Nostalgia & History > Last Passenger Train on the Line?

I've been going through a lot of my old slides and prints in the effort to produce a book about my days working on the railroad. I forgot I had this one, but the circumstances came back to me after reviewing it. I made a monumental, sweaty palm decision and it worked out. There was no derailment (you can see that the track structure is not meant for high speed) of the train and I continued my career! Thought I would make this one a "Where is it/What is it" and what were the circumstances game for those who might be interested. Here's a hint: It's sometime in 1982.

Have fun!

Zephyr

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Looks like it might be the Spirit of CA on the SP Burbank branch, but wouldn't know the circumstances other than I'd would guess a derailment or washout on the mainline.

A winner on the first guess! Way to go! Yes, it's the SPRR Burbank Branch and the "Spirit of California" operating on the branch going by the Oroweat Bakery!
The detour from Chatsworth to Burbank Jct. on the Burbank Branch was prompted by a sizable derailment at Hewitt on the Coast mainline pictured below. This might have been the last time a passenger train detoured on the Burbank Branch, but I could be wrong. I was a little nervous making the decision to operate the train on the branch as it had not seen much more than a daily local for many years and was in Yard Limits (dark/restricted speed) the entire length. I breathed much easier when the "Spirit of California" re-entered the mainline near Burbank Jct.

Pete Baumhefner

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SP operating crews on the Spirit of California were based both out of LA and SLO worked between SLO and LA. LA and SLO enginemen worked to and from Santa Barabra.

That was the Smokie that went in the ditch. They stacked up on the end of the bridge as shown and it was over the Hollywood Freeway. They had the 7230 or 31 on the point into Oxnard. They made the pick up and were told to pick up a unit. To save time they put it on the point and took off. Everything was fine until they started dropping into Burbank and the air went in. The hoghead looked back and he was all by himself. The second unit had gone in the ditch and was on its side. The brakemen had gone back to that unit leaving Oxnard and other than changing his shorts, was fine.

Turned out the engine was serviced in Ogden or Roseville and had some work done on the traction motors. They forgot to put the crater oil back in and it burned the axle in two. With the engine on its side it only took a second to see what happened. Never did like those 7200-01-30-31. They were rough as a cob and when they made transition, it almost knocked you out of your seat. It wasn't a slow and easy load back, it would happen bang, even knocking the engine overspeed out on a second unit it was so hard. I am talking even at 50-60 mph. They had EMD people riding them for months and I don't think they ever figured it out.


Nudge

Nudge, thanks for filling in the blanks! I had forgotten that the "experimental" 7200s were involved. As you aptly point out, they were kind of a fixture on the Coast for quite some time up to this point. Some nice Santa Maria and Santa Clarita Valley produce went into the ballast on this one!

Pete

spnudge Wrote:
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> Never did like those 7200-01-30-31. They
> were rough as a cob and when they made transition,
> it almost knocked you out of your seat. It wasn't
> a slow and easy load back, it would happen bang,
> even knocking the engine overspeed out on a second
> unit it was so hard. I am talking even at 50-60
> mph. They had EMD people riding them for months
> and I don't think they ever figured it out.

Huh. Boy that sure sounds like something that should have been about five minutes to find and fix. If I recall correctly, when you went into transition it kicked the power back on the load controller momentarily, switched the relays, and then had a dashpot to keep from reloading too quickly. Either the air cylinder (or whatever it was) that kicked the load back wasn't working, or the dashpot wasn't working or adjusted correctly. My first guess would have been the dashpot.

lwilton Wrote:
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> spnudge Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Never did like those 7200-01-30-31. They
> > were rough as a cob and when they made
> transition,
> > it almost knocked you out of your seat. It
> wasn't
> > a slow and easy load back, it would happen
> bang,
> > even knocking the engine overspeed out on a
> second
> > unit it was so hard. I am talking even at
> 50-60
> > mph. They had EMD people riding them for months
> > and I don't think they ever figured it out.
>
> Huh. Boy that sure sounds like something that
> should have been about five minutes to find and
> fix. If I recall correctly, when you went into
> transition it kicked the power back on the load
> controller momentarily, switched the relays, and
> then had a dashpot to keep from reloading too
> quickly. Either the air cylinder (or whatever it
> was) that kicked the load back wasn't working, or
> the dashpot wasn't working or adjusted correctly.
> My first guess would have been the dashpot.


The number of people on this board with incredible technical expertise always amazes me. Regardless of the issue, somebody has seen it, and fixed it

1982. Those 7200s were part of the OALAC/LAOAC schedule. They could add units for power as they needed them. They ran in master/slave on the pig trains. By 1985, they were in hauler service in the LA Basin.

Yes you would think they would have acted some what like a regular stove did. Not these. They also had a "Rubber" truck that I thought was the cause of the rough ride.

Nudge

>Those 7200s were part of the OALAC/LAOAC schedule.

Yep, remember them well in this service - even wrote about a trip with them on the OALAC here:
http://wx4.org/to/foam/sp/eastbay/oalac/oalac.html

and also about why they wound up on the LAC's here:
http://wx4.org/to/foam/warstories/cabbage_patch/kids.html

The latter's explanation about the X's origins and use was based upon memory, so I'd appreciate any commentary about where my memory cells may have misfired.

-E.O.