Nostalgia & History > SP Train Master's at 3rd & Townsend - A few more images

Okay, I really don't want to overdo it, but I thought some of you SP heads might like just a couple more Train Masters at 3rd and Townsend.

!: Just pulling out of the depot. My old eyes can't quite make out which locomotive is heading train 136. We all can see, I'm sure, the 3029 and train 128.

2: 3021, still in charge of 126, joined by and EMD on train 124. Anyone care to venture a guess as to which locomotive that is?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/14 16:27 by drumwrencher.

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drumwrencher Wrote:
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> !: Just pulling out of the depot. My old eyes
> can't quite make out which locomotive is heading
> train 136.

It starts in 3 and ends in 2, as best I can tell. I can't say anything about the middle two digits.

Just a few more:

1: 3029 in charge of train 128.

2: A face only an SP man could love. I think...

3: Okay, one for the shopmen: 3032 at Bayshore getting some fairly heavy work. That yellow crane in the background was one of my favorite things about Bayshore: It could pick up just about anything, and it had huge tires with giant chunks of rubber missing! I suppose it replaced the massive overhead cranes lost when the backshops closed. To this day I don't know why it didn't wind up on 4 flats.

The Train Masters were brute locomotives, for their day. Dad was right: sitting next to the Alco switchers, they really did remind one of a 2-10-2 standing amongst the ten wheelers.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/14 06:59 by drumwrencher.

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>My old eyes can't quite make out which locomotive is heading train 136.

It is the 3032. Barely visible in the photo is what I call "flying number boards" on the rear of the long hood. This seems to have been a peculiarity of the 3031-3035. The lousy photo below shows these on the 3032. The other loco is the 3030, which shows the difference in heights. Modelers take note.

-E.O. Wx4.org

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hogheaded Wrote:
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> >My old eyes can't quite make out which locomotive
> is heading train 136.
>
> It is the 3032. Barely visible in the photo is
> what I call "flying number boards" on the rear of
> the long hood. This seems to have been a
> peculiarity of the 3031-3035. The lousy photo
> below shows these on the 3032. The other loco is
> the 3030, which shows the difference in heights.
> Modelers take note.
>
> -E.O. Wx4.org

Thanks, Ed. Right again, as usual. I must confess to never noticing before.

Walter

Nice catch Ed. I was just going to post the same thing.

Posted from iPhone

You can never have too many photos of TM's! When they were running, I always hasd a good excuse to visit the Bay Area.
Pete

Dang, thought TM stood for tunnel motor! =P

Nice pictures!

Cheers, Jim Fitch

>Dang, thought TM stood for tunnel motor!

Humpf - revisionist thinking.

-E.O.

> joined by an EMD on train 124. Anyone care to venture a guess as to which locomotive that is?

Why, yes, thanks. :-)

There were ultimately eleven passenger GP9s in the Commute pool: SP 3000-3010, which received new numbers in the 3100 series when rebuilt, but not in sequence.

Of those, the only units built with the little access doors underneath the otherwise sealed-from-the-outside train indicator boards were SP 3004-3007, the four "Torpedo Boats" with rooftop air tanks and larger fuel and water tanks (which can't be seen from the angle of the photo). They also all carried the large ground plane "wagon wheel" radio antenna atop the steam generator intake vent. And although it's not a hard and fast spotting feature, during the "3000s era" SP 3006 had a Mars upper oscillating headlight; the one in the photo is a Pyle-National. SP 3005 also retained its smooth passenger pilot during this era.

So that leaves SP 3004 or SP 3007 as the most likely contenders.

The steam generator exhaust seems to have an aerodynamic fairing. A feature like that was applied to a few of the GP9s, but the photos I've been able to access don't show it on either of those units during that time period. It could be the final spotting feature to determine which of the units, 3004 or 3007, are at the head end of Train 124.

That's mah best guess today!

~ BZ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/14 18:53 by Notch16.

Notch16 Wrote:
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> > joined by an EMD on train 124. Anyone care to
> venture a guess as to which locomotive that is?
>
> Why, yes, thanks. :-)
>
> There were ultimately eleven passenger GP9s in the
> Commute pool: SP 3000-3010, which received new
> numbers in the 3100 series when rebuilt, but not
> in sequence.
>
> Of those, the only units built with the access
> little doors underneath the otherwise
> sealed-from-the-outside train indicator boards
> were SP 3004-3007, the four "Torpedo Boats" with
> rooftop air tanks and larger fuel and water tanks
> (which can't be seen from the angle of the photo).
> They also all carried the large ground plane
> "wagon wheel" radio antenna atop the steam
> generator intake vent. And although it's not a
> hard and fast spotting feature, during the "3000s
> era" SP 3006 had a Mars upper oscillating
> headlight; the one in the photo is a
> Pyle-National. SP 3005 also retained its smooth
> passenger pilot during this era.
>
> So that leaves SP 3004 or SP 3007 as the most
> likely contenders.
>
> The steam generator exhaust seems to have an
> aerodynamic fairing. A feature like that was
> applied to a few of the GP9s, but the photos I've
> been able to access don't show it on either of
> those units during that time period. It could be
> the final spotting feature to determine which of
> the units, 3004 or 3007, are at the head end of
> Train 124.
>
> That's mah best guess today!
>
> ~ BZ

Damn fine work, Notch. I'm glad you stopped by TO today! I thought it might be a torpedo boat, but I didn't want to guess.

