Nostalgia & History > SP's Gray and ORANGE????? F-7A 6393 West at Piru

Another old Kodachrome original transparency. How many got this treatment? No "selective color" manipulation in PhotoShop, so what gives? A "Halloween" paint variation? I presume she may be on an excursion.

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

ILOVE IT!!!
Tom Helliwell

Is this the bridge that was damaged in the floods of 1983 which eventually shut down the Santa Paula branch? Great shot, by the way.

JDE

Bob:

Thanks for posting that 'off the beaten path' color shot! Any more on the branch?

Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!

Larry

Steamjocky Wrote:
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> Is this the bridge that was damaged in the floods
> of 1983 which eventually shut down the Santa Paula
> branch? Great shot, by the way.
>
> JDE


The one over the river just west of Saugus, just beyond the wye. The steel frame of that bridge in the photo is still there in Piru. At least about 2 years ago, that is.

Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!

Hey Larry-

Hope all is well.

No mas on the branch, except F & W. This bridge is still standing. The flooding of Castaic Creek did in trestle and the line as a through route.

Thanks to all for the kind words.

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

SPLoopConductor Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bob:
>
> Thanks for posting that 'off the beaten path'
> color shot! Any more on the branch?
>
> Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!
>
> Larry

This must have been another 6300 painted into Halloween. First one I have seen with the wings. This is the first time I have seen 6393 in Halloween. http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,1290237,1291172#msg-1291172

Hi ats90mph,

In your opinion, doesn't that look to be gray (especially around the battery box and fuel tank) versus the "usual" black that one typically associates with Halloween Paint? The slide looks just like the scan.

Thanks,

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

ats90mph Wrote:
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> This must have been another 6300 painted into
> Halloween. First one I have seen with the wings.
> This is the first time I have seen 6393 in
> Halloween.
> http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,
> 1290237,1291172#msg-1291172

There's pictures of them in books Bro, variations and other units as well. I'm going with the black (looks grey due to the sun angle thinks I )


TCS - waiting for athearn to release them in those colors

Like I said i've never seen A Halloween with wings (doesn't mean they didn't have them). The jury is still out whether or not it is indeed "Halloween". It would be interesting to get confirmation what paint scheme it is indeed in. The color looks right in the rest of the photo. So it would make sense that the engine would be accurately depicted as well. Whether it is black or Grey, Ehh I'm not sure. Looks darker than grey to me.

-Great shot of the bridge in Valencia by the way. Would love to see more Santa Paula branch!

Ok I sent the photo to a professional artist that is not a rail, or railfan. He states that the engine has more of a "green" base tone to it. Which would indicate that it is indeed black. As opposed to a "blue" base tone, which would indicate grey. So in artistic terms it is indeed black. He concurred that since all the other colors in the scan are vibrant, that the color of the engine would be accurately depicted as well. I trust the opinion of a non-biased professional artist that has never seen either scarlet and grey, or halloween paint scheme.

Well Bob that tears it. I guess it is "Halloween". Congratulations on having an extremely rare, one of a kind photo. Personally I love it! It is one that I wouldn't mind framed and mounted on my wall.

Much confusion had developed on this thread besides the locomotive paint scheme.

SPLoopConductor stated that the bridge in the photo is the one at Piru (which goes over Piru Creek) while ats90mph stated the bridge is the one at Valencia (which goes over the Santa Clara River). Which one is it? (I lean toward the latter)

ATSF100WEST wrote:

>The flooding of Castaic Creek did in the trestle and the line as a through route.

John Signor, though, wrote on pg. 267 of his Coast Line book that a storm in 1976 took out the Santa Paula branch bridges at Santa Clara River and at San Francisquito Creek and that "the 1983 storm" did "additional damage" on the line (he didn't specifiy the additional damage).

And what about the short wooden trestle that was almost in Saugus? I recall seeing this trestle in the 1980s partially washed away (the trestle crossed a creek that flowed northward. I have no idea of the name of the creek. It doesn't appear to be very long on maps).

JohnSweetser Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Much confusion had developed on this thread
> besides the locomotive paint scheme.
>
> SPLoopConductor stated that the bridge in the
> photo is the one at Piru (which goes over Piru
> Creek) while ats90mph stated the bridge is the one
> at Valencia (which goes over the Santa Clara
> River). Which one is it? (I lean toward the
> latter)

I'm pretty sure this is the one over the Santa Clara River Adjacent to I-5 and Magic Mountain in Valencia. Judging by the Power Lines and hills in the Background.

ats90mph Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JohnSweetser Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Much confusion had developed on this thread
> > besides the locomotive paint scheme.
> >
> > SPLoopConductor stated that the bridge in the
> > photo is the one at Piru (which goes over Piru
> > Creek) while ats90mph stated the bridge is the
> one
> > at Valencia (which goes over the Santa Clara
> > River). Which one is it? (I lean toward the
> > latter)
>
> I'm pretty sure this is the one over the Santa
> Clara River Adjacent to I-5 and Magic Mountain in
> Valencia. Judging by the Power Lines and hills in
> the Background.


You guys may be right on the Valencia / I-5. The hill does look right, and the trees. I never have got close enough to that bridge to really check it out. The Piru bridge doesn't have the lush trees at that end, even tho that was about 50 years ago. so, I change my vote to Valencia, Bob... change the caption. (BTW, John, the 'river' that washed out the bridge near the Saugus wye is the 'South Fork' - Santa Clara River.

Take Care, Stay Safe, Have Fun!

Larry

I believe this is the bridge east of I5. I'll let you know for sure tomorrow, I pass that bridge everyday on the way to work, I'll check out the hill in the backround for powerlines etc.

ATSF100WEST Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Another old Kodachrome original transparency. How
> many got this treatment? No "selective color"
> manipulation in PhotoShop, so what gives? A
> "Halloween" paint variation? I presume she may be
> on an excursion.

I'd say this unit is actually painted scarlet and Lark gray. Some units painted this way had an orange tint to the scarlet.

The only two F units known to have been painted orange and black with the orange masked in this feather pattern were the 6152 and 6362. Both had the nose number painted in black and a "Sunset" emblem on the nose door. The other F units painted in the earlier version of the Halloween scheme also had black nose numbers and an emblem. Units repainted scarlet and Lark gray had the nose number and nose "SP" painted in white.

If the 6393 really had been painted orange and whatever, seems like photos of it would've surfaced before now.

I was the last one to ever use the Santa Clara River bridge. I was on my way to Bakersfield on number 803, during the winter of 1978... and the lead unit kept dying due to low oil pressure. This particular day the weather was very rainy and there was snow up the canyon near Vincent. There was not anyway that i was going to Bakersfield without heat. I made the decision to wye the power at Saugus. Ronnie Harryman was the headbrakeman. I went around the east leg of the wye and had 4 SD' 45's on the bridge awaiting the the lining of the west leg switch to complete the move. I looked down and watched the water flow under the bridge at a fast velocity and was watching debris build up against the pilings. The bridge was vibrating and making stress noises. i told Ronnie " Get me the hell off this bridge it is really shaky Now !". continued the move and went back to the train and away we went. The next day on my eastbound trip i looked over at the bridge and the middle was missing and the pieces were long gone.. what an experience that i never wanted to repeat bu tin 1982 i had another bridge collapse under me at Moorpark on the last Oxnard commute train..



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/10 19:09 by SanJoaquinEngr.

SanJoaquinEngr-

I enjoyed your story, but IMHO the photographer who nailed this did not err in labelling his slide "Piru Creek Bridge". I might wheel up there soon, and take a "now" picture.

Thanks,

Bob

SanJoaquinEngr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was the last one to ever use this bridge. I was
> on my way to Bakersfield on number 803 and the
> lead unit kept dying due to low oil pressure.
> This particular day the weather was very rainy and
> there was snow up the canyon near Vincent. There
> was not anyway that i was going to Bakersfield
> without heat. I made the decision to wye the
> power at Saugus. Ronnie Harryman was the
> headbrakeman. I went around the east leg of the
> wye and had 4 SD' 45's on the bridge awaiting the
> the lining of the west leg switch to complete the
> move. I looked down and watched the water flow
> under the bridge at a fast velocity and was
> watching debris build up in the pilings. The
> bridge was vibrating and making stress noises. i
> told Ronnie " Get me off this bridge it is really
> shaky". continued the move and went back to the
> train and away we went. The next day on my
> eastbound trip i looked over at the bridge and the
> middle was missing and the pieces were long gone..
> what an experience that i never wanted to repeat
> bu tin 1982 i had another bridge collapse under me
> at Moorpark on the last Oxnard commute train..

FYI..It's been done in Ho by Division point...Although a diferent Road #

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