Steam & Excursion > Cab forward videos

I'd appreciate any thoughts on a particularly well produced video devoted to SP's cab forwards. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I can think of two in my collection off the top of my head, one is "Last Run of a Cab Forward over Donner" The other is called Daylights, Cab Forwards and Early Diesels". Both movies are by Pentrex

http://pentrex.com/spfa12dvd.html

The BEST video regarding SP "Cab-Forward" locomotives is : "The Last Cab Forward Over Donner Pass", produced years ago by the now defunct "Video Rails" which was bought out from Bill Lambert by Mike Clayton at Pentrex.

This video tells the story of the famous two-day overnight excursion of AC-11 # 4274 which pulled a 12-car consist for the Pac Coast Chapter, R&LHS, on November 30--December 1st, 1957, from Sacramento,CA to Reno, NV and return.

A lot of the FILM footage is from the camera of the late "Al Phelps", noted SP rail historian and former SP Agent at COLFAX..

Film is in Color and B&W... It's great!! ENJOY!!

"Key Route Ken"...

Thanks for the tips, fellows. Looks like "Last Cab Forward.." is the one to buy. Much obliged.

I would go as far to say as "The Last Run of a Cab-Forward" is one of the best railroad videos ever produced. It's a bit ironic that a film made with more older equipment and a smaller crew is more interesting than many of the more recent videos of excursion trains.

Dave

Agreed - start with "Last...."

I was surprised by the quality of the sound on that one. Those Cab Aheads had a pretty distinctive sound. The sound I didn't expect was the sound of the air pumps venting all the time..Really interesting.

Another vid not mentioned is the Southern California in the 50's vid from Pentrex. Some Cab forward footage in there along with everything else under the sun. If you're a Cab forward fan though, the clip of a GS class 4-8-4 doubleheading with a Cab Forward as it starts an excursion special out of Calente is worth the price all by itself..

Brian E

I agree that the “Last Run of a Cab-Forward” has some of the best video of a Cab-Forward in action. My complaint is that it is also the most depressing video I have ever watched. The commentary constantly harps on the fact that this is the last run and each of the scenes you are watching is the last time this ever happened. At the end they talk about the fire being shut down and the steam pressure slowly dropping (I might be mixing this part up with the account in the book Cab-Forward), it’s very sad, like you’re watching an old friend die. I watched a borrowed copy and never wanted to see it again. I much prefer seeing Cab-Forwards in regular action like in “Snow on the Run”. I know, what a softy, but I have spent my whole life wishing I had witnessed a cab-forward in action, so when I watch a video of them I prefer to relive a time when they were in regular service, not the day they died.

What a Wuus you are !! Scaredy cat!! Can't face the facts, huh.. Cab-Forwards died and died hard. Sad, Yes, but we used to have AirShips too.

I climbed all over them with others in West Oakland as a kid. Used to initially be scared of them because of their imposing size. Wish I could repeat the memories.

KRK

wingomann Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I agree that the “Last Run of a Cab-Forward” has
> some of the best video of a Cab-Forward in action.
> My complaint is that it is also the most
> depressing video I have ever watched. The
> commentary constantly harps on the fact that this
> is the last run and each of the scenes you are
> watching is the last time this ever happened.

I forgot about the narrator's frequent noting that the trip was the last run of a Cab-Forward. Never having seen a Cab Forward in action, I was more annoyed than depressed by this.

However, with respect to a last trip, this locomotive went out with a bang. Its last run was on one of the most scenic and operationally interesting lines in the US. How many other railroads ran such nice farewell trips for their distinctive steam, electric and even diesel locomotives?

Dave

Dave just put an interesting slant on this final run. The SP could have played safe and run a train on the flat to Fresno or someplace, with photo ops. But no. They chose to run what these ACs were built for. And so the engine hauled the full size train steadily up the Hill, with nary a slip, and not a helper in sight. What better way to go, if it had to occur.

A requisite was an open-door baggage, of course. Not for me, thank you. There are tunnels between Auburn and Colfax. As the trip went on, those baggage riders would come through the train with sooty faces. Kind of a badge of honor, perhaps, genuine AC smoke for the last time.

I took a few feet of Super 8 film but the Final Run video is great. On the strength of Brian's report above I ordered the 1950s video. Shipped today. Can't wait. We were fortunate who lived during Cab Forward times.

The 2 videos mentioned are excellent and in my collection. Two other videos come to mind as well that may be of interest to you.

One is the Video Rails(Pentrex) Coast Line video which has several nice CF scenes not
to mention the featured SP GS series steam, all in color with good sound.

The other is from Catenary and I think it was on the Shasta Route. It has a special section on CF's that is just superb with lots of hard-working shots.

The CF was definitely a fascinating machine. My memory of them is dim, like from when I
was 3-5 years old and they were finishing out their days in Southern California.
It does make me wonder why that design was not adopted more widely on steamers.

However, I don't lament their passage from the railroad scene. Time marches on and I
accept the era in which I was born (I've had to not having a chice about it...).
They are also too big, too thirsty and too heavy in every respect to ever run again.

Guess I belong to the AGIF club(age has it's fortunes), as I have seen and ridden behind AC's many times. I can remember one time, 1949 I think, on #57, The Owl, sitting at a tiny table in the Pullman lounge, after dinner, playing a game of 500 Rummy, checking out the double headed AC's on the twisting main through Soledad Canyon, and on up to Tehachapi Pass. I also lived a block from the Coast line main in Atascadero 1951-'62. Besides the tremendous size, power and noise, what impressed most is how they ever remained intact when every time I saw one there were nuts and bolts falling off! For you guys who have worked this line, try to imagine that, and this actually happened, an AC could pull into the Atascadero house track at the site of the former station. Once one was disabled, pulled in and was there several days before retrieval...what fun that was to crawl all over.

Yes. Agent, you must be AGIF. So the SP did doublehead the ACs. In that case the crew of the road engine had to eat smoke going through the Northridge tunnel.
Watching these engines operate I always thought they must have given the crew a smooth ride, but I gather now it wasn't so. One guy said that all the gages and valves in the cab shook and rattled at speed. You saw the result - bolts coming loose.
Wasn't that nice of the Friendly SP to park a CF there for you to play on for a while?