Nostalgia & History > UP Alco PAs on The Utahn, Las Vegas

Over the past 45 years, I have collected a wide variety of books and magazines. Through the various moves, as I reduced what needed to be moved and what didn't, I would go through the old magazines and tear out what was cool. These "tear sheets" were kept in a file folder, that today is well over two inches thick.

This is one example. The photo was part of an article by Walter Thrall, called "Operation Streamliner," and was in one of the old Trains Annuals. Sad to say, I neglected to record which one, because I would have no problem remembering. Ha!

So anyway. Here is a nice photo from that article, showing a set of UP Alco PA passenger units passing westbound through Las Vegas on Train No. 3, The Utahn.

Does anyone happen to have any old Trains Annuals handy? Which issue was this article in? (Maybe 1949 or 1950.) It's a nice article, describing a fireman's trip on No. 104, the City of Los Angeles, from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

Don Strack

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That photo with that caption appears on page 27 of the July 1951 issue of Trains.  It's at the end of the "Operation Streamliner" article, which starts on page 20.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/16 20:33 by Evan_Werkema.

The first automobile in the picture is a 1951 Ford if that helps with the date?
G

Did it have the  8BA heads? I had one 3/8's by 3/8's, dual manifold and headers. 3/4 cam too! It could outrun those
Alco's.

Old UP RR operating crews on the Utahan above were based out of LA and worked between LA  and Los Vegas. Las Vegas based and Salt Lake City based train crews worked between the Sin City and SLC. Milford, UT based and Las Vegas based engine crews worked between Milford and the Sin City.

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
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> That photo with that caption appears on page 27 of
> the July 1951 issue of Trains.  It's at the end
> of the "Operation Streamliner" article, which
> starts on page 20.

Thanks Evan. A check of my Trains magazine DVD confirms this. But the pages I tore out are blank at the bottom and don't have the pages numbers, or the "Trains" name, or any dates. I do recall that they came from a publication called "Trains Annual," which apparently was a collection of the best articles from that year. But it's a moot point. I'll simply identify them as coming from the July 1951 issue of Trains magazine. I guess I'll dispose of the paper "tear sheets" anyway, since they are on the Trains DVD, which I have installed on my hard drive and gets backed up every day on two external hard drives. It's a great resource, although I truly wish Kalmbach would make it available online, like they have done with their Model Railroader archive.

Don Strack