The Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, PA, built this 0-6-0 switcher for the Southern Pacific in 1918. A Class S-10 oil burner, #1238 is typical of a standard switcher produced in the second decade of the 20th Century in the US.
It weighs 154,600 lbs with 51” drivers and 19” x 26” cylinders. Operating at a boiler pressure of 190 psi, it delivered 29,720 lbs tractive effort. The Vanderbilt tender weighs 138,100 lbs light and has a capacity of 7,000 gallons of water and 2,940 gallons of oil.
It is on display in Roeding Park in Fresno, CA, and appeared not to have been repainted for some years ago when I visited. At least the dry California air is keeping it structurally sound. However, the fencing makes it challenging to get good photos and, for all round views of the engine, you will need to pay a park entrance fee.
About a 7 mile drive NE of Roeding Park, you find the California “Merci Car”, photos of which appear at the end of this page.
In the winter of 1947-48, the US began a relief effort to France and Italy recovering from the ravages of WWII: citizens donated more than seven hundred box cars of goods, food and clothes to an “American Friendship Train”.
In gratitude, a group of French citizens organised a private effort to thank the people of the US for their assistance in the two world wars and for the relief aid. The result was the forty-nine box car “Merci Train”, weighing more than 250 tons, which arrived in New York aboard the steamship Magellan on 3rd February 1949.
Donations came from over six million French citizens. One box car was for each of the states, and one was to be shared between the District of Columbia, Alaska and Hawaii. The cars contained artwork, antiques and books, and were called "40 et 8" (40 and 8) because the French military rated them to carry forty soldiers or eight horses.
The car is on display at Fresno Federal Post 509, 3509 N. First Street. You can see other 40 et 8 cars on the the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park, Southern Museum, Kentucky Railway Museum and the B&O Railroad Museum pages of this website.
