Western Railroad Discussion > UP LA Sub track work today (and the last unpatched SP S

Today around noon, I came across a tie-replacement work train on UP's Los Angeles Sub at Spadra (MP 28 in the city of Pomona, CA). They were on the main track just west of the Temple Avenue overpass, where I got these first pictures from. On the east end of the train were UP SD60 2167 and SP 8283 - the last unpatched Espee SD40T-2. On the west end appeared to be one of Harsco F40's, perhaps the same unit that was up in San Jose last month:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1056383,1056989#msg-1056989

Interesting to watch the little cranes run the length of the train dropping off the old wood ties towards the front of the train, and picking up new concrete ties from the rear half. The train barely moved in the 30 minutes I was there, allowing for a lot of pictures. Unfortunately, my photo angle was almost into the sun.

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A close-up of the power. Unfortunately, both units had heavy doses of graffiti (more of the SP 8283 to come).

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I hiked down to track level to get closer to the train, and here's another shot of the ties on the flats.

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When I saw from the bridge that the second unit was an unpatched SD40T-2, I knew it had to be SP 8283. Unfortunately, getting close to the engine shows just how heavily it has been tagged. I saw the same unit back in November in Anaheim, and although rusty - didn't have any graffiti that I could see. Since the UP 2167 was also tagged, maybe they were both hit recently while this train was tied down. Damn taggers - I'm sure they have no idea of the historical significance of the unit.

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And another view, from the side. I believe the text below the radiator grills reads 'SICK' - which is how I felt seeing the 8283 this way.

Rich

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OMG! The locals totally attacked that SP unit, bastards!

They are marking "their" territory - and are very immature, or they
would not be doing that. Very very sad. Their scribblings look to me
like what a 2-year-old does in nursery school -only not as pretty or
positive.

Doing that to one of teh very few SP locomotives that still is unpatched
and still has proper SP Roman lettering makes it all the sadder to me. But
those overgrown toddlers just do not care.

Margaret (SP fan)

PasadenaSub Wrote:
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> Interesting to watch the little cranes run the
> length of the train dropping off the old wood ties
> towards the front of the train, and picking up new
> concrete ties from the rear half.

Sounds like that's mrs. whathisnames P-811 workin', and yes, an amazing show to watch.


TCS - smithwicks

Were the rails and the ties being replaced at the same time?

As much as I dislike patched units, I sure wish this T-2 would have gotten it (patch)before those sub-human creeps did.

KevO

She look nice this year at Caliente January 2006 so it the LA people that like to paint. The railroads don't mind the paint cans just look around at all the freight cars. Just show up with a CAMERA and they are all over you. So what gives?
Dennis

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alex14ramos Wrote:
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> OMG! The locals totally attacked that SP unit,
> bastards!


Yeah, am I the only one who keeps wondering why the rail cops are slacking off on getting theses jerks instead of harassing innocent railfans who shoot train from public property? I for one don't like the look of either unit, it be better if they both kept the usual paint instead of getting tagged all over!

ProAmtrak Wrote:
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> alex14ramos Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > OMG! The locals totally attacked that SP
> unit,
> > bastards!
>
>
> Yeah, am I the only one who keeps wondering why
> the rail cops are slacking off on getting theses
> jerks instead of harassing innocent railfans who
> shoot train from public property?

Hardly.

> it be better if they
> both kept the usual paint instead of getting
> tagged all over!

Well, duh. As usual for you, ProAmtrak, you have such an incredible grasp of the obvious.

There's always paint thinner. Quite a few SP SD40M-2's show evidence of having been tagged and then "paint-thinnered" back to respectability.

I personally haven't had a run-in with a RR cop in years. The last time I can recall talking to one was when a BNSF guy stopped by to visit one night - a decent, friendly sort. Maybe it's your attitude or you're someplace you shouldn't oughta be ?


TCS - driver carries no hash

I was wondering what was going on.

At 7 PM Sunday night, there were 3 EB manifests parked on the north main starting at CP Jack-In-The-Box and going west from there. At one point at the old City of Industy depot, the siding had a stack train parked with mostely CSX boxes, a manifest sitting on the North main and a stack sittting on the south main.

redzone Wrote:

> Well, duh. As usual for you, ProAmtrak, you have
> such an incredible grasp of the obvious.

Thanks Red for also being so obvious on making a comment like that thinking I have nothing better to do!

joemagruder Wrote:
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> Were the rails and the ties being replaced at the
> same time?


Yes, the fastners are removed, rails spread, ties removed, new ties set, and new rail placed and fastened in a single pass. Two links below for more information.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1088093

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=8245

Ron Zimmer