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Is anybody still seeing any SP locos anymore
Just my two cents now i must build my railroad,
Pierce
Just my two cents now i must build my railroad,
Pierce
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I occasionally see 'em here runnin' through Orygun City, but the instances are gettin' mighty rare.
Don in Orygun City
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Still seeing them in Austin, TX, but they are getting yellow patches. I saw one just the other day. 4 axle GE Cotton Belt.
Joel
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They are still all over Central and Southern Arizona as of August, 2002. I have also seen quite a few in California as of late(I saw a few dozen a couple weeks back at Colton). Many do indeed have the yellow patch and new UP number on them. It is strange to see a standard SP "bloody nose" paint scheme (some speed lettered, some not)with a yellow box and red number under the cab window, and a yellow box and UP logo on the nose (surrounded by all that red!).
PS. In response to Joel's comment: I never saw any SP units in all the times I have been to Austin. In fact, I never saw much of anything. I swear they hide the good stuff whenever I'm in town... ;- )
Tom Fassett
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It's true they are becoming a rarer sight. I live not far from the tracks in South Austin. There are times when I hear nothing for several hours, and then six or seven go through in a few hours. I guess that is the result of "fleeting."
Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures soon.
Joel
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If I had more than one a day go my home, I'd be happy. I live in the Phoenix area and we have always been an afterthought when it comes to railroads. The (UP, ex SP) mainline is forty miles south of town so if one wants to see any reliable action, you have to drive for a while...
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Haven't seen any lately over here in NW Florida, but see alot of other roads.
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Just seen not more than 45 minutes ago. SP 8293, a tunnel moter. Wearing a pretty bad coat of paint. No patch. It was heading north along the ex-MOPAC main in Austin, TX.
Joel
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Kewl, I was just wondering since its gettin close to a decoed since the merger i think
Just my two cents
Pierce
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I had to add this one as I was surprised when I saw it. I was returning to Phoenix from a business trip (on August 15th) and just out of Tucson I saw a Southern Pacific B30-7 in speed lettered paint (looking pretty good) behind two UP SD70s running 70 mph in front of a hot shot double stack train. I have yet to see any of the SP B30-7 or B36-7s in UP paint. I wonder if the UP will hang on to them or send them the way of the (previously) ubiquitous SD40-2s...
On the same trip, I saw two SP GP40-2s looking pretty sad, one tunnel motor (SD40T-2 snoot) in equally poor looking condition and a couple of SD40Ms (in SD45 bodies). None of them had the yellow patch though, which is surprising at this late a date.
Tom
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Yeah... we can thank the difficult and slow merger woes of the UP+DRGW/SP/SSW lines that has preserved a relatively high number of older units for what, 6+ years after the merger date. Good news/bad news scenario.
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I always figured that the SP's sloppy way of doing things in the waning days of the empire would account for nothing. Boy was I wrong. Little did the UP know what it was trying to swallow...
(OUCH...)
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On August 27 I saw SP 342 (no patch), a big GE 6 axle as the second unit on the San Antonio Light and Power unit coal train heading North (empty) on the ex-MOPAC main in Austin. As I was driving on the highway I was unable to get pictures.
Joel
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On a trip to California last week (the end of August), I passed a number of "parted out" SP and SSW SD45T-2s obviously on the way to the scapper. Most had the number boards missing, windshields removed, batteries removