Nostalgia & History > SP Train # 101 at Berkeley, Ca., 1958

Here is SP train # 101, led by Alco PA 6022. It wears the bloody nose paint scheme. Note that the paint on these somewhat tired PAs is dirty.

Who says that the SP ever had really clean, shiney engines, even in the 1950s

This train is just arriving at Berkeley Ca. 101 is on the westbound main. That is the water side drill on the left, next to the train , on the right is the eastbound main. On the far right is the land side drill.

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I'm no SP expert by any stretch of the imagination, but are you sure this is the correct year? I thought the red and grey scheme didn't come along until 1960. This looks more like a shot from the mid to late 60's.

Not a great photo by today's standards, but one shot with a simple box camera at University Ave.

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cdub Wrote:
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> I'm no SP expert by any stretch of the
> imagination, but are you sure this is the correct
> year? I thought the red and grey scheme didn't
> come along until 1960. This looks more like a
> shot from the mid to late 60's.

Hopthump also questioned the date. I have no notes on the back of this particular print. However, I don't recall taking any black and white photos after late 1960, maybe very early 1961. If the red and grey scheme in fact did not come along until 1960, then this loco got a bad paint job, or spent too much time on Donner Pass.

mdo

SP 1516 in the year 1960 at Berkeley (Calif.). In front of the former freight station site (Hearst St.), I think.

Street crossings on the 4-track SP (two mains, two drills) were protected by wig wags. Switch crew would go to lunch, leave the engine underneath the Univ. Ave. overpass, and wig wags would run continuously until they returned.

Passenger trains in the afternoon, in the 1960s, would be #102 (City of SF) around 3 p.m.; #12 (Cascade) a hour later; #51 (SJ Daylight) close to 6 p.m. For a buck or so, you could ride #102 from Berkeley to Martinez and return on #51.

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The change to red/grey came in 1958 and by 1960, quite a few PAs were r/g

Hold the phone here, Mike. Are you telling us (at one time) you took photos of trains??
My goodness, we all though you were just a hard line company officer that would glare at us taking pictures as you hy-railed along. The stories and now pictures?? DJR is rolling over in his grave...

mdo Wrote:
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> Hopthump also questioned the date.

Yeah, well... he's just a dumb hog head, so whadda he know!

Anywho, the first scarlet and gray unit (F7 6378) was painted at the old LA General Shops in the summer of 1958. Given the "lag time" in repainting the Alco fleet, and that these four appear rather ratty, I'd wager the photo was taken sometime between 1960 and late 1963, as the 6022 shows being traded-in to GE in March 1964.

Can anyone identify the auto in the left background? That might be a useful clue.

Looks like a 1958 Dodge Coronet.

WAF Wrote:
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> Hold the phone here, Mike. Are you telling us (at
> one time) you took photos of trains??
> My goodness, we all though you were just a hard
> line company officer that would glare at us taking
> pictures as you hy-railed along. The stories and
> now pictures?? DJR is rolling over in his grave...

Geez, and all this time I thought it was a radar gun he was holding...!

WAF Wrote:
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> Hold the phone here, Mike. Are you telling us (at
> one time) you took photos of trains??
> My goodness, we all though you were just a hard
> line company officer that would glare at us taking
> pictures as you hy-railed along. The stories and
> now pictures?? DJR is rolling over in his grave...

Well, you will just have to hide and watch and read. Then you can reach your own conclusions.

mdo

I don't hide from anyone and yes, conclusion is beginning to get interesting about you. Not the gruff hyrailing Super yelling at Fruitvale Tower over the radio because the lineup is late.

What year did SP add icicle breakers and wagon wheel antennas? Possible clue...

-Dan

topper Wrote:
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> mdo Wrote:

>
> > Hopthump also questioned the date.
>

Looks more like a 1956, 57 or 58 Ford Thunderbird to me.

WAF Wrote:
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> I don't hide from anyone and yes, conclusion is
> beginning to get interesting about you. Not the
> gruff hyrailing Super yelling at Fruitvale Tower
> over the radio because the lineup is late.

Perhaps I just mellowed with age. Retirement sure helps, too.

Besides, in those early 1980's we had "miles to go and promises to keep"

mdo

58 or 59 Plymouth Fury or Dodge Coronet

SP started painting its PAs red and grey in 1958, but according a photo caption of page 51 of "Diesels of the Espee Volume 1: Alco PA's," in April 1959, most of them were still painted in the Daylight scheme. A photo caption on page 53 of the book indicated that by January 1960, the sceme was becoming scarce on PAs and would be gone in a short time.

When did the Black Widow scheme cease on the F7's and geeps?

Same time..1958

Q: When did the Black Widow scheme on the Fs and Geeps get discontinued?

WAF Wrote:
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> Same time..1958

But of course many of the F units never got repainted: There were still operating Black Widows left to see in the late 60s and perhaps even the very early 70s. All the Geeps still in service seemed to be Bloody Nose by then, though.

Best regards,

Rob L.