Nostalgia & History > WP 913A in Stockton, 1973

Western Pacific (WP) EMD F7 913-A is resting in the WP Power Pool in Stockton, CA on a Sunday afternoon in 1973.

WP 913A (913) is an EMD F7A, Class D-239. Reportedly: it was built in 1950 builders number 8976, WP 920-A, class D-239. It became WP 913-A in 1971, renumbered 913 in 1975, overhauled by MK in 1978 and donated in 1981 to the California State Railroad Museum.

According to TrainWeb: 913 was the most famous F-unit of the "Final Four" during their last 4 years in service. She was selected as the only one of the 4 to be painted in WP's orange and silver paint scheme that they did away with during the early 70's.

913 was built on 1/27/1950 (SN 8976) as 920-A. In 1971 she swapped numbers with the original 913-A. That same year she recieved the former SP plow pilot from the recently scrapped 921-A.

In 1975, as with all F-units left on the roster, the alpha suffixes were dropped.

In 1977 913 and 921 were shipped to Morrison-Knudsen in Boise Idaho for major work. 913 and 921 swapped prime movers since 921 had the better of the two. After arriving home in February 1978, she was immediately repainted in a modified freight/passenger orange and silver paint job that made her the most photographed F of the four. 913 and her 3 sisters ran, usually pulling the San Jose Turn from Milpitas to Stockton for the next 3 years until Union Pacific bought WP and everything changed.

WP 913 and 918 were retired roughly the same time in 1981, leaving 917 and 921 to carry on for almost another year. WP donated 913 to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, Ca. as a surprise gift that year, where she is currently on display (and is run on occasion).

I hope you like this post:

Steve Sloan
San José, CA

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Wonderful - Great detail in this scene.
Bob

"That same year she recieved the former SP plow pilot from the recently scrapped 921-A."

The pilot plow was never a SP plow. It was bought from EMD. Joe Strapac made the SP assumption and put it in his WP book. I met Joe, he was a nice man but his WP book had its share of errors and that assumption was one of them. The EMD plow followed WPs practice of installing tge plow in winter and removing it in the spring. It made an appearance on several Fs before they finally quit playing musical locomotives and left it on 920A.

But it is a great picture.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/24 21:37 by TomG.

I hope they left those horns on there when they donated her to the CSRM.