Nostalgia & History > More old SP from the 70s

Photo 1 - Fairbanks Morse Light Engines

Southern Pacific Fairbanks Morse H-12-44 2390 and H-24-66 3021 are caught running lite from Bayshore to 7th Street in San Francisco, CA, near Quint and Jerrold, on July 15, 1974.

Reportedly SP 3021 was built as Fairbanks-Morse Train Master demonstrator TM-4 in 1953, construction number 24-L-733. It was purchased by SP in November 1953 and became SP 4801, class DF-500. In the 1965 renumbering it became SP 3021 class FP624-1. It was retired in December 1974 and sold in May 1975 to Chrome Crankshaft.

Photo 2 - SP 3006 in San Jose

Torpedo boat GP9 3006 goes on the turntable on a fairly typical early 70’s scene at the San Jose Lenzen Street Roundhouse in August 1972. The car on the right is likely a Firebird Formula 400.

These are higher resolution level exports from older scans.

Steve Sloan
San Jose, CA

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I was able to catch both the 3021 and 2390 in San Francisco in November of '74. I knew the Trainmasters were on borrowed time. I'm sure glad that I got to shoot a few of them and ride behind them before they were gone.-BMT

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Cool, glad you caught them too.

~Steve

Damn I miss the SP.

My favorite image of these is your Trainmaster/switcher engine move. Great catch.
Bob

Steve, these photos bring me back to my teenage years. When I was 15 and living in San Francisco, my Mom's boyfriend would drive me down to 7th & Townsend to watch the SP commute trains. This was in 1974, when there were only 3 Trainmasters left running, but lots of H12-44 switchers still around. I have a few blurry Instamatic shots of my own from those days. Thanks so much for posting!
- Eric Blasko

Awesome photos, thanks for posting. I like the torpedo SP unit.