Three SP F7's A-B-A set wearing black widow paint scheme, on helper duty at Truckee, California in January 1955. Don Hansen photo from my collection.

Oh … So the Flashing Red Lights Mean "Stop"?

As Southern Pacific's Huntington Beach Hauler was heading west (compass north) on the Stanton Branch back to Anaheim, at jus... (more)

An Unexpected Delay

As Southern Pacific's Huntington Beach Hauler was heading west (compass north) on the Stanton Branch back to Anaheim, at just 25 miles per hour, a moro... (more)

Ten months, almost to the day, after the Union Pacific officially took over ownership if the mighty Southern Pacific, a trio of still-unrenumbered AC4400CWs, among the last locomotives purchased b... (more)

EMD workhorse SD45 in SP service at speed somewhere in Arizona

engine row at Tucson

SP GP9E 3778; nee SP 5788.

In the 1960s, my father sought out Santa Fe and Southern Pacific PAs whenever he was in California. Here, Southern Pacific #102, the eastbound City of San Francisco, is led by four PAs soon after... (more)

How often can the crew hang out of the cab, and see their own rear end device. What I believe to be captive power to Colton yard. With SDP45's on the ends, and a SD9 and I believe an SD39, The odd... (more)

The SPSF paint scheme sure looked good when it was fresh. Southern Pacific 8530 has just departed Salt Lake Cities, Roper yard, and is heading north toward Ogden, Utah. Tom Ellis photo.

Southern Pacific Train 52, the San Joaquin Daylight, is led by an A-B-A set of F7s at Richmond, CA in the 1960s. The train is about to pass under my father's vantage point, the Santa Fe bridge. ... (more)

I don't know the back story of why these these two beast were in town. SDP45's 3207 and 3201 are at the Salt Lake City, Union Pacific depot, hooked to Amtrak 314. If you were standing in this spot... (more)

A westbound train on the Siskiyou Line crosses the Klamath River. The original truss bridge at this location had collapsed several years earlier.

A westbound Southern Pacific taconite ore train begins the steep three-percent descent of Tennessee Pass as it exits the summit tunnel east of Mitchell, Colorado, on the afternoon of August 2, 199... (more)