Nostalgia & History > Old SP from 70's (F units)

Photo 1:

SP 355 in Rotary Service - SP F7A 355 at Roseville apparently in Rotary Service. Likely in the Spring of 1970. This may be my second train slide ever. Shot on Wards or Sears slide film.
According to SSW9389 on Trainorders, "SP #355 was classified as a passenger unit, class EP415A-3. It shows up in the 1971 Annual as one of two EP415 units remaining on the SP roster. There were a total of 37 F units included in the 1971 Annual. Don't have the 1972 Annual, but suspect this unit was retired after the major failure you described. The SP was purchasing large numbers of the SD45T-2s at the time and the 355 was most likely traded back to EMD." Topper said, "The retirement date I have for it shows to be 10/72."
Reportedly (sources) SP 355 was built in Dec. 1952 as construction number 17209, SP (T&NO) 355 Class DF-9. It became SP Class EP415A-4 in 1965. It was the last T&NO unit to operate in it's original three unit number when it was retired in June or July 1972, Sold Oct. 1972.

---

Photo 2:

SP 371 in Sacramento - Southern Pacific SP Class EF415A-1 F7A 371 sitting outside the Sacramento Shops. Likely in the Spring of 1970. This may be my first train slide ever. Shot on Wards or Sears slide film. This was with a lot of F units stored outside the Sacramento Shops. According to WAF on Trainorders, "your time period is closer to 1969." Evan Werkema said, "Strapac's Southern Pacific Diesel Locomotive Compendium V.1 shows 371 retired 4/24/70 and sold 10/9/70"
Reportedly SP 371 was built in June 1953 as construction number 18364, SP (T&NO) 355 Class DF-11. It became SP Class EF415A-1 in 1965. It was retired in April 1970 and sold in October 1970.
Brian Williams said: Steve,here's a comment from a friend of mine who worked for the espee as a fireman/engineer. The photo of the 371 is a T&NO unit. They were miserable units to work on. Especially on the locals from bakersfield to fresno, picking up beet gons along the way. no mirrors and all of them had an extra handle welded to the throttle so when trying to look backwards out the side window you would have to come completely back into the cab to get to the throttle and then stick your head out the window again and again and again. They were set up for straight forward running. some idiots idea of comfort for probably running through freight or passenger and not thinking about switching with these things. nice to look at, nice to run on through freight stuff where one didn't have to look backwards but not for switching

Steve Sloan
San Jose, CA

---

On June 2, 1972, I was a fireman on a work train laying ribbon rail with Al Stone as the hoghead. We went OD at SLO at 5:30 AM with the 9014 & 355. We tied up in Santa Barb at 7:30 PM. We were on duty the next day at 5:30 AM, same power and tied up at Surf at 7:15 PM. Spent a lot of time re-starting the 355, low water & oil but they showed OK. On the 3rd we were on duty at Surf at 7:00 AM. While we were laying rail at Honda, the 355 had a crank case explosion and was toast. We limped back to Surf and put the train away at Post.

They busted the work order and we went back to SLO cab hop, going off duty at 2:00 PM.

I think the 355 still was in black widow colors, (if you call it that, ply wood showing through the rusted side panels in places) and a single note horn. Here it sits in red and gray and a different horn. I was told it was going to Sacramento. Don't know what happened to it. That was the last 3 digit F I worked on. I worked 2 different helper on the 4th (nice double) and there wasn't any sign of the 355 in the house.

There was a covered wagon in the commute fleet that had a special extension welded to the throttle and good mirrors and it worked fine for looking back. It always had to be on the point because there were no MU plugs on the front, only on the rear.



Nudge



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/17 10:46 by spnudge.

Nice photos.

T&NO F7 355 had been in red and gray for many years and operated in the LA Passenger pool with 352,354,356,and 357 plus the
SP F7's and FP7s. For many years this locomotive had a Nathan old cast P5 horn as pictured and was used in the recording of one of the best know diesel sound records, Mr. D's Machine in the early 1960s. A very nice screaming P5 horn, feathered nicely for the recording segment on Tehachapi Loop.

Someone must of gotten that beautiful sounding horn because the locomotive was retired with a single one note horn that must
of come from a switcher.

FP7 6462 was the commute assigned locomotive that is mentioned.

Regards, Jim Evans

spnudge Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> On June 2, 1972, I was a fireman on a work train
> laying ribbon rail with Al Stone as the hoghead.
> We went OD at SLO at 5:30 AM with the 9014 & 355.
> We tied up in Santa Barb at 7:30 PM. We were on
> duty the next day at 5:30 AM, same power and tied
> up at Surf at 7:15 PM. Spent a lot of time
> re-starting the 355, low water & oil but they
> showed OK. On the 3rd we were on duty at Surf at
> 7:00 AM. While we were laying rail at Honda, the
> 355 had a crank case explosion and was toast. We
> limped back to Surf and put the train away at
> Post.
>
> They busted the work order and we went back to SLO
> cab hop, going off duty at 2:00 PM.
>
> I think the 355 still was in black widow colors,
> (if you call it that, ply wood showing through the
> rusted side panels in places) and a single note
> horn. Here it sits in red and gray and a different
> horn. I was told it was going to Sacramento. Don't
> know what happened to it. That was the last 3
> digit F I worked on. I worked 2 different helper
> on the 4th (nice double) and there wasn't any sign
> of the 355 in the house.
>
> There was a covered wagon in the commute fleet
> that had a special extension welded to the
> throttle and good mirrors and it worked fine for
> looking back. It always had to be on the point
> because there were no MU plugs on the front, only
> on the rear.
>
>
>
> Nudge

Nope Nudge, was r/g for a long time

Sorry, I was just going from my time book. One thing I remembered was it blew up, oil everywhere and we towed it back to SLO. I thought it was BW but the proff is in the pic. It came into SLO with the freight unit headed west and we ran around the power and and it idled back to our first work. Then we changed ends and worked from the freight motor the rest of the time with it on line. I know I had a 3 didgit BW back then on a work train but it was like a one day trip, picking up scrap.

We still had covered wagons back then but they were always on ATK and then nothing but the 3200s.


Nudge



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/17 17:50 by spnudge.

Well I guess your right Nudge considering the oil exploded and coated everything black. I guess it then qualifies as a black widow

Jim,

Are you saying that the 355 itself was featured on the recording, or just that a P-5 horn was there on an unidentified unit?

John Ford

Posted from iPhone