Nostalgia & History > Santa Maria Valley RR 1975

Here's some photos of the Santa Maria Valley RR on two different visits, first three photos taken on December 13, 1975, the rest on December 31, 1975. If I remember correctly, I think their units, or at least some, had air whistles instead of horns?

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Caught a job returning to Santa Maria just before sunset with the #30 and 50 and one LPG car. Not sure, but I think this part of the line may be abandoned now? It was east of the 101 freeway. If anything, probably much more developed by now compared to then..
Third shot of a job switching at the Union Sugar plant at Betteravia. The #60 is an unusual export GE unit, either a U6B or U7B? Don't remember how it ended up on the Santa Maria Valley. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/19 18:33 by GreenFlag.

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Here are two more of the 70 and 60. I took a quick look on the internet and looks like two of the 70 tonners are still on the roster? Don't know much about the current operations there.

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An "A+" set of forty-four year old photos.
Bob

There were some, if not all who had Hancock air whistles.
 

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing your shots.

GreenFlag Wrote:

> If I remember correctly, I think their units, or
> at least some, had air whistles instead of horns?

In the photos, units 30, 50, and 70 have Hancock 4700 air whistles.  The 60 and 80 appear to have pairs of Wabco A-1 air horns. 

SMV replaced the Hancock air whistles on their last few 70-tonners with air horns back in 2013.

Anybody know the lineage of wood caboose 180?  I believe extended vision steel caboose 210 is a former Rutland Rwy unit now on display at the Guadalupe Amtrak 'station'.(Amshack)

Yes it was a GE U6B, caught it a few times, they are still quite busy with a few GE  70 Tonners and this Geep, plus they have a Ex Santa Fe Geep on lease

The Caboose on Display by the Amtrak Station is a Ex Rutland Caboose



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/19 21:21 by miralomarail.

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Evan_Werkema Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> GreenFlag Wrote:
>
> > If I remember correctly, I think their units,
> or
> > at least some, had air whistles instead of
> horns?
>
> In the photos, units 30, 50, and 70 have Hancock
> 4700 air whistles.  The 60 and 80 appear to have
> pairs of Wabco A-1 air horns. 
>
> SMV replaced the Hancock air whistles on their
> last few 70-tonners with air horns back in 2013.

Wasn't that when the current air horn standards came into effect? IIRC the Hancock 4700 Airchimes don't meet the requirements.

Caboose 180 was x Frisco.

Don

PHall Wrote:
> Evan_Werkema Wrote:

> > SMV replaced the Hancock air whistles on their
> > last few 70-tonners with air horns back in
> > 2013.
>
> Wasn't that when the current air horn standards
> came into effect? IIRC the Hancock 4700 Airchimes
> don't meet the requirements.

The current air horn standards came into effect in 2006.  I don't know if a pair of Hancock 4700's on a 70-tonner meet the requirements or not. The whistles are valuable collector's items, however, and I gather from the following that SMV sold them after removing them:

http://railswap.org/osc/classifieds/index.php?page=item&id=991

west Wrote:
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> Caboose 180 was x Frisco.
>
> Don

Looks like they modified the end of the cupola.  I think they had two of them at one time. 

Not sure if they are Hancock whistles, but the Chicago Short Line cabooses are equipped with air whistles, and I have heard them in use when making reverse movements. I wonder if the SMV cabooses were similarly equipped.

Very cool, times I went by the 60 was buried in the house and the sun was somewhere else!

Out

colehour Wrote:

> Not sure if they are Hancock whistles, but the
> Chicago Short Line cabooses are equipped with air
> whistles, and I have heard them in use when making
> reverse movements.

A lot of cabooses are fitted with tiny, single note "peanut whistles" connected to a rigid pipe on the handrails coming off the air hose.  They are a lot higher-pitched and tinnier-sounding than a Hancock.  I can't find any photos of CSL cabooses that show Hancocks.  I have seen a few photos of cabooses fitted with regular locomotive-type air horns, and I've often wondered how long of a 14L they can blow before the brakes start setting up.  This CSX/B&OCT hack is an example:

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,3685501,3685503#3685503

BNSF likewise has a few "shoving platforms" with K3LA's:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2546475
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=5204841
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_city/32136229594