Nostalgia & History > SP's TE70-4S's in Oregon

An earlier thread showed these colorful units in their prime. Here are 3 photos of them after moving to Oregon and working in different capacaties for SP. When up here they were not as reliable as they had been. It seems at least one or two of the units was always in the shop for repairs. I have other photos of one and sometimes 2 of the units sitting on the garden tracks next to the Eugene shops waiting to be worked on and fixed, again and again. It was rare to see all four units working and together. Thankfully I do have a few photos of those occasions. (But not this time.)

First shot is the 7033 - 7032 and 7030 lead a train of about 70 cars toward Eugene at Irving siding. Probably a train from Brooklyn or the ALEUY. (Train from UP's Albina yard to Eugene.

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Here are SP units 7032 - 9213 and 9263 heading for the service track after bringing a train into Eugene from Klamath Falls.

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Here is the 7030 with 7033 - 4389 and 8997 coming into service track lead after use as helpers on the Cascade line. They seemed to be parked next to the Eugene diesel shop for 2 or 3 years after they took them out of service...... C.C.Chas.

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Nice shots Charlie. Thanks! - Tony J.

Nice photos, I missed these by a few years. Did they work all over the Oregon Division mainline or where? I understood they stayed on the Portland to Eugene trains. The front photo certainly shows the weld line between the U25 cab and the 'new' look.

All 4 engines are hiding in Oakland CA about mp10 on the old WP next to a loading dock of a wearhouse.

uprrman156

uprrman156 Wrote:
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> All 4 engines are hiding in Oakland CA about mp10
> on the old WP next to a loading dock of a
> wearhouse.


Since I work a mere block away form this storage location, the latest unconfirmed rumor is that they have been cut up and scrapped on site at GE Captial's old storage yard site between East 14th (International Blvd) and East 12th (San Leandro Blvd) here at 54th street in East Oakland. I have not been able to make visual confirmation of this yet but about 6 months ago I talked to the GE Capital head cheese (our backyard neighbor) and he said this was the plan since UP was not going to put in the switch spur track off of the old WP Oakland Sub /SP industry drill track. No one was willing to pay to move the things by truck including the current owner who - the same guy that bought them years ago with the intention to use their Sulzer engines for tugboat power. Tried to stir up some museum donation talk but the owner wanted some crazy amount for them and wouldn't bring the number down, even for a partial tax write-off. Forgot which specific website they were being listed on as for sale btu that was pulled off a while ago too with no potential buyers coming forward. So, looks like I should go contact the GE Captial guy or go do some of my own investigating (aka paying off the security guard next door to go see it for myself!)


-Ryan aka "espeeboy"
on the ex-WP Oakland Sub MP11.2

That would be a shame if that rumor is true - I was hoping one would wind up in a museum somewhere. Let us know if you're able to confirm/deny whether or not they're gone.

PE - souvenir hunter

espeeboy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> uprrman156 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > All 4 engines are hiding in Oakland CA about
> mp10
> > on the old WP next to a loading dock of a
> > wearhouse.
>
>
> Since I work a mere block away form this storage
> location, the latest unconfirmed rumor is that
> they have been cut up and scrapped on site at GE
> Captial's old storage yard site between East 14th
> (International Blvd) and East 12th (San Leandro
> Blvd) here at 54th street in East Oakland. I have
> not been able to make visual confirmation of this
> yet but about 6 months ago I talked to the GE
> Capital head cheese (our backyard neighbor) and he
> said this was the plan since UP was not going to
> put in the switch spur track off of the old WP
> Oakland Sub /SP industry drill track. No one was
> willing to pay to move the things by truck
> including the current owner who - the same guy
> that bought them years ago with the intention to
> use their Sulzer engines for tugboat power. Tried
> to stir up some museum donation talk but the owner
> wanted some crazy amount for them and wouldn't
> bring the number down, even for a partial tax
> write-off. Forgot which specific website they were
> being listed on as for sale btu that was pulled
> off a while ago too with no potential buyers
> coming forward. So, looks like I should go contact
> the GE Captial guy or go do some of my own
> investigating (aka paying off the security guard
> next door to go see it for myself!)
>
>
> -Ryan aka "espeeboy"
> on the ex-WP Oakland Sub MP11.2

uuu.. boy.. that's bad news if true, but someone this weekend said they just saw the TE70s the other day off of BART, so maybe just maybe they are visible again? Can any of you BART riders confirm whether you can see the TE70s (just south of the Fruitvale Station on the "hill"/east side of the tracks north of the water tower.)

Cheers,
Harry

I grew up in Oakridge and I saw these engines many times.
Sure would hate to think that they were gone forever

Next .... We'll be reading that Ryan is in jail ... and he'll be asking for donations for his bail!

Take Care, Stay Safe, Have fun!

Larry

Harry,
Yes, it was less than a month ago riding nb on Bart that I spotted the units. I thought at first my eyes were deceiving me as I wasn't aware they still existed. I later drove to the site where I thought they were located, but possibly because of fences, buildings, etc. I never found them. They looked complete, but with only the quick view out of the Bart window I couldn't swear to anything. It would seem a waste not to be able to save at least one of the unique locos.

Walt

Having only recently moved to the bay area from SoCal I am reminded that Bart doesn't exist, it is BART. I'm working to get my bay area terminology to a more socially acceptable status.

These units did seem to end up doing the Eugene/Portland runs quite often. They did run on the Siskiyou branch and the Cascade line too as either head end units and/or in helper service. I have quite a few photos of them mostly on the garden tracks at Eugene or (when running) doing the Eugene/Brooklyn/Albina jobs. Somewhere in my reel-to-reel tape collection I have a recording or two of them.

C.C.Chas.

sploopconductor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Next .... We'll be reading that Ryan is in jail
> ... and he'll be asking for donations for his
> bail!
>
> Take Care, Stay Safe, Have fun!



Errr, so Larry, if I take you advice and "Stay Safe" then I won't go do my private "Popsicle" investigation but if I instead go to try to "Have Fun" with the Posicles then indeed I might be sending out some messages from jail...

When was hat SP paint scheme used. I do not recall seeing it before?

Jim

Chooch Wrote:
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> When was hat SP paint scheme used. I do not recall
> seeing it before?
>
> Jim

It was applied just to those units in March 1978, and also briefly to SP C-50-10 Caboose #1. The TE70s were never repainted, and were only scrapped a couple of years ago.

Cheers,
Harry