Railroaders' Nostalgia > Mad Dog Chronicle #305.1 SP Steam Operations 1960 to 1996

I had very little to do with the operation of the American Freedom Train.  In fact I am not sure the I actually saw it in operation.
(Its operation has been covered in multiple posts by Boiling Man on this discussion group)
My first actual involvement with the 4449 was when we derailed it on the lead to the West Oakland Diesel Shop while I was Superintendent of the Western Division some time in either 1981 or 1982.  During this period operation of any steam locomotive on the SP probably required the authority of the Vice President of Operations.  I do not think even a General Manager had the authority to approve steam operations.  It may well have come from the Chairman, himself, at that time Ben Biaggini.  It was during the time that I was Division Superintendent that restoration to operation  of the 2467 and the 2472 began.
Starting in the fall of 1988 I had become the Assistant Vice President of Operations, working first for W J Lacy and then for Ken Moore.
Now special train operations on the SP System became one of my many assignments.  K A Moore was made VPO by Phil Anschutz.
PFA changed the SP policy on the operation of steam on the SP and opened the gate.

Durring the time that I was the AVPO 4449 made numerous trips between Portland, the SF BayArea and the LA Basin. More frequently on the Coast line,  The Adopt a Branch trip discussed in MDC #304 went South on the Coast and North over the Mojave and Fresno subs.  I rode it between Bakersfield and Fresno.  That was when the soda ash train ran away on the East side of the Palmdale Colton cutoff.  I got to tell KAM about that when he took my place on the Special.  Lloyd Simpson, the Western Region General Manager, who was also on that train got sent to San Bernardino.  I drove KAM's car back to HQ in San Francisco.


First the 2472 and then the 2467 began making trips in the SF Bay Area.
The SSW 819 began what, for a while, became annual trips between Pine Bluff, Ak and Tyler, Tx.

(to be continued in MDC # 305.2)
 



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/15 20:11 by mdo.

Anyone have a description of what DJR or BFB really thought about active Steam for public display? Was it simply old junk to removed in favor of new equipment?

They seem to have tolerated a number of Tour events, some pretty amazing schedules including the old route to the Modoc.

While at Ozol, had first [and only, sigh] steam cab ride, in 2467 between Ozol and Emeryville, run by Errol Ohman.

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R.I.P Errol Ohman

Well Jack, like the rest of us at SP, you kept your interest in railroading & steam very quiet. I was given the offer to ride the relatively secret Dixieland Jazz Express in 1989 but turned down the offer lest I be found out to have no business on board and be dropped off in some miserable, isolated location between Bahia and Suisun. Here's a distant photo I took on the approach to the Martinez Bridge with the train running as #248 in the number boards. 

My better photos of that train, pulled by the 4449, are in the hands of Trainorders member tighttrains who is working on a book to be published by the Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society. I expect he will include more information about that train, how no tickets were ever sold and why the security around it was so high.

Sorry this is not crisp. It's from a postage stamp sized piece of a 3 x 5 print. 

JGFuller Wrote:
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> While at Ozol, had first steam cab ride, in 2467
> between Ozol and Emeryville, run by Errol Ohman.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/15 23:05 by Westbound.

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almost every time any steam engine came to Oakland or was moved around Errol was the engineer in the seventies ,eighrties nineties   the main two were the4449, 2472 i enjoyed being on the crew  with Erroll    16street station around the wye bye the wash rack and the dieseal shop we moved a couple other, engines   , i was on the footboard going across towards the shop and a new trainmaster karl duboise ,came up and said you can,t ride on the front,  and i said i,m under steam rules. and he said OH. didn,t know.   :}     ED T

That would have been Carl Dubose, who was a pretty much a by-the-rules kind of guy and what I call a straight shooter. He was not old enough to have seen steam except as a child. Several years later he went back on his seniority, working as a switchman in Portland, Oregon. He was killed there while working, but I never heard the details of what happened.

groundhog Wrote:
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> almost every time any steam engine came to Oakland
> or was moved around Errol was the engineer in the
> seventies ,eighrties nineties   the main two
> were the4449, 2472 i enjoyed being on the crew 
> with Erroll    16street station around the wye
> bye the wash rack and the dieseal shop we moved a
> couple other, engines   , i was on the footboard
> going across towards the shop and a new
> trainmaster karl duboise ,came up and said you
> can,t ride on the front,  and i said i,m under
> steam rules. and he said OH. didn,t know.  
> :}     ED T

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Anyone have a description of what DJR or BFB
> really thought about active Steam for public
> display? Was it simply old junk to removed in
> favor of new equipment?
>
> They seem to have tolerated a number of Tour
> events, some pretty amazing schedules including
> the old route to the Modoc.

DJR established a firm policy of NO steam operations, period after the last run of the 4460 in 1958, and the retirement of steam on the narrow gauge between Keeler and Laws in 1960 (?). Donations to cities and counties but move them off of SP property.
No operations. Period.  BFB stuck to that policy until the American Freedom Train operations.  

I know of no other exceptions.

Michael: Jack   Whelihan Hot Water asked you why you hated the 4449'steam program and Margaret asked you the same question on Facebook and you have not replied to either.   I have heard your rationale and think you  should share it with everyone.  You make some very valid points.  Enough with evasions!  :-)
C

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

Carol,
I thought that a little history and some background information would help to understand.
Now see MDC # 305.2.          When I am done writing it on asbestos paper.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/15 06:36 by mdo.

mdo Wrote:
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> Carol,
> I thought that a little history and some
> background information would help to understand.
> Now see MDC # 305.2.          When I am done
> writing it on asbestos paper.

Writing on paper???  You also gonna send it by pony express??  :-)
C

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

Can't wait!!

Still waiting for the next installment.

As a child my Dad took me down to Fisherman's Wharf in SF to see both the Flying Scotsman and Royal Hudson tours. I believe these were both in the early to mid 70's and predates the Freedom Train operations?

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