Nostalgia & History > UP Centennials on Raton Pass Line

Back in the late 1970s, April 7, 1978 to be exact, I received a call telling me that two trains led by UP Centennials were being rerouted on the ATSF Raton Pass line. A drive with a friend resulted in this shot of the first train, at Hebron, NM, just south of Raton NM, shortly before sunset. Amazingly, I managed a cab ride on this very train over Raton Pass, though found myself stranded in LaJunta when asked to exit the train... all night at the bus station an unfitting end to my trip. Apologies for less than great scan, but interesting shot to share.

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Wow, this is a rare shot indeed! I was never aware that the Centennials ever ventured on foreign rails, either in power pools, detours, or otherwise. I'm really surprised the Santa Fe accepted these beasts on their rails, instead of forcing UP to use more standard power, like SD40-2s.

Here's another rare thing about this shot: Centennials splitting semaphores. I don't believe this ever happenned on UP rails. Thanks for posting!

My first thought on seeing this image was also: WOW ! Gerry

That is very cool! Let's see some more if there are some!!

I think the ATSF limited them to 45mph on curves.

Regarding Centennials detouring over foreign rails, don't forget #6939 operating as a trailing unit in the consist of freight train that detoured on the Santa Fe between Stockton and Barstow on March 13, 1995 due to slides in the Feather River Canyon. A photo of the engine in the Tehachapis on the detouring freight can be found on pg. 15 of the June 1995 issue of Trains. Pacific RailNews also had a photo of same in the Tehachapis; May 1995 issue, I believe (6936 was recalled to freight service in '95 due to a power shortage).

Disregard my identification of the engine as "#6939;" it should of course be 6936.

Now THAT is what I call a once-in-a-lifetime photo...incredible! Thanks for the posting, Skyview.