When I first visited, Southern Pacific Class T-31 #2355 was on display in Pioneer Park in Mesa, AZ, behind high steel fencing and appeared to be in deteriorating condition. However, since then, a group of local enthusiasts and city employees banded together to restore the engine and relocate it to a more conducive display area in the southwest corner of Pioneer Park. The restored locomotive is now an outstanding testament to their hard work and dedication.
#2355 is one of ten Ten Wheeler type (4-6-0) locomotives built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1912 for the SP (#2353-#2362). Designed for lighter freight and passenger trains, they typically hauled commuter trains, their good traction allowing them to readily accelerate from the many stops.
#2355 worked mainly in the SP’s western divisions. It hauled a Railroad Club of Southern California excursion from Anaheim, CA, down the SP’s Santa Anna Branch to Tustin and back on 2nd May 1954 and spent its last years on the SP’s Los Angeles Division on local switching and freight.
#2355 weighs 208,000 lbs, 162,000 lbs on its 63” drivers and is 41’ in length. The driver wheelbase is 13’ 10” and the engine wheelbase 25’ 10”. With a 32 sq ft grate and 230 sq ft firebox, it has a total heating surface of 2,894 sq ft including 467 sq ft superheating (an early example of an engine built with superheating, rather than being converted later in its life).
An oil burner originally operating at a boiler pressure of 200 psi delivering 36,570 lbs tractive effort, this was later raised to 210 psi with a 5% increase in tractive effort to 38,400 lbs.
#2355 is equipped with Walschaert valve gear and has 22” x 28” cylinders.
The Vanderbilt 120-C-1 Class tender was
mated to #2355 in the early 1920s. It weighs 89,900 lbs light and has a 4,000 gallon oil and 20,000 gallon water capacity.
Only one other Southern Pacific Class T-31 locomotive has survived, # 2353. You can see photos of it on the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum page of this website.
You can also see another surviving SP
4-6-0 on the SP T-1 #2252 page.
After forty-five years service, during which it clocked up several million miles, #2355 was
retired in 1957 and went into storage in SP’s Bayshore yard just south of the City of San Francisco waiting to be scrapped. Fortunately, it was spared the torch and given to the City of Mesa, AZ. A dedication ceremony was held at Pioneer Park on 12th April 1958, where it has sat ever since.
Below, two very information panels detail the locomotive’s history and provide explanations of its various features.
Left, #2355 before work started on restoration.
Above and right, restoration work included removal of asbestos cladding, rebuilding the cab, tender catwalk and
boiler jacket, and repainting to match the original livery and lettering.
