Passenger Trains > WP F7, ATSF dome, SP articulated

On Tuesday, Niles Canyon Railway's Western Pacific F7 918D brought Santa Fe dome 505 and SP articulated coaches 2473, 2474 to Sunol from the Brightside yard for a much needed washing. The SP articulated coaches are under restoration. They sport new roof coatings, letterboard and extensive interior work. The spray from the hose was a welcome relief in the 100+ degree weather.

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The older those artics get the more they seem to sag in the middle...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Why are the outside trucks on the articulated coach a different design than the center truck? Are they more modern replacements?

The center truck carries more weight.

The triple-bolster trucks on the prewar Daylight cars had more wear points because there were three times as many swing hangers hidden inside the frame. One trick used by an economy-conscious SP was to make the secondary bolsters be fixed; that really compromised the ride, especially with lateral motion. (A triple-bolster truck in good repair was a lovely riding thing.)

In the 1950s SP started replacing some of the outboard trucks with more standard drop-equalized styles from retired cars. The center truck has a unique cup-type bolster for the articulation joint (and carries a different SP classification number), and can't be as easily replaced with the more common 41-N variations.

Don't know about the sag. The last car to operate for the SP in Daylight colors, SP 2441-42, exhibited that condition. Springs often need attention over the years, it's true.

Nice to see that car return to SP colors. Is it the only such Articulated ACM-ACW set that's been returned to the red stripe scheme? There are several surviving Arctic sets around, but I can't think of another that's returned to an SP state of appearance.

~ BZ

Notch16 Wrote:
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> The triple-bolster trucks on the prewar Daylight
> cars had more wear points because there were three
> times as many swing hangers hidden inside the
> frame. One trick used by an economy-conscious SP
> was to make the secondary bolsters be fixed; that
> really compromised the ride, especially with
> lateral motion. (A triple-bolster truck in good
> repair was a lovely riding thing.)
>
> In the 1950s SP started replacing some of the
> outboard trucks with more standard drop-equalized
> styles from retired cars. The center truck has a
> unique cup-type bolster for the articulation joint
> (and carries a different SP classification
> number), and can't be as easily replaced with the
> more common 41-N variations.
>
> Don't know about the sag. The last car to operate
> for the SP in Daylight colors, SP 2441-42,
> exhibited that condition. Springs often need
> attention over the years, it's true.
>
> Nice to see that car return to SP colors. Is it
> the only such Articulated ACM-ACW set that's been
> returned to the red stripe scheme? There are
> several surviving Arctic sets around, but I can't
> think of another that's returned to an SP state of
> appearance.
>
> ~ BZ


Very interesting BZ. An interesting side note on the 77ft non-artic ex-Daylight cars is that a few of them that were assigned to the COSF received 41CDO trucks, commonly referred to as "outside swinghanger" trucks. In addition, these cars also received leg-rest seats, window tinting, and of course UP colors, which brought them into compliance with other regular chair cars assigned to this service. During their time in this service, I believe that all of them retained their fluted siding. Their assignment in this services lasted into the late 1960's.

The SP 2473-74 pictured come back to California after service on the Algoma Central where it experienced some tough winter conditions..

SPB

MojaveBill Wrote:
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> The older those artics get the more they seem to
> sag in the middle...

I think most of us fit that description!

Did they remove the nose MU equipment from the 918D when they restored her?
I know she had nose MU when she was green.

Nose MU equipment is gone.