Nostalgia & History > Amtrak Train #5 at Stege with SP FP7 #6451 Jan. 1974

New motive power was on the way in the form of the ill fated SDP40F's, but in January of 1974 it was still a combination of SP FP7's and UP E9's powering the Westbound San Francisco Zephyr at Stege in Richmond. Richard Nixon was still clinging to the Presidency but he would be gone before the #6451 would make its final trip.

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I looked at the Subject Line before I clicked the post, guessed Richard Nixon, and... I was right!

Yup...I'm sure others guessed the same thing.

norm1153 Wrote:
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> I looked at the Subject Line before I clicked the
> post, guessed Richard Nixon, and... I was right!

Good ol "Tricky Dick" Nixon...

Why bother?

A vintage Zephyr and a location I recognize well. Pre Interstate 580, with just Hoffman Blvd. running just along side the tracks. A rusty waterside drill, unlike the today's rails, which get polished by frequent Richmond Pacific RR use. Santa Fe still had their Oakland District and would not begin rolling thru Stege on SP tracks until 1979.

Pretty wild consist, Fall and Winter is my Passenger Train season. What domes does this train have? Would the FP-7 be added at Reno?
What was the last train Tricky Dick rode on? Suspect it was the City of LA.

SP 3/4 home shop dome and the Fs were added between Oakland and Sparks

The home built dome, at least in the early days of Amtrak, was running thru to at least Denver as I have photos of it arriving on #6 (or maybe it was still 102). For several years, one of the old articulated Daylight cars was added at Sparks for the "shorts" as Oakland to Reno (or Sparks) passengers were called. I don't ever recall seeing a dome added at Sparks although that was the norm for the FP's.

drew1946 Wrote:
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> The home built dome, at least in the early days of
> Amtrak, was running thru to at least Denver as I
> have photos of it arriving on #6 (or maybe it was
> still 102). For several years, one of the old
> articulated Daylight cars was added at Sparks for
> the "shorts" as Oakland to Reno (or Sparks)
> passengers were called. I don't ever recall seeing
> a dome added at Sparks although that was the norm
> for the FP's.

I think Drew is correct. The "3/4" domes were in an Oakland-Denver cycle at that time. Bob