Steam & Excursion > SP 4-6-2's at Paul Ave., then and again...

Back in 1995, I was new to the San Francisco Bay Area, and enjoying the luxury of having an active mainline steam engine within striking distance for the first time. In December of that year, I followed SP 2472 as it pulled a Santa train (I don't think it was a Toys for Tots train, but I could be wrong) from San Francisco to San Jose and return. The wintertime sun didn't make for easy photography on the northbound trip, but I did get off this shot of the train emerging from Tunnel 4, about to pass under the Paul Ave. overpass.

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Almost but not quite 10 years later, here's sister 2467 at the same spot but under very different circumstances. The engine was being towed dead from its temporary home at the Golden Gate Railroad Museum to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. Ex-Amtrak F40PH 281 and SP E9 6051, almost but not quite hidden inside Tunnel 4, are providing the horsepower. I'm a little surprised at how overgrown the neighborhood looks; I assume most of the same buildings that were there in 1995 are still there in 2005.

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That's an interesting comparison. They sure don't maintain the ROW like they used to. And of course, the searchlight signal is long gone (though the foundation remains). Seeing the 2472 pulling Caltrain bi-levels is the ultimate comparison of then and now.

danf Wrote:

> That's an interesting comparison. They sure don't
> maintain the ROW like they used to. And of course,
> the searchlight signal is long gone (though the
> foundation remains). Seeing the 2472 pulling
> Caltrain bi-levels is the ultimate comparison of
> then and now.

That brings up something I've been wondering about. When did the first bilevel gallery car enter service in the US? Did steam ever pull such cars in regular service?

Evan, I believe that there are some photos around that show the bilevels behind steam.
As to your train, I rode it that day. Man, that machine sure boogied...most impressive. They had the commute starts down well too.

Tom

The first bilevel SP cars were built in Dec 1954. Steam ran for about 2 years more (to Jan 1957). So yes the bilevels did run behind steam. There are pictures of it in a couple of SP books (as I sit here at work I think I saw them in Signor's SP Coast Line book and in Demorro's SP Bay Area Steam).

The first gallery cars were placed in service by the CB&Q in Chicago to Aurora service in 1950 (August, I believe). You could find them occasionally pulled by steam in the first year or so. The cars became a staple on some of the later "Q" fantrips, being pulled by 5632 and 4960. The very last 4960 trip consist on July 17, 1966 was predominately made up of gallery cars to handle the big crowd. Car 700, built in 1950 by Budd, was operating in her original service as recently as a couple of months ago. I have not seen her in a couple of months and many of the older "Q" bi-levels are being sold by Metra to other commuter agencies for further service. She may have been sold and gone for refurbishment for a second commuter career. The "Q" also used these cars in mainline service to handle college students to colleges located on their lines and for other excursion and special moves. The Burlington sure got their money's worth out of these cars. The 700 needs to be saved at IRM as the granddaddy of the modern commuter coach.

Silver Sky

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
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> Back in 1995, I was new to the San Francisco Bay
> Area, and enjoying the luxury of having an active
> mainline steam engine within striking distance for
> the first time. In December of that year, I
> followed SP 2472 as it pulled a Santa train (I
> don't think it was a Toys for Tots train, but I
> could be wrong) from San Francisco to San Jose and
> return. The wintertime sun didn't make for easy
> photography on the northbound trip, but I did get
> off this shot of the train emerging from Tunnel 4,
> about to pass under the Paul Ave. overpass.

You are correct in that was the Santa Train. Trains for Tots has only been running for four years, with this year to be the fifth. I saw the Santa Train in San Carlos when it stopped there on the way down. The sight of the 2472 was one of the things that prompted me to join the GGRM about two years later.

DaveE

The landscaping looks a lot better in the 2nd picture.

SilverSky Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
The 700 needs to be saved at IRM as
> the granddaddy of the modern commuter coach.
>
> Silver Sky

The IRM does have a C & NW Bi-Level, right?

danf Wrote:

> That's an interesting comparison. They sure don't
> maintain the ROW like they used to. [...]

Yeah, the standing water, the pumping mud, the decaying ties,
the missing and popping-out spikes, the jointed rail, the blocked
ditches, the rounded ballast, the cracked anchors, the lack of
tamping ... for sure things were just great in the good old days of 1995.