Nostalgia & History > Southern Pacific Alco's on Tehachapi, odd paint scheme?

I took these back in July of 1975 on a westbound train at Sandcut on the Tehachapi's. These are two Alco RSD-12's probably being transferred somewhere for heavy yard duty. The 1968-1969 Southern Pacific Motive Power Annual states that they had 21 of these and they were bought for the Tehachapi grades in 1961.
The odd thing is that the 2965 looks like it is freshly painted but something is missing.


mp349

---

Here's another shot of the 2965. I think these were dead in consist. Don't know if they were trying out a new paint scheme or just made a mistake. Never saw another one like it.


mp349

---

mp349 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I took these back in July of 1975 on a westbound
> train at Sandcut on the Tehachapi's. These are
> two Alco RSD-12's probably being transferred
> somewhere for heavy yard duty.

Right. These two were part of a small group of Alco roadswitchers that was transferred to Ogden for yard service.

> The 1968-1969
> Southern Pacific Motive Power Annual states that
> they had 21 of these and they were bought for the
> Tehachapi grades in 1961.

Indeed. But they lasted in mainline service only a couple of years or so, before being demoted to secondary service (yard jobs and local freights). Then during the late Sixties they were transferred to the T&L (Texas and Louisiana) Lines. Some would return to the Pacific Lines during the Seventies.

> The odd thing is that the 2965 looks like it is
> freshly painted but something is missing.

It appears that most, if not all, of the group was delivered by Alco with a solid feather. As the units were repainted over the years, many received correctly painted feathers. A few others were repainted with solid feathers, as on the 2965.

Could these have been heading for the OC&E?

I believe the group sent to OC & E came from the 2950, 2954, 2958 and 2959. If memory serves, the 2950 burned up in Oregon, while the other three were returned to SP, repainted and used for a short time in the LA basin. I have photos of them in LA-Colton drag service circa 1977, and stored in a sea of dead GE's and other Alcos at the Bullring in 1978.

John

If I am not mistaken, 2959 was assigned to the San Fernando Local for a brief period in 76-77

In the summer of 1975, SP decided to retire the remaining 539-engined switchers (S2s and S4s)assigned to Ogden.

Replacements came in the form of 251-engined roadswitchers.

DL702s #2953, 2961 and 2965 were transferred from the T&L Lines, and DL721s 4000 thru 4005 and 4009 were transferred from the Western and San Joaquin Divisions.

These 10 units worked in yard and occasional local and work train service in the Ogden area until the entire group was retired in 1978 and sold to Chrome Crankshaft. Supposedly the 2961 and 2965 (pictured above) were resold by CC to someplace in South America.

In early 1975, SP sold DL701 #2904 and DL702s #2950, 2954, 2958 and 2959 to Weyerhaeuser after the timber company took over operation of the Oregon, California & Eastern. There, they put in a "memorable" preformance. By late fall, Weyco had given up on the Alcos, and returned them to the SP. (Well, actually, I believe 2904 never even made it back to the SP, and I'm not 100% certain about what happened to the 2950.)

The 2954, 2958 and 2959 made their way back to Los Angeles, where the Taylor Roundhouse force overhauled each one as time permitted. They were then assigned to the "Basin Hauler" pool, and worked various yard, local, and hauler jobs in the Southland.

Sold to Chrome Crankshaft upon retirement, 2954 and 2958 were resold by CC to Metropolitan Stevedore at the harbor, and were eventually donated by MS to Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, Calif. My understanding is that OERM plans to make one "good" unit out of the two.

DL721 4009 was purchased from CC by Short Line Enterprises, Ltd. in 1989 for use on the Newhall Ranch Movie Train at Castaic Jct., CA. In July 1990 it was moved to Piru, CA and in July 1991 to Fillmore California where it became Fillmore & Western #4009. It is still in service.

I remember the SP 2958 'fondly'... A cold, rainy night. I was called off the X brakeman's board, with 2 others, to work 1 midnight shift in Taylor Yard. Of us guys, a fellow by the name of J. R. Lucy (John) was a few numbers ahead of me and was "proclaimed" Foreman. We, of course, explained to the yardmaster that we did not really know the yard because we were road brakemen. So, as to lesson the chance of mistakes / accidents, he traded us off to do a simple chore in the "local" yard that another (regular) crew was doing. We were to sort out 3 tracks of reefers. It had been raining for several days, so the ties were soggy. He told us to make the moves slowly as not to tax the rail too much in the wet conditions. "Please don't put anything on the ground."

We asked him... "Where's our power?" He said that he would try to find something in the roundhouse we could use. They were pretty-much out of engines that night. After a few minutes, he called back on the speaker..."Get the 2958, but the roundhouse foreman asks me to let you know that the paint is dry, but not hardened, and please be careful with it, the guys put alot of effort into rebuilding that locomotive and it wasn't supposed to go back into service until tomorrow, they want to get a few pictures with it when the sun comes out... it looks great!"

So, we climbed aboard, went down "20" (the track out of the roundhouse, towards Dayton Tower) and then backed into the "Local Yard" from the bottom end. We then started switching the tracks. About 30" and several moves later, the rail spread under the SP 2958, and it was in the mud! With no other power available, we were told to go home. My night in the yard, as a switchman, lasted about 3 hours and we had no problem heading home in the pouring rain!

They let the ground dry out a couple of days and finally got the 'hook' in there to lift it up and repair the rail under it. It then went back to the house so the guys could get the pictures they wanted, but they had to clean alot of mud off of it before the pictures could be taken and they were not happy.

I saw it in the sunshine a couple of days later... boy, it looked great! It was an effort that they really could be proud of. I saw it on and off several times over the next few months, working the yard at Taylor. Quite a few months later, maybe a year, I saw the "Alhambra Switcher" taking it, and a few others, out to Alhambra to Chrome Crankshaft. I could not believe it, it still looked great.

I'll always remember that number, and that engine!

Larry

Both the 2954 and 2958 have major "issues" to be resolved and probably will not run for sometime if at all. Our diesel crew has about four or five people currently and the priority now is running maintenance on the active fleet and continuing restoration of SP #1006. The "baby alligators" will have to wait their turn.

Wonderful backstory Larry!