Tennessee pass train. SP 7490 leads an eastbound train along the Arkansas River near Texas Creek CO in 1994.

It's almost 48 years ago, the 45s were pure, loud gas hogs, glorious brutes. The ramshackle tower still stood, cabooses were required and the Kaiser ore train traversed the arid countryside with... (more)

Most everybody else bought small orders of these, if any, but SP jumped in with both feet. They were big, they sounded good and they were very flawed.

An eastbound intermodal is departing and headed for Beaumont Hill. Photo by Mike Dolenski. From my collection.

On Conrail. Photo by Mike Dolenski.

Maybe the only caboose hop I ever shot on the SP, this one was actually headed west around the loop as I recall.

An eastbound piggyback races through rural territory. At once one of the best and one of the worst temporary duty experiences I ever had.

Looking good, but hobbled by no transition and rail-spreading trucks, these six axle Alcos were exiled to slow speed yard service. Alco had problems under the hood but their products were big an... (more)

Fantasy paint scheme? I think this unit had white lettering that somehow came off. I like the variety. As a modeler I'd rather see some of the many real but ignored paint schemes be offered ins... (more)

There were a bunch of these that day and I enjoyed hearing the throaty roar of those 16-567s as they latched onto large cuts of cars. In the near future the only sound of locomotives will be a th... (more)

Southern Pacific GP9's 3593 and 3598 rolling by Portland's Amtrak Union Station with their consist of box cars and hoppers on November 14, 1971. Electro-Motives GP9 became the SP's basic four... (more)

Southern Pacific 7319 slowly leads a long manifest through the reverse curve as it heads east up San Timoteo Canyon.

Southern Pacific 2547 takes a boxcar and caboose towards the SP yard in Anaheim, California.

More efficient passenger power was needed as the PA's and E-units began to rack up the miles, and in the spring of 1967 the SP began taking delivery of ten new 3600 h.p. SDP45s from EMD (3200... (more)

On August 8, 1967 Southern Pacific FP7 6455 and a B-unit arrived with a nine-car No. 99 the Los Angeles-bound Coast Daylight, crossing the ATSF tracks at Mission Junction near the Los Angeles... (more)