Nostalgia & History > mundo: Warbonnet Wednesday in B&W - Alco PA's

In addition to the four-unit sets of F3's seen in previous threads, Santa Fe also used its fleet of Alco PA-1 and PB-1 locomotives to power the Grand Canyon in 1950. Here are some photos Ed Von Nordeck, TO user mundo, took of the train behind Alco power at Corona, CA in 1950.

1. This view shows Train 124, a section of the Grand Canyon that ran via the old main line over Raton Pass, during its station stop at Corona. The lead unit is 60L, which later went to Delaware & Hudson as their 17 and survives today in a museum in Mexico. The photo is doubly interesting in that it's one of the few I've seen showing the unit with its factory grill work intact, complete with the curved trim piece behind the cab. Most photos of this unit in Santa Fe, D&H, and FNM service show it after it received Farr-type grills and lost its trim piece:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3858827
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1318906
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3492135
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,4304104

Ed took this photo on April 23, 1950, which appears to have been a very productive day photographically. Loren Joplin's Santa Fe Passenger Trains site lists the locomotive consists for passenger trains into Albuquerque and Belen in 1950, and his data show the other two units in the consist this day to be 57A and 57L.

http://santafe.gmbus.com/PassengerDieselAssignment1950/PassengerDieselAssignment1950.htm

2. Two months earlier, Ed caught the Grand Canyon highballing out of the Corona station behind another ABA set of Alcos sporting surprisingly clean stacks. The lead unit is 64L, and the data tables on Joplin's site suggests the train is First 24 on February 19, 1950, with PB-1 52A and PA-1 52L trailing.

3. The 64L's engineer looks to have been engaged in conversation with that boy in the striped shirt to the left during the station stop. You can see him leaning out the window as the train departs, and in this broadside view, he is still looking rearward.

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"A+" images. Number three blends beauty and humanity into the same photo.
Bob

Nice shots!! Old Santa Fe Railway passenger train crews were based out of LA and Needles, CA and worked between Needles and LA. LA based engine crews worked LA-Needles-LA.

Great post Evan!

Regards, Jim Evans

RodneyZona Wrote:
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> Nice shots!! Old Santa Fe Railway passenger train
> crews were based out of LA and Needles, CA and
> worked between Needles and LA. LA based engine
> crews worked LA-Needles-LA.

I thought l.a. based hogheads worked los angeles to barstow and the needles based hogheads worked needles to Barstow (?).

66

I love your third photo Evan. It shows the true side of railroading with the engineer watching for a signal from the train crew and possibly conversing with his fireman inside the cab. We old farts can remember growing up as kids and wanting to emulate the engineers with their Kromer hats and bibs. I was one of the fortunate ones that got to fulfill his childhood fantasies.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

goneon66 Wrote:
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> RodneyZona Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Nice shots!! Old Santa Fe Railway passenger
> train
> > crews were based out of LA and Needles, CA and
> > worked between Needles and LA. LA based engine
> > crews worked LA-Needles-LA.
>
> I thought l.a. based hogheads worked los angeles
> to barstow and the needles based hogheads worked
> needles to Barstow (?).
>

Correction!! LA based engine crews worked to and from Barstow and Needles based engine crews worked to and from Barstow:
> 66

With that youngster gazing up in reverant awe at the engineer, image #2 becomes priceless...

Lance/199

And no. 3 is a fine profile of that PA's shape. I have seen many, but this one stands out for some reason. Black & white, maybe?

The lad in the photo is Steven Houck, son of Lester Houck, who operated a photo-camera shop in Corona California.
Shared railfanning with Lester in the late 1940's Lost track of Steven. They would come down once a week and watch # 24 and 124 head east.

Those are some great shots! Enjoyed them very much.

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX

Those PAs were beautiful units!

Bob3985 Wrote:
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> I love your third photo Evan. It shows the true
> side of railroading with the engineer watching for
> a signal from the train crew and possibly
> conversing with his fireman inside the cab. We old
> farts can remember growing up as kids and wanting
> to emulate the engineers with their Kromer hats
> and bibs. I was one of the fortunate ones that got
> to fulfill his childhood fantasies.

Agree -- #3 is a work of art. B