Nostalgia & History > SP #3189 leading Permanente in San Jose

SP GP9 3189 is leading the outbound Permanente in April of 1988. It is alongside Southwest Expressway, a section of the right of way now shared with the local light rail.

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Interesting, I thought that all of the GP's had Dynamics.

KevO

There was a SSW GP-7 without dynamics as well as four (I think) GP-9 locomotives in the SF commute pool that came without DB.

drew1946 Wrote:
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> SP GP9 3189 is leading the outbound Permanente in
> April of 1988. It is alongside Southwest
> Expressway, a section of the right of way now
> shared with the local light rail.

Great shot, however I believe this to be in Campbell along Railway Avenue due to the "siding"
next to the train. There was a short siding there, no siding(s) along Southwest Expressway.

Top Cat

yeah I think you are right, the buildings on the right made me think of the old real estate board office and thus SW Exp.

I thought that the four GP9-Ps with elevated air tanks were orignally used in Texas on the T&NO locals before moving to the Commute Pool.

The GP-9 commute fleet was an odd bunch; some lacked D/B and most, if not all, had dual controls - thus 'wings' on both ends. I don't ever recall seeing any photos of these locomotives shot in Texas local service. A photo of a commute GP-9 on the the Sunset, running behind an E unit, but not hauling freight in Texas.

espee99 Wrote:

> I thought that the four GP9-Ps with elevated air
> tanks were orignally used in Texas on the T&NO
> locals before moving to the Commute Pool.

T&NO had their own passenger GP9's, with db. In fact, they got GP9's before parent SP did. After T&NO passenger service ended, some of these came west to join the commute pool, while others were converted to freight units.

The 3189 was originally SP 5623, now privately owned and located on the Niles Canyon Railway. Part-owner Howard Wise has written up the unit's history as part of a comprehensive website on the unit: http://www.trainweb.org/sp5623/history.htm Looks like the unit worked first in Oregon, not Texas, before moving to California.

Re Oregon: I know that in the later years SP often tried to bring locomotives into service up there for tax reasons; apparently California took a sizeable bite if they went into service in California. Wonder if that is why it started out in Oregon?

I notice that SP locomotives always have an abundant amount of headlights on the front of their locomotives. Why is this so? When I review other railroad locomotives they always seem to get by with the headlights that are supplied by the OM. Would someone tell me why SP installed so many headlights?

Jim
Hatboro, PA