaining.

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A little boy is mesmerized by the smoke, steam and churning drivers as NWP #142 arrives in Santa Rosa with Uncle Charlie aboard.

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