The cow-catchers were often made from old boiler tubes.

The internet is an amazing resource. This photo shows the same locomotive in 1938 (before the safety device was installed) looking like it was freshly shopped.

Surfing around you can see this class of locomotives was manufactured by Baldwin from 1919 to 1923 and they lasted until the 1950s.

I guess I'm just a sentimentalist, but it's sad to think that these behemoths were cut up for scrap.

The control mechanism applies the brakes if the train is going faster than the trackside signal permits. What's in the photo is the speed sensor which tells the control mechanism if the locomotive is going too fast.

That is a component of the “Automatic Train Stop” system that was in service for decades on the ATSF Railway and it successor, BNSF. Lineside signals are actuated by current in the rails; that apparatus would detect a change in the frequency of the signal current, and warn the engineer to slow the train if they were approaching a signal with a more restrictive indication.

When I think of a generic steam locomotive, the 3400 class Pacific Type (usually passenger) is what I envision.

#3438: 4-6-2 wheel configuration, Baldwin #56770 built 1923, rebuilt Topeka June 1936, scrapped 3-10-52. Cyl 25 in dia x 28 in stroke. 79 in driver dia. 326200 pounds, 220 psi, 41400 tractive effort. For some reason, she did not get thermic syphons, while her sisters did.

Her stall mate #3?? is a mystery. At first I thought the stall mate not AT&SF and wrote a short reason with possible explanations, mainly contract repairs. But upon closer examination, might it be one of the splits of the converted 4-4-6-2 mallet #1398? It has all the indications: High mounted cylinders, high mounted head light, old style round number plate, foreshortened boiler, unusual smaller older front coupler, and unusual foot boards & steps. The missing "1" on the number plate is explained by bead of plate hiding the numeral "1".

I believe Delano might have captured a hen's tooth!!! If correct, it is the rarest of the rare.

Mallet 1398 was built by Baldwin as an unusual 4-4-6-2 type in 1909 with 73 inch drivers for passenger service; the largest drivers applied to a Mallet to that time. In 1915, #1398 was split into 2 separate Pacific type locomotives: #1398 & #1399. They were the only members of their class. Both of these locos were on property through 1949.

Finally, it is hard to precisely determine the locomotive number. I am guessing it #1398 after turning my head, Fred Sanfording glasses, squinting, embiggening, and trying to catch it out of the corner of my eye.

What exactly does the control mechanism do?