Western Railroad Discussion > This would look great in somebody's back yard...

This morning, Caltrans officially opened the new HOV lanes on the 7-5 mile stretch of I-215 between Riverside (60 Freeway) and San Bernardino (I-10). At mid-day, state federal and local officials held a news conference and ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the end of the $170 million project, which was funded partially by bond measures in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Railfans and railroaders alike watched last year as subcontractors for Ames Construction fabricated six steel bridges, moved them down the freeway and installed them on BNSF's busy San Bernardino Subdivision, under traffic. Today, the politicians and engineers spoke of the bridge project along with another unique aspect of the project...the railroad-themed concrete murals that line the retaining walls along this section of freeway. Caltrans designers created stylized images of a Santa Fe passenger train and a more generic view of a GE-powered stack train, along with images of mountains and agriculture that characterize the Inland Empire region of Southern California.

The whole project has been headquartered in a large lot along the east side of the freeway, just south of the Barton Road off-ramp, in the city of Grand Terrace. During the latter stages of the project, the contractor poured three extra precast sections of the retaining wall and placed them in the middle of the construction yard, for use as a backdrop during the many news conferences held by Caltrans to keep the public informed about the progress of the 26-month project. The middle and most prominent of these three sections depicts what appears to be an early EMD EA streamliner in obvious Warbonnet paint, a fitting symbol of railroading in this part of California.

So I asked what will happen to these three pieces of concrete and was told by the contractor "they will be demolished."

Imagine what that "E" unit would look like in your back yard, or at the entrance to your favorite railroad museum.

Show up with a lowboy trailer and they just might give it to you. 

1. As it looks along the freeway...the passenger train.
2. The "extra panel" that will get demolished. Ask nice...it could be yours.

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/15 20:19 by Alco251.

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Must be an E6 what with the 6 axles and square windows on the carbody.

Probably train #115.

Better yet, get access to the Mold used to make the F Unit, and re-work the mold a bit and it would prefect for the WP Museum in Portola or any where else F Units can be found

Looks more like an early "E" unit...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

E6's had a protruding headlight housing; E1's had the front glass of the headlight more or less flush with the front of the nose.  My guess is the artist was going for the latter, probably working off a 1938 publicity photo like this one:

http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Santa-Fe-Super-Chief-Train-1938-detail-Posters_i9285337_.htm

The molds are stacked like firewood about 100 feet behind this concrete wall.
 

This might make a nice yard ornament for a major LA TV station or entry to their parking lot.

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