Western Railroad Discussion > F-units working in California

What do you do on a balmy December Sunday in 2012? Why, go to Santa Cruz, CA and chase F-units of course. On Sunday Dec. 9, 2012 Iowa Pacific F-units are running on the Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay's Train to Christmastown.

Seriously, this is the second annual NorCal EMD Wagon holiday renaissance. Last year it was the WP F-unit and SP E-unit brought to run the Polar Express in Sacramento. I can hardly wait to see what is in store for next year!

Photo One: Train leaving the boardwalk at about 2:45 pm.

Photos two and three: Iowa Pacific F9PHA SC 1102 (Ex WCRC 84) is working Sunday afternoon, Dec. 9, 2012 on the Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay's Train to Christmastown at the intersection of California and Bay Streets in Santa Cruz, CA.

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Photos four and five: Iowa Pacific F9PHA SC 1101 (Ex WCRC 82) on Sunday Dec. 9, 2012 is trailing on the Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay's Train to Christmastown at the intersection of California and Bay Streets in Santa Cruz, CA.

Information, stories, suggestions, comments and/or corrections are appreciated.

~Steve Sloan

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fantastic photos

Great shots! Amazing how this paint job can make Santa Cruz look like some place in the deep south rather than a California coastal town.

I see they got some 3? chime horns mounted to those puppies.

A little hard to tell but they look like Airchime K3s of some sort.

Gary

That plow really needs to come off and be replaced with a proper one.

Didn't these start off as GM&O or perhaps B&O units that were "commuterized" by MBTA? Pittsburgh perhaps?

John Gezelius
Tustin, CA

Nice shots, Steve! I wonder how many years (decades?) it's been since there was a pair of "F" units on this line...

Is the trailing F-unit manned? Is it acting as a DPU or is it just idling with the control stand cut out?

Great set of photos, Steve.

I'm planning on doing something similar with the late afternoon departure on Friday, 12/28. It appears the train moves slow enough that you were able to get ahead of him on Bay Street. Is there metered parking close to the bridge where you took your first picture?

Thanks,

Rich



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/12 15:16 by PasadenaSub.

Thank you everyone for the nice messages. Here is what I gleaned:

SC 1101 EMD/MK F9PHA, Rebuilt EMD F9PHA Built As: Baltimore and Ohio 939 (F7A) Serial Number: 15910 Order No: 3122 Frame Number: 3122-A6 Built: 1/1952 Other locos with this serial: MARC 7182(F9PHA) CNJ 14(F7A) WCRC 82 (F9PHA) MARC 82(F9PHA), Iowa Pacific #82, SC 1101

SC 1102 EMD/MK F9PHA Built As: B&O 165 (F3A) Serial Number: 5734 Order No: E940 Frame Number: E940-A13 Built: 12/1948 Rebuilth to F9PH by M-K MARC 84 (F9PHA) WCRC 84 (F9PHA) MARC 7184(F9PHA).

The parking by the bridge is $1.50 an hour and it goes up after a couple of hours. That is 7 days a week and the meters ONLY take quarters. Well, they will take other coins but will not give you time for them.

It does move butt slow, up the Davenport Branch until just before Grant Ranch where it just kind of hovers. It runs with F's at both ends, much like the Spirit of Washington did from Renton to the winery, but not nearly as far.

~Steve

That pilot struck me right of the bat. Wonder if it could move snow?

oilcan Wrote:
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> Great shots! Amazing how this paint job can make
> Santa Cruz look like some place in the deep south
> rather than a California coastal town.

Nice photos. Definitely has a southern flair but one would be hard pressed to find palm trees that tall in any coastal Southern part of the USA--must be the hurricanes. I have been in bad thunderstorms during FL vacations and seen palm trees bend almost parallel to the ground. I would hate to see what one of those "sequoia" of palms in those photos would do in high winds.

Jay

tomstp Wrote:
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> That pilot struck me right of the bat. Wonder if
> it could move snow?

Not a whole lot of snow in Santa Cruz!

TomPlatten Wrote:
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> Is the trailing F-unit manned? Is it acting as a
> DPU or is it just idling with the control stand
> cut out?


One engineer in each locomotive but the trailing loco is just along for the ride after the brake swap.

Jeff

That is what I call a kit bashed locomotive with the bolt on headlight, plow, and exhaust equipment on top.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Here is what they looked like when they came to California.

On November 9, 2012 the UP SSTWJ-09 with UP 6512, 4636, WCRC 84, WCRC 82 head south thru San Jose's College Park at 3:45 p.m.

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garr Wrote:
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>
> Nice photos. Definitely has a southern flair but
> one would be hard pressed to find palm trees that
> tall in any coastal Southern part of the USA--must
> be the hurricanes. I have been in bad
> thunderstorms during FL vacations and seen palm
> trees bend almost parallel to the ground. I would
> hate to see what one of those "sequoia" of palms
> in those photos would do in high winds.
>
> Jay

Tall palm trees like these frequently experience winds near 70 mph during Santa Anas in southern California -- they bend well, occasionally break, but usually only lose a few of their palm fronds.

chakk Wrote:
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> garr Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> >
> > Nice photos. Definitely has a southern flair
> but
> > one would be hard pressed to find palm trees
> that
> > tall in any coastal Southern part of the
> USA--must
> > be the hurricanes. I have been in bad
> > thunderstorms during FL vacations and seen palm
> > trees bend almost parallel to the ground. I
> would
> > hate to see what one of those "sequoia" of
> palms
> > in those photos would do in high winds.
> >
> > Jay
>
> Tall palm trees like these frequently experience
> winds near 70 mph during Santa Anas in southern
> California -- they bend well, occasionally break,
> but usually only lose a few of their palm fronds.

That would be something to see. As tall and close together the trees are in the photo it seems like they would look like a bowl of spaghetti at winds that fast. I sure would not want to be standing close to one in that weather!

Jay

I don't know that they have Santa Anas along the beach. Most of my experience with them has been in inland empire, though I know that places like Burbank occasionally get them.

The kind of Santa Ana I know about is caused by a high pressure zone of cold air north of the mountains in the high desert, and warmer air in the lower valley to the south. The cold air pours thru the passes and runs downhill really fast. Since it is basically heading south as fast as it can go, there is minimal turbulance. A set of trees like that would bend quite a lot, but by and large they will all lay over about the same amount at the same angle and not tangle with each other.

A few years back there were several Santa Anas that took out a huge number of fairly recently planted trees in Rancho Cucamonga, and quite a lot of older trees in the Pasadena or Burbank area (I forget exactly where now). As best I recall, most of the trees that got ripped up were on E-W streets, with the winds coming down from the North.