Nostalgia & History > few for Flare Friday . . .

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​top: One of the dangers of taking photos of trains on the railroad which you work is being recognized by fellow employees and the occasional prank such as this eastbound "Extra Harbor" passing through Harbor City, CA with the first two rebuilt SD45B's on the Santa Fe. The conductor was about to "moon" me big time. I posted a closer more detailed photo many moons ago that was received with mixed reaction so I will stick with this further away shot taken in MAR '84. For a time these rebuilds and repaints were run as an A-B-B-A set of 45's but apparently one of the 45's developed a problem being replaced with a like HP U36C. This was one of the longest trains I have ever seen on the Harbor as it was originally to go to the port of Long Beach and pick up an empty Koppel Bulk empty grain train but Watson yard had them stop on the return and pick up an additional forty or so cars of freight making this a hundred and thirty plus car train which back in those days was quite a train!
​middle: An eastbound SP train with an SSW flare leading was climbing through San Timotao Canyon toward the top of Beaumont Pass in Southern CA 11-72.
​bottom: A recently painted flare was at UP's East Los Angeles yard in MAY '74.
​JB



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/16 06:46 by 3rdswitch.

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Outstanding trio JB!  That first consist needs to be modeled.

Steve Zahn
Glenview, IL

 

Those ATSF SD45's were interesting.  That UP #46 looks like one of the SD45's assigned to the joint UP/D&RGW Kaiser Fontana coal trains; originally 4 digit numbers but rer-numbered to 2 digits to make way for more numbers for the SD40-2's.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

Thanks JB,

Interesting story of hijinks on the Santa Fe, but that SP photo is gorgeous.

Do you notice the weather shifting cooler yet?

Tim Costello

Yes, from high eighties to mid seventies.
JB
 

 Thanks for a very nice selection, JB.  The A-B-B-A SD45 set was a real catch.

-Greg

E25 Wrote:
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> The A-B-B-A SD45 set was a real catch.

The fourth unit is a GE U36C.
Mark