Western Railroad Discussion > Nostalgic PLA Equipment Move Part 3 - Dawn of "The Move

( continued from Part 2 - http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,851491 )

On the morning of the PLA move, espeeboy and tracktime (rollin' deep with Pinky) set off from Berzerkeley at around 6:45A. About 15 minutes later and after a quick Mickey D's pick-up (oh yeah, hash browns), we arrived at the old Oakland Army Base. There at Knight Yard, both black widow locomotives sat online with the train air pumped up. Lead unit SP5472 greeted us with a classic SP gesture with red MARS light aglow! Museum equipment sat ready for the 40 mile move having been inspected and checked the many days, weeks and months before.

This was now my third visit to the scene of this parked equipment within a 12 hour period spanning back to late Friday afternoon. I think this was some kind of record for me in frequently visiting some RR equipment parked and idle, something sitting under gloomy skies and something with three entirely different light conditions. We were somewhat surprised to get there before most of the crew although a few early bird PLA members were stirring about. Actually, when we pulled up infamous railfan Evan Werkema was hurrying about shooting the train like crazy. Knowing this serious foamer, he probably arrived on the scene before anyone ;) Guess the crewmembers that did show up a little later were a bit smarter in maybe getting some more shut-eye. They knew it was gonna be a 12+ hour day out there.

On a side note seriously, there aren't a lot of events that can get me out of bed this early in the morning. I am one of those guys lucky enough to wake up at official office clock-in time (9am), show up 45 minutes to an hour late and not get in trouble (well most of the time). I think in last year alone, I experienced only enough pre-dawn awakenings to fill up the fingers on my right hand. Point is, you can bet espeeboy was jumping out of bed (even before the alarm clock went off) to get set for this day's special events! Felt almost like back when I was a young railfan waking up early to wake my dad up so we could get an early start on conquering Tehachapi for a day. You know the feeling, like Christmas morning - well almost?

It's not everyday you get to witness a museum train made of various 40 to 80 year old time equipment led by one schnazzy sharp Black Widow Cadillac. It ain't everyday you see UP agree to allow for this kind of move either! Most of us were expecting the worst weather-wise with a storm passing through. But rain or shine there was a good deciated group of railfans up and out there early that Saturday morning (Furtado-Man included!) to catch this special train. Probably a good showing because this was a movement of a lifetime.


May have said this already, but major props to the PLA crew, various volunteers and UP for allowing this move to go as planned. Not sure how it would have been if the slow Oakland Sub along BART had been used instead, but this day's events went off without any major glitches.

Stay tuned for PLA Move parts 4-8...


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

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"Hello Dave, what are you doing Dave?"

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red MARS looking good!

hey, what did "HAL" stand for again?

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some drama for yo mama

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some crewmembers and PLA volunteers arrive with tools in hand. Hmmmm, whoz that guy to the left with the fishermen's hat on?

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Engineer Lou (who wouldn't stay still) and crew climb aboard with their gear. The time is just past 7 in the mornin'

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PLA crew covering their game plan to literally escape and jail break out of Knight Yard...

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OPEN SESAME!

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sun is slowly coming out as the last air tests have been finalized. Still, the train has no outlet to escape the yard yet...

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two UP carmen stop by and show some interest with a railfan after taggin' some FRED's on some outbound UP trains in the Desert Yard.

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PLA crew gets down and dirty on the very outside Desert Yard track to move over the points of one difficult and seldom used switch (note - no stand to be seen). Ironically, this is the very same manual switch that allowed the former OLMX4423 SD9 to come into the PLA/OTR grounds a year ago for repainting and cosmetic transformation into the SP5472!

I believe the guy to the left is the local UP "Main Cheese" out of West Oakland. He was very polite and accommodating in overseeing everything.

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Very nice photos Ryan. I remember when those guys had to move back the switch exactly as they did in the photo. I had never seen it done that way before.

Have fun,
Alex

espeeboy Wrote:
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> "Hello Dave, what are you doing Dave?"

I am surprised that a young whipper snapper like you knows that line. Truly a classic movie but half the time I use that line with the younger folks they have no idea what I am talking about.

(appropriate reply to be entered here later...)


espeeboy Wrote:
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> (appropriate text to be entered here in about one
> hour - gotta go get railfan_girlfirend from
> school!)

Well Ryan, you've been quite the tease with this stuff. Little by little, we're getting your perspective. Looking forward to the rest (even if it takes a month - lol). 800 photos sounds like quite an editorial undertaking...

I really had some bad luck with the slide film that weekend. Not only did I run out of film and had to do some serious searching for another roll, but the film processoer that I sent them to hasn't returned them yet. Seems that they are MIA (they're trying to locate them). Yes Silagi - you can chaulk that up as another reason to go all digital... Good thing I brought the other 2 cameras.

Looking forward to the action shots... Bring 'em on!

-Dan

Awesome work Ryan and many thanks for sharing them. Where was the big SD and the other equipment going?

Phil

HAL is an acronym standing for "Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer." "Heuristic" and "Algorithmic" are two primary processes of intelligence.

Great movie. I loved it and 2010.

cs Wrote:
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> HAL is an acronym standing for "Heuristically
> programmed ALgorithmic computer." "Heuristic" and
> "Algorithmic" are two primary processes of
> intelligence.
>
That, and add one letter to each of HAL and you get IBM. Coincidence?

Howard

the mto (main cheese) is tom bullard

>Great movie. I loved it and 2010.

Blah. 2010 was an okay space opera but nothing metaphysical like 2001. Not to mention 35mm blown up to 70mm vs. the real 70mm (65mm negative) sharp beauty of the classic film.

http://home.earthlink.net/~lakestreetscreeningroom/drool.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~lakestreetscreeningroom/leader.jpg

>That, and add one letter to each of HAL and you get IBM. Coincidence?

Kubrick claimed that it was.