Thanks

Walter

Thanks! I know of three of the 3000-series Commute GP9s that survive:

SP 3001 (wearing its later 3194) and SP 3005 (in Black Widow colors wearing its earlier 5623) are both operable in Niles Canyon, California, under the preservation efforts of members of the Golden Gate Railroad Museum and Pacific Locomotive Association respectively.

SP 3010, possibly the ex-SP locomotive with the greatest number of career road numbers in history, at a count of eight) was at the last report I saw wearing B&O colors in tourist operations in West Virginia. Quite a distance from Bay Area Commutes, Texas locals, and the "Sacramento Daylight."

But we digress: Train Masters! The Geep's survival is a happy thing, but what a corresponding sadness that we don't have even one of those fearsome TMs in SP colors. Glad that photos and recordings exist.

~ BZ

>I know of three of the 3000-series Commute GP9s that survive:

Make that four.

-E.O.

Eureka 7-29-12

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And I know why I forgot this one. It's because the word "survive" has to be used in the rawest sense. Thanks for the reminder, sad as it is, and the adjusted tally.

~ BZ

Notch16 Wrote:
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> Thanks! I know of three of the 3000-series Commute
> GP9s that survive:
>
> SP 3001 (wearing its later 3194) and SP 3005 (in
> Black Widow colors wearing its earlier 5623) are
> both operable in Niles Canyon, California, under
> the preservation efforts of members of the Golden
> Gate Railroad Museum and Pacific Locomotive
> Association respectively.
>
> SP 3010, possibly the ex-SP locomotive with the
> greatest number of career road numbers in history,
> at a count of eight) was at the last report I saw
> wearing B&O colors in tourist operations in West
> Virginia. Quite a distance from Bay Area Commutes,
> Texas locals, and the "Sacramento Daylight."
>
> But we digress: Train Masters! The Geep's survival
> is a happy thing, but what a corresponding sadness
> that we don't have even one of those fearsome TMs
> in SP colors. Glad that photos and recordings
> exist.
>
> ~ BZ


Geeze. I really need to get more "in touch". I'm a member of both PLA and GGRM. I've seen both locomotives from "behind the scenes", and didn't have a clue how close they were to my younger days. Well, I did see a pic recently of 3194 as 3001... at Bayshore... My only excuse is, well, off the record... there's a Helluva Lotta drama going on there (Niles). I usually just help out the brush cutting crews. Great bunch of guys...

Thanks again, Notch.

Walter

hogheaded Wrote:
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> >I know of three of the 3000-series Commute GP9s
> that survive:
>
> Make that four.
>
> -E.O.
>
> Eureka 7-29-12

Jezzus H...! Where the hell in Eureka is that, and would they take a hundred bucks for it? I have a friend with a drop trailer. All we'd need is a crane, and about three days... Let me guess: it's hollow, and bums are living in it?

Thanks, Ed. Great, if sad photo.

Walter



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/14 05:50 by drumwrencher.

hogheaded Wrote:
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> >I know of three of the 3000-series Commute GP9s
> that survive:
>
> Make that four.
>
> -E.O.
>
> Eureka 7-29-12


Here's my father standing on the 3190's sister locomotive at Bayshore. Still has his flange and other measuring tools in his pocket.

Walter

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>Jezzus H...! Where the hell in Eureka is that, and would they take a hundred bucks for it? I have a friend with a drop trailer. All we'd need is a crane, and about three days... Let me guess: it's hollow, and bums are living in it?

The 3190, along with some other Geeps, is near downtown, as you can see in this Google Maps image. It's at the end on the right.

The others are SP 2872, 3779, 3857 & CCT 70.

Below the map is another shot of the 3190, which shows that she is largely intact, down to the wagon wheel antenna. The units are a homeless shelter, of sorts. While I was clicking away a drugged-out bum came up to me smiling, saying that he knew the way through the fence to get some "close-up" shots, and proceeded in an attempt to coerce me through. Yeah, right. Not this old man sans a fusee stuck in his back pocket!

-E.O.
Wx4.org

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>Here's my father standing on the 3190's sister locomotive at Bayshore. Still has his flange and other measuring tools in his pocket.


They don't make 'em like your dad anymore, Walter.

-E.O.

hogheaded Wrote:
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> >Here's my father standing on the 3190's sister
> locomotive at Bayshore. Still has his flange and
> other measuring tools in his pocket.
>
>
> They don't make 'em like your dad anymore,
> Walter.
>
> -E.O.

I have a feeling that, even though we've never met, that means a lot, coming from you, Ed. Thank you. He's still a tough act to follow. I keep thinking someday, I'll be good enough, maybe.

Walter

Say, did that backshop story do ya any good? Just wondering.

Walter