Nostalgia & History > few WP . . .

. . a couple from the "boxes" and one from a tray this fine monday evening;
top: in summer '76 both of WP's BiCentennial painted GP40's, UP's flag car, one of Santa Fe's five BiCentennial painted SD45-2's, an Amtrak F40PH and an Amfleet car and maybe one of SP's BiCentennial painted units (? can't remember) were on display at San Francisco waterfront for July 4th weekend (I think?) so here is one of the WP units sitting in the old San Francisco Belt Railway yard on the waterfront. For those not yet alive 1976 was a very colorful year on the nations railroads as most painted at least on locomotive in some form of red, white and blue paint scheme. Some obviously more attractive than others. Normally patriotic and otherwise a participant in all kinds of special causes UP didn't participate for whatever reason and didn't paint anything for this event?
middle: definately from one of the boxes due to bad light, cheap film and cheap processing this WP train was westbound at Virgilia, CA in the Feather River Canyon and caught while on a three day getaway with a fellow brakie from the Santa Fe in 3-79.
bottom: one of the last WP trains I ever photographed was this westbound near Tracy, CA in March '81. WP, I miss you the most.
JB

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I don't suppose anyone knows what became of the Presidential seal and the Western Pacific sign off the side of the WP bicentennial units? Those would be quite the collectables for any WP fan.

I really like the photo of the WP bicentennial GP40.

3rdswitch Wrote:
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> Normally patriotic and otherwise a participant in
> all kinds of special causes UP didn't participate
> for whatever reason and didn't paint anything for
> this event?

For that matter, I cannot think of any UP Bicentennial locomotives. UP did paint an E9 in red, white & blue for the Preamble Express which preceeded the American Freedom Train.

http://www.freedomtrain.org/preamble-express-consist-locomotive-951-union-pacific.htm

Yes, fully aware of the Preamble Express unit, had it not been for that particular train UP would have been totally out of the picture and to my knowledge it never ran on a UP train.
JB

I am glad that you took the time to photo these pictures.

For others:
Is the second photo; CCVX or GGV??
The third photo; MDX???

I also miss the WP the most. I grew up chasing the WP.

Great photos as usual Joe!

Beautiful stuff there JB.I was'nt lucky enough to see any of the Bi-centennial loco's.At that point in time ,international travel was only a dream for me.What I did see in bi-centennial decorations was an F-15A which was being demonstrated for our AF down here in OZ.I had never seen a jet with two tails,and thought it was just about the neatest fighter I had ever laid eye's on.They decided it was a bit out of our price range ,and we ended up with F-18's.No complaints there.
Regards,dK



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/12 20:55 by DKay.

Love seeing the WP photos. Keep them coming!

Awesome. And the second photo features WP 3013! I have a special interest in that engine. It was the first WP model I ever acquired.

Looks like maybe the 913 tucked behind all the green power in the second photo?

Thanks for posting.

Z

ClipX Wrote:
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> Is the second photo; CCVX or GGV??

Yes, CCVX.

> The third photo; MDX???

Probably MDX, possibly an RBW out of Stockton.

zephyrus Wrote:
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>
> Looks like maybe the 913 tucked behind all the
> green power in the second photo?

On it's way back to Stockton after snow-fighting duties on the Highline...

Very enjoyable photos. Thanks for sharing them.

So was there a functional purpose for mounting the upper headlights horizontally (GP35)? Or was WP being different again?

That was a Pyle-National twin sealed beam replacement for the large "golden glow" single lamp headlight. The number board housing had to be modified to accomodate it. These replacements were especially common on Alco RS series locomotives.

Here is a GP40 with the aforementioned headlight, new pending delivery, at EMD La Grange.

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

Fizzboy7 Wrote:
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> Very enjoyable photos. Thanks for sharing them.
>
> So was there a functional purpose for mounting the
> upper headlights horizontally (GP35)? Or was WP
> being different again?

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I remember attending the SF display of equipment. We set out early from Fresno and it wasn't too bad, people-wise, in the City, but as the day wore on, the crowds became overwhelming. It took seemingly forever to get back to the Bay Bridge and on our way home.

Tom Y

In photo two it is the 913 trailing, conductor Chris Skow on a previous train had thrown out a note alerting us to this pickup of the unit at Keddie. A big regret looking back was visiting the San Francisco display at mid day instead of morning or afternoon making for terrible July mid day sun, when it was out.
JB

Thanks for sharing these, JB. They are outstanding as usual. And to think I lived less than two blocks from the WP main in Livermore between 1959 and 1966. Back then, it was all ho-hum; another train (including both #17 and #18). What I would give to have those years back!

JCL

Hi JB. Great photo's,can't ever get enough of the WP. I look out my window on what was once the WP's most Northern point,wondering what it was like seeing A NB with 6 F's pulling into the Yard,dropping there train off to be interchange with the GN-BN. Thank's for posting,Bill in Bieber.

Mr icancmp193, my tolerant spouse and I drove up from Fresno to the big city for the bicentennial display. These came out OK given my minimal photo skills at the time...

This is all very different now. The Muni F line runs PCC's here now, which is not too bad.

Jim B



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/11/12 15:25 by jimB.

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