Nostalgia & History > Friday Night Bytes-SP GP35's

I didn't see many of these GP35's around on the SP back in the early 90's, but here are 3 decent shots.

1. 6306 leads a southbound manifest just north of Tulare, CA on 5-15-1992. This is the only shot I have of them on the SP in the lead of a train.
2. 6307 at Bakersfield, CA on October 10-18-1992.
3. 6522 at Bakersfield, CA on 11-25-1990. I am assuming this particular unit has not been rebuilt, as it still has it's original light package.

BTW, does the capital F on the frame by the front steps mean front of locomotive?

Thanks for looking,

Tom



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/14 16:20 by Railfan4Christ.

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By regulation the front of a locomotive has to be marked with a letter "F", or that's the way it used to be.

Mark

Railfan4Christ Wrote:
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> BTW, does the capital F on the frame by the front
> steps mean front of locomotive?

> Tom


I was always told that that "F" was for Foto, i.e. fhotograph this end.

FRA says that all diesel locomotives will have the letter "F" showing the front of the locomotive.


Nudge

I hadn't thought about this before but I guess when the Southern used to operate their locomotives with the long hood forward their "F" was on the long hood end. Could someone post a picture of one?

Mark

Actually on Southern GP30's and 35's the short hood was designated the front while many of the others the long hood was the front.

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It would be fun to place an "F" on both ends of a centercab.

Wouldn't the 'Front' designation be meant to distinguish the direction when signals are given for movement?

--Jim Baker

Can't remember what they did with dual control locomotives, Fs both ends?

JimBaker Wrote:
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> Wouldn't the 'Front' designation be meant to
> distinguish the direction when signals are given
> for movement?
>
> --Jim Baker

not from my experience on the santa fe. daytime, waving your hand or hands in a circling pattern meant come ahead toward me; waving both hands, palms in, away from your body meant go away from me. at night, lantern lifted straight up and down meant go away; lantern in a big circle meant bring' em towards me.

eljay Wrote:
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> JimBaker Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Wouldn't the 'Front' designation be meant to
> > distinguish the direction when signals are
> given
> > for movement?
> >
> > --Jim Baker

Jim, I agree with you for nighttime signals and radio signals. And yes, I had heard that was the reason for the "F".


> not from my experience on the santa fe. daytime,
> waving your hand or hands in a circling pattern
> meant come ahead toward me; waving both hands,
> palms in, away from your body meant go away from
> me. at night, lantern lifted straight up and down
> meant go away; lantern in a big circle meant
> bring' em towards me.

eljay, I agree with you on the daytime signals but disagree as to nighttime signals. I have a Santa Fe background also and whenever I received a verticle (up & down) signal I would move forward, whether the one giving the signal was in front of me or behind me. I called an operating supervisor this afternoon to see if anything had changed since I've been gone and he no, the signals are still the same. He agreed with my interpretation. Perhaps where you worked it was different.

I also called an acquaintance and he gave a wise-a** answer. He stated that whenever he gave a circle signal he wanted the engineer to "go ahead and backup". Some people are kinda hard to figure out. ha

Mark Cole

mark, i think you are right. it's been 41 years since i last kicked cars and my memory seems to get feebler by the day. we always ran the locomotive "forward" so at night, a vertical up and down with the lantern was a-head; a circle with the lantern was bring 'em back. thanks for the correction. eljay

eljay Wrote:
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> mark, i think you are right. it's been 41 years
> since i last kicked cars and my memory seems to
> get feebler by the day. we always ran the
> locomotive "forward" so at night, a vertical up
> and down with the lantern was a-head; a circle
> with the lantern was bring 'em back. thanks for
> the correction. eljay


these signals are still current on the BNSF.

Photo 3: All SP diesels were losing their light packages regardless of being rebuilt or original. The 6300's were the rebuilds and the 6500's were the unrebuilds. The 6522 just happened to keep it's lighting longer than the rest of the fleet.
GREAT PICS!

KskidinTx Wrote:
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> I hadn't thought about this before but I guess
> when the Southern used to operate their
> locomotives with the long hood forward their "F"
> was on the long hood end. Could someone post a
> picture of one?
>
> Mark

The Southern considered the end that the bell was cantilevered from the 'Front' in addition to the frame marking. They also called the Front end #1 end, and obviously the other end #2. That's also the way the control stands were marked.