I was reading one of the Baldwin books and in it they said that the #3460 was dubbed the Mae West, I'v always heard it refered to as the Blue Goose . anyone else heard of it being called the Mae West?
jim

Well, when you look at the front of the engine and you look at the front of Mae West.............................. hock:

It's probably the same reason they call the life vest that flyers wore during World War 2 a Mae West.....you pull the cords and almost instantly you're like...................Mae West!!!! hock:

As I recall, "Blue Goose" is an apocryphal nickname. I can't recall the historic nickname. Bluebird I think...

The only name I've ever heard for it is the "Blue Goose." One of my biggest frustrations with the Santa Fe is that with all of the Santa Fe locomotives that were saved from scrappers for display, I think the Blue Goose should have been at the top of the list. It should have been restored to it's original as built configuration and donated to a railroad museum somewhere. The other locomotive that I would have liked to see restored would have been one of the 2 Pacific types that were semi-streamlined and painted for the Valley Flyer. Those two Pacifics were the direct ancestor to the famous Santa Fe Warbonnet paint scheme.

I found an article on it:

"The bluebird that pulled the Chief
Trains, January 1953 page 52
Famous steam locomotives; Santa Fe 3460 "

And a 1985 article on her:

"Blue Goose and kin
Trains, June 1985 page 20
Santa Fe's Hudsons "

From poking around the web a little, she seems to have definitely been the "blue bird" at least part of her career, possibly "blue goose" amongst railfans in the later years. I suspect that the 1953 article would be the most accurate source to settle when she became the "blue goose" as the title clearly states that she was the "bluebird".

The "Mae West" nickname also shows up around the web, as a reference to her 84" drivers.