California Catch-Ups

Connections!

Funny how some of my prior posts were "nudged" by things seen in California last August. I figured it was worth a post to just play around with the connections.

Since my prior post had something to do with Geeps, I thought I'd start with an outrageous example of one. It not only sports the ill-fated SP/ATSF merger colors, it is almost top-heavy with all those typical SP lights on the nose.

Our first encounter with prior posts was with the EMD GP15-1 or "baby tunnel motors" discussed in a May 2008 post. UP has more than anyone else since it has taken-over the largest and one of the medium owners of those units; MoPac and C&NW.

Lucky for us, California Northern bought a few from C&NW before the merger so we got to see a less homogenized copy of the semi-unique C&NW version. This one apparently had work done in Roseville or there is some kind of run-through arrangement that brought it before our cameras. I didn't realize back in May 2008 that California Northern got most of the ex-CNW units.

You will note some C&NW spotting features on this California Northern example. There are extra louvers along the engine room roof line and of course the signature C&NW bell in the nose. Experts can probably spot more things but those stand out from memory. I included the photo, taken a few days later from the same spot in Roseville, of a probable ex-MoPac GP15-1 for comparison. Since UP is good at standardizing things (given the massive roster) it is harder to spot ex-CNW power, but odds are in my favor.

I couldn't help myself by including a photo of a true "tunnel motor" just for comparison sake. We were fortunate to see this "snoot" version in Roseville given that a lot of power is in storage. I believe it's my only photo of one in full UP paint.

A somewhat more recent post in July mentioned a few things about scale test cars based on a photo of an old MEC test car. Well, didn't this test car catch my attention when it went by the old Tunnel #1 site on Cajon Pass. Again, it messed with tradition in so many ways. If I had to guess, I'd say it has some fancy technology buried behind the outer doors. Just the layers of paint patches could throw off the weight of the car. Anyway, it was a strange looking car.

How about SD38's? We ran into one at Roseville on the Amshack end of the yards. Those rigs are disappearing fast here in the east. I assumed that UP's old pre-merger examples would have long since been eliminated. Wrong! This guy, and the SD40-2 coupled to it, had a unique sound (un-turbocharged?) that got louder as it shoved harder on a string of cars. Back in a February post, I mentioned ex-Conrail SD38's, so I had to show this one off.

The final "catch-up" item is a GP30. Nothing special about this particular one except that it is in operating condition at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, CA. I encountered it's unique brother unit - 844 - in Nevada a year earlier while doing some light railfanning in Vegas. That was a June 2008 post.


An itch has now been scratched.

BC