Nostalgia & History > Santa Fe in the Mid-60's

   My on-going project during this virus thing has been the scanning of mine, and my Dad, Nolan Black's collection.  Yesterday, while rooting around in my basement, I came across some old undated pics taken by my late brother-in-law George C. Wagoner.  Before he married my sister, he and I had many train chasing trips back in the 1960's to both Cajon and Tehachapi in Southern California.  I'll have to ask my sister if she has any more.

1.  A set of ALCO PA's head up #7, the westbound mail train at the east swith at Summit.  They are doing what ALCO's do best, laying down a smoke screen.

2.  These strange looking units captured at the west end of the yard at Summit were the test units for the hugely successful EMD SD40 line.  These demo units were built on SD35 frames and sported flared radiators, a la SD45's.

3.  George caught this outstanding night shot of eastbound #18 making its station stop at Pasadena.  By now, the sleeper and coach sections were combined, except for busy travel times.

   Thanks for looking, and as always, comments welcome.

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO

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You sure picked three great shots to scan.  Certainly would like to see more!

What a trio of true treasures. Number two has the old TRAIN sign before it was changed to a rotation beacon to the left. For those unfamiliar, just around the curve in number two about five cars deep, a large sign that had TRAIN on it was suspended between two high masts that was turned horizontal to the ground when no eastbound was on approach on the north track but when there was one in the block west of Summit it would turn verticle to the ground dispalying the TRAIN, basically it was a block occupation indicator for anyone working at Summit.
JB



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/20 13:58 by 3rdswitch.

Three is excellent. First-class night photo.
Bob

What a cool shot! (image #3) I haven't seen many night time exposures of Santa Fe passenger Red & Sliver anywhere. I sure wish I'd had that opportunity! Man-o-man, the things I could have done with Kodachrome & a tripod... :^/

Lance



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/20 18:17 by santafe199.

Great photos all Brian!  I'm particularly partial to the last in Pasadena :o)

Rich

Spent many hours of my life right there in the 3rd picture of ATSF No. 18 at Pasadena.  Thanks for posting these Brian!

Pete

Ditto on Pasadena, where I worked as a second shift ticket clerk during the summer of '64.
 

Could those black SD45s be EMD demonstrators?

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA

JimBaker Wrote:
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> Could those black SD45s be EMD demonstrators?

I don't think they're SD45's although they are demonstrators.  I believe they are SD40's that went to the UP and are now scrapped.  I can be corrected on this.  

Very nice photos, thanks for posting.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

ntharalson Wrote:
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> JimBaker Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Could those black SD45s be EMD demonstrators?
>
> I don't think they're SD45's although they are
> demonstrators.  I believe they are SD40's that
> went to the UP and are now scrapped.  I can be
> corrected on this.  
>
> Very nice photos, thanks for posting.  
>
> Nick Tharalson,
> Marion, IA

Thank you, and yes, you are correct.  Those were the EMD SD40 test and demonstrator units.  As I stated, they were built on the shorter SD35 frames, and did have the SD45 style flared radiators.  The first pic I took of the same train on the same day as George did.  I shot this between Lugo and Summit. Notice the EMD test car. The Union Pacific bought some of these units, and I caught one of them on a westbound on Cajon Pass.  The third one is of an actual SD45 demonstrator unit, and I caught this one in the Southern Pacific Taylor Roundhouse area.  Unfortunately, the exact dates of all three of these has been lost.

Brian

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