Nostalgia & History > 3 Alco's still not yet giving up SP&S history

1. RS2 #4001 @ Vancouver, WA 6/72 my shot

2. C415 #4010 no info

3. C636 @ Vancouver, WA 6/72 my shot

---

---

---

To this right coast railfan, the Western Pacific unit in photo #3 looks a bit out of place.

boejoe Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To this right coast railfan, the Western Pacific
> unit in photo #3 looks a bit out of place.


At that time the WP power routinely ran as far as Seattle, this photo looks like Vancouver, Washington. Conversely the SP&S power was often in the Feather River Canyon, later BN unts would be turned anywhere in the FRC, Oroville sometimes into Stockton and occasionally into Oakland. Details like that are what the pre-merger roads so interesting to so many people.

- edit: removed reference to SP&S yard in Vancouver, not sure who's that yard is but eventually it was BN with a lot of traffic for the Inside Gateway.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/17 21:42 by TCnR.

Yes, as noted in my original post pics 1&3 were in Vancouver,,WA

valmont Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, as noted in my original post pics 1&3 were
> in Vancouver,,WA


Yes, low coffee light is still on. #2 sure looks like the same ground cover and background as Vancouver, maybe the sequence numbers on the slide would support that. Great looking photos.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> boejoe Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > To this right coast railfan, the Western
> Pacific
> > unit in photo #3 looks a bit out of place.
>
>
> At that time the WP power routinely ran as far as
> Seattle, this photo looks like Vancouver,
> Washington which had been the SP&S main yard.
> Conversely the SP&S power was often in the Feather
> River Canyon, later BN unts would be turned
> anywhere in the FRC, Oroville sometimes into
> Stockton and occasionally into Oakland. Details
> like that are what the pre-merger roads so
> interesting to so many people.

Power pool between BN and WP started March 22, 1971 and lasted until about 1981, when the upcoming onset of MoP-UP totally changed traffic flows and BN shifted interchange to SP at Klamath Falls.

Power pool started with trains 137 Seattle - Stockton and 138 Stockton - Seattle. Less than a year later, it was expanded to (a) 139 Vancouver, WA - Stockton and 140 Stockton - Vancouver, WA, and (b) 171 Pasco - Oroville or Portola and 170 Oroville or Portola - Pasco. (The routing of 170
and 171 varied depending on which block on 171 out of Klamath Falls was larger, the east block or the west block. The smaller block would be set out at Keddie for other trains.)

So I suspect Vince's photo of 4361 in Pasco was taken in 1972 or 1973 and we are looking at the power that came in on 140.

Best regards,

Rob L.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/17 13:41 by rob_l.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> valmont Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yes, as noted in my original post pics 1&3
> were
> > in Vancouver,,WA
>
>
> Yes, low coffee light is still on. #2 sure looks
> like the same ground cover and background as
> Vancouver, maybe the sequence numbers on the slide
> would support that. Great looking photos.


the second shot is not my shot, so the sequence number would not help me, perhaps someone will have some info about this 4010 shot.

Rob is correct about the year being 1972 or 1973 when I took the 4361 shot .... the exact date was 6/28/72

---

Thanks for sharing these.
Bob

Valmont, your picture of the 4001 (SP&S 61) reminds me of a fun trip through Salem on BN train 1300 about 45 years ago on a cold, brilliant blue sky winter day. Look about mid-way down the ten-years-old thread at https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1530034,1530167#msg-1530167 for a description of what turned Salemite heads upward.

I'm thinking the pic of the C-415 would either be Vancouver
(which were home to the Vancouver shops), or the Hoyt St.
roundhouse in Portland. Of course I'm just guessing (Lots of years ago).

Larry Dodgion
Wilsonville, OR

I should add that WP 3540 was probably on its delivery run. WP took delivery of its GP40-2s by way of the BN run-through pool so as to avoid California sales tax.

Best regards,

Rob L.

rob_l Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I should add that WP 3540 was probably on its
> delivery run. WP took delivery of its GP40-2s by
> way of the BN run-through pool so as to avoid
> California sales tax.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Rob L.

Except that 3540 was a late GP40 built in 1971 not a -2.  WP would not get their first GP40-2's until 1979.  3540 would be destroyed less that 8 years later in that awful derailment in Hayward, CA