Nostalgia & History > SP GP9 "Torpedo Boat" #3190 at SSF April 1985

SP "Torpedo Boat" (so named due to the air tanks on top of the long hood) #3190 is pulling out of the South San Francisco station and passing under the now gone signal bridge. The locomotive was originall #5625,then 3007, before becoming #3197. It is currently rusting away in Eureka on the old NWP awaiting a call to duty that will probably never come. It is pulling train #41 which, when it was #141 was the San Jose to San Francisco continuation of the Del Monte.

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Nice photo. When did the bridge come down?

This is an updated photo of the bridge (2005). They removed the H2 signals and replaced them with the three color light signals. The mounting posts for the old signals are still visible. Far as I know, the bridge is alive and well. I'll be by that location soon and I'll check...

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Dan, Thanks for that information. I don't recall why I thought it was gone but obviously it isn't. It has been several years since I have taken any photos around there.

You aren't confusing that one with the one in Brisbane? That one is gone.

The no-DB aspect of this unit (and its bretheren) has me wondering whether it mattered to the old head hoggers on the commute jobs if they had dynamic or not. My limited knowledge of trainhandling suggests that getting a good spot at the depot was mostly a matter of using the automatic . . . did the dynamic, or lack thereof, even come into play?

Thank you for any info, eljay