Nostalgia & History > WAG Wednesday: Dear Bill Gibson...

…Anaheim – Feb 18

Bill -
"Have been concentrating on trains 23 & 24. It hasn’t been 100% PA’s by a long shot. This is #23 on Feb. 3 near Prado Dam. Almost dropped the camera when I saw 102 come around the bend. The original of this is a Kodachrome slide. Some train these days…"

Clayton

1. Photo post card image of AT&SF 102 on train #23 near Prado Dam in California on February 3, 1968.

2. Photo post card message on reverse.
(Photo & message by Mr. Clayton C. Tinkham, long time railfan friend of William A. Gibson Sr.)

Mail call!
Lance Garrels (santafe199)
Art Gibson (wag216)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/22 21:37 by santafe199.

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Love it!

Andy

That was probably a very rare catch. This spot it where three main tracks reduce to two main tracks today. Have climbed that hill a few times as there is a Jack n the Box, a Carls Jr and a KFC up to the right.
JB

At least two other photos exist of 102 on short trains in Southern California on 2/3/68. Page 94 of Santa Fe: Railroad Gateway to the American West v.1 shows the same two-car train coming down Cajon Pass (described as a "special train"), and p.27 of Cajon: A Pictorial Album shows 102 climbing Cajon with a three car train (described as "the last remnant of the GRAND CANYON.") I don't have a timetable covering February 1968 - anybody know if No.24 left L.A. early enough to be on Cajon in daylight?

I bet the passengers felt like they were in a rocket ship when they left the station! I doubt they had any trouble staying on schedule that day. Great photo, love those FP45s!
Sean in Lacon IL

Posted from Android

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't have a timetable covering February 1968 -
> anybody know if No.24 left L.A. early enough to
> be on Cajon in daylight?

I have a condensed passenger time table issued February 18, 1968
which shows #24 Grand Canyon ..
LV Los Angeles 1:15pm
LV Riverside 2:45pm
LV San Bernardino 3:18pm
AR Barstow 5:20pm (Meal Stop)
LV Barstow 6:10pm
LV Needles 10:55pm

peddler



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/14 22:39 by peddler.

peddler Wrote:
> I have a condensed passenger time table issued
> February 18, 1968 which shows #24 Grand Canyon...

> Evan_Werkema Wrote: I don't have a timetable covering February 1968
> anybody know if No.24 left L.A. early enough to be on Cajon in daylight?


Er, um guys, just some FYI: Mr. Tinkham writes in his post card that the photo in question is of #23, not #24...

:^/

The ICC let them discontinue The Chief, but they had to keep the Grand Canyon. Is that what we are seeing here? Lance, how hard would it be to colorize the nose of that unit with Photoshop? Not that the B&W doesn't look good.

mp51w Wrote:
> ...how hard would it be to colorize the nose of that unit...

Probably 12 miles above my Photoshop abilities. Clayton did say in hos post card:
"The original of this is a Kodachrome slide."
Maybe I'll run across a copy of it later, in Art's massive collection...

Lance

santafe199 Wrote:

> Er, um guys, just some FYI: Mr. Tinkham writes in
> his post card that the photo in question is of
> #23, not #24...

Right. I was asking about 24's schedule in relation to the photo on p.27 of Cajon: A Pictorial Album, which shows 102 powering an eastbound on Cajon the same day Tinkham shot it on a westbound. Basically, I've got one book caption that claims 102 was powering a westbound special on 2/3/68, one that claims it was on eastbound Tr.24 that day, and Tinkham's post card saying it was on westbound Tr.23. I'm just trying to confirm that the schedule of 23 and 24 into and out of Los Angeles would allow the same locomotive to power both trains in daylight over Cajon.

Evan_Werkema Wrote:

> ...I'm just trying to confirm that the schedule of 23 and 24 into and out of Los
> Angeles would allow the same locomotive to power both trains in daylight over Cajon.

Ah...gotcha. I was thinking more in terms that Mr. Tinkham (Clayton, whom I've never met) might have gotten the wrong day for his shot, but your comparison of #23's schedule against #24's makes sense now. What little of Clayton's photography I've scanned from within the Gibson collection seems to have the same attention to accuracy that Bill's does. In 3 years of scanning I've only caught Bill in a couple of minor 'typo' sort of errors in his information & ID system. Art might be able to chime in here, but I get the sense that this kind of 'hyper' accuracy was a source of pride for several of the 'gang' from Bill's generation: Clayton Tinkham, Howard Killam, Frank O. Kelley & Marion Perrin to name a quick few.

Lance



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/14 10:18 by santafe199.

...
Train #23
LV Needles 3:40am
AR Barstow 7:00am (Meal Stop)
LV Barstow 7:45am
LV San Bernardino 9:55am
LV Riverside 10:25am
AR Los Angeles 12:10pm
...
Train #24
LV Los Angeles 1:15pm
LV Riverside 2:45pm
LV San Bernardino 3:18pm
AR Barstow 5:20pm (Meal Stop)
LV Barstow 6:10pm
LV Needles 10:55pm

peddler



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/14 22:25 by peddler.