Joseph Strapac 221 pages hardcover
The El Paso & Southwestern was the largest single corporate acquisition that the Southern Pacific ever made—a century ago, when rail mergers were popular. Even though the EP&SW corporation disappeared in 1924, its steam locomotives became an active part of the Southern Pacific roster, a few lasting into the 1950s. Furthermore, the lines of the former EP&SW (from Tucson to El Paso to Tucumcari) were operated with coal fuel, requiring distinctive service facilities and specialized locomotive tenders. While Vernon Glover’s El Paso & Southwestern Railroad System explains the history of the railroad from its beginnings until 1924, this new book (effectively a second volume) carries forward the story of EP&SW's steam locomotives taken over by the SP, continuing through their final revenue service in 1959.
But wait, there's more: the Southern Pacific chose to continue coal-fired locomotive operation in the former EP&SW territory, converting many of its own 2-10-2 locomotives from oil fuel to coal, then purchasing new coal-fuel 2-8-8-4 locomotives, and finally buying secondhand 2-8-4s in the days before dieselization.
This new book takes the EP&SW locomotive story from its earliest days through the SP takeover, comprehensively illustrating the EP&SW fleet as it served the SP for nearly thirty years, all the way to final dieselization and beyond to preservation efforts on the three surviving steam engines.
