Pour the coal to her! As part of the departure of some of the first equipment to leave the Santa Paula Branch Line from the now defunct Fillmore & Western Railway, today's LOF63-18 has found some additional power in the form of FWRY No. 3501, a GP35 built in 1964 for the Pennsylvania Railroad, as the black and yellow GP transitions just south of Montalvo for the first time in more than a decade as emphasized by the spew of soot skyward. Led by a long-hood-forward running UP 1469, a GP40-2, today's train includes the FWRY No. 3501 as it heads for its new home at the Santa Maria Valley Railroad followed by three empty plastic pellet cars that were traded for two loaded ones at Spears Manufacturing in Santa Paula, Calif.. Bringing up the rear of this morning's local are three, exceedingly rare passenger cars that are gracing the mainline for the first time since the early 2000's as they head for their new homes.
From left to right, the first of the three cars is GTLX 39923, an ex-ATSF "Hi-Level" coach that was delivered to the Santa Fe in 1964 as ATSF No. 549 that saw service on the line's famed "El Capitan" passenger train. Sold to Amtrak, the car was renumbered to No. 9923 and finally renumbered to No. 39923 following its conversion to Head-End-Power (HEP). Following its time with Amtrak, the car was sold into the private ownership of Philip Sheridan, who passed in April of 2020. The car is reported to be heading to Stockton, Calif. now where it will be stored before heading to a museum in the midwest.
Next up are a pair of Southern Pacific business cars, the "Houston" GTLX 800222 (SP 99) and "Los Angeles" GTLX 800385 (SP 131). Built by Pullman in the 1926, both these cars served the brass of the SP for many years all across the railroad's once dominate empire. The "Houston" in particular is noted to have been assigned to Thomas Sproul. The "Los Angeles," on the other hand, was also built by Pullman in 1926 as part of Lot #6015 to Plan #3959 as a 3C-2DR-8 seat lounge observation car named, "Balboa". The car was sold to SP in 1953 and rebuilt to Northwestern Pacific (NWP) business car #1 "Redwood." In 1959, it was transferred to the SP once again and renumbered to SP 131, with the name "Western." It would go on to be renamed "Sacramento" and finally, "Los Angeles," before being retired from the SP. Both business cars were eventually picked up by Uncommon Journeys who owned them until the late 1990's before they were transferred to IFE Leasing. From there, they were purchased by Philip Sheridan. While the "Houston" is slated to be heading for a museum in the midwest eventually, the "Los Angeles" was reportedly purchased by BUGX, which has its operations based in Stockton, Calif.
