FL9

I was on the verge of switching to another railroad today, but then TXAggie’s pro-SP comment came in for yesterday’s post, so we’ll stick with scarlet and grey for a day or two longer.  Back home in Texas from our stint in California, I’m standing at the Cotton Belt / M-K-T diamond in Carrollton after dark in 1973 as the local train to Hodge Yard in Fort Worth is just leaving on its nocturnal journey.  At the time I had a Braun strobe capable of illuminating the scene with a single flash, and it came in handy for this action shot of a GE U25B.

Six years later in 1979 as I was following the Cotton Belt between Tyler and Texarkana, I paused in Naples to photograph this fast-moving westbound train powered by two clean SD40T-2’s with an SW-1500 in between.  Can you make out the tiny station sign even with the middle unit?

I’m glad today is Friday, but after several days of beautiful weather, naturally rain is forecast for the weekend.

Up until 1876 the Tehachapi Mountains acted as a barrier keeping the tracks of the Central Pacific in northern California from reaching further south towards Los Angeles.  A through route over the 4,000-foot Tehachapi Pass was completed that year, and close to the summit on the north side of the pass the track was built to loop over itself to climb the last 80 feet without exceeding the specified 2.2% grade.

First up on 2/23/72 we see a northbound train led by an EMD SD9 heading downgrade around the loop and into the tunnel under the mainline as the rear end of the same train is passing directly behind where I am standing.

Later that same day I am shooting from a spot a few feet to the left of the previous photo as a heavily-powered southbound train led by an SD39 is slogging its way uphill.  The rear end is still passing throught the tunnel behind and below my position.

Back in 1972 this was still one of those locations you could railfan freely from almost any spot so long as you used common sense.  Today it is still one of the busiest pieces of freight railroad in the United States, but train watching is confined to certain areas.

I dredged up two final shots from the San Francisco to San Jose Peninsula commuter service in 1972 for today’s post.  In addition to the FM Trainmasters, SP had a small group of steam boiler equipped GP9’s for passenger service.  Trainmaster #3020 is seen here in the company of GP9 #3004 at the engine house in San Jose on 2/25/72 under overcast skies.

GP9 #3004 was renumbered from its original #5622, and was delivered without dynamic brakes and the air reservoirs mounted on the roof to make room for a single 1100-gallon fuel and two 600-gallon water tanks underneath.  The noticeable relocation of the air tanks earned units like the #3004 the nickname of “Torpedo Boats.”  Later in the day with the sun now making an appearance, we see #3004 coupled up to a train in the San Jose depot.

With its roof-mounted air tanks, mars light packages, and wagon-wheel radio antenna, this would be a great unit to model!

And by the title this time I mean the locomotive and not the supervisor.  During the same family vacation to California in February of 1972, my parents dropped me off to spend the morning at the Millbrae depot on the peninsula commuter line between San Francisco and San Jose.  At the time the motive power for these commuter runs were aging Fairbanks-Morse H-24-66 Trainmasters supplemented by a handful of newer EMD GP9’s and SDP45’s.  Here we see Trainmaster #3027 coming into the depot at Millbrae at 8:55am with Train #114 from San Francisco to San Jose showing in the number boards.

The 2400-horsepower six-axle Trainmasters were touted by FM to be the ”world’s most powerful locomotives” when they were introduced early in 1953, and indeed they offered rapid acceleration and great tractive effort.  This made them ideal for multiple-stop commuter service, such as that offered on SP lines around San Francisco.  Unfortunately they never caught on in freight service as much as EMD’s products such as the SD24 introduced later in 1953, and eventually FM exited the locmotive business.

I rode one train down to San Jose and back that morning, and indeed the acceleration was great enough to press you back in your seat.  The sound of their opposed piston engines made you feel like you were riding behind a prop-driven WWII fighter plane instead of a locomotive.  Also on the subject of sound, this was my first large-scale exposure to the beautiful Nathan M5 horns these units carried right up front on the short hood, and greatly influenced my later decision to purchase one for my personal horn collection.