Nostalgia & History > SP's pride of the fleet at Roseville

Brand spanking new from Germany SP9000 sits in the Roseville Shops after a test run over Donner. Back when the SP was giving out photo passes shots like this were no challenge. You flashed your letter to the shop foremen and you had free reign to shoot all the pictures you wanted. Man those were the days. Sixteen years old and you could roam all over the Roseville Shops. A sturdy tripod and my trusty Mamiyaflex and I was in Heaven.

Robert Morris Photography
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/12 21:21 by photobob.

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Good angle! A few degrees more to the right and you would probably have caught a reflection of yourself or the camera/tripod in that nice shiny nose. :-)

Those were the days, Master Mechanic R.L.Smith signed a business card saying it was "ok for the boys to take pictures" and you were in.

Great shot, Bob! You know we like it. :-)

Here's that shiny paint, still probably a little soft to the touch, in Germany a few weeks earlier. Photo by Roy S. Rittimann, SP's acceptance officer from Houston for the KM Prototypes. Photo courtesy his daughter, Nadine Rittimann Stuth.

The fellow on the left is SP's Frank Kurz, who was the project leader for the Mechanical Department at 65 Market Street. Fourth from the left is Andy Bisgard, D&RGW's chief mechanical officer in charge of Rio Grande's portion of the project. KM officers and a secretary-translator round off the photo.

Nadine contacted the SP 9010 restoration team through our Facebook page and let us know about her Dad's pictures. Gotta love the internet.

~ BZ

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OK, Notch, I'm turning on the "KM Bat Signal":
I notice in these photos that there is a second air hose next to the BP; typically in that era that's for a 'Signal' line [ For you Youngsters: Used on passenger trains in the pre-radio days for the Conductor, etc, to "signal" the head end ]. Is that what it is ? If so, why did SP -- and DRGW, a little photo research shows -- equip the [ six ] units with it ? Or is it a Main Resv line ? The line [ or at least the hose ] went away after a while, and I don't think the 'Series' units had it.

Best rgds, SZ

vcrail Wrote:
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> Those were the days, Master Mechanic R.L.Smith
> signed a business card saying it was "ok for the
> boys to take pictures" and you were in.

He would have been deliriously happy if after you had photographed those kraut locos to have hauled them to the junk yard. He never had any compliments for this junk.

Nowadays, "Junk" has a completely different meaning! Man, I miss the old days...Steve