Nostalgia & History > Just about there.

The manned helper operation may eventually go the way of the dinosaur, so get em while you got em. The east still has some great spots courtesy of NS and CSX, but DPUs are encroaching. Fortunately in 1981 they were a thing of the future, and the guys on the rear or in the west, in the middle many times, were extra opportunities to keep the human contact alive. The SP as I previously have mentioned was a master of mid train helpers, but Santa Fe could put on a show too. A great spot to witness the last part of the Tehachapi assault was the Highway 58 bridge just west of the town of Tehachapi. The roar of 8 to 12 units in 8th notch clawing that last stretch up the hill eastbound  was unforgettable! This shot shows that Santa Fe could once in a while match its rival for a great lashup, and bone rattling power.

 

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

---

Great shot! 

A 5-unit set of 'bell-ringers' as my Dad (an SP engineer at the time) would call them when he would see a group of Santa Fe GP30s and GP35s in the early 80s.
Maybe the Santa Fe had better luck with them, but he noted that these units on the SP would often ring alarm bells in the cab quite frequently if under heavy load conditions.
I would imagine the ATSF remanufacture to GP30u/GP35u designation probably took care of some of the issues.

Rich

Santa Fe actually took care of their power, SP just ran their's to death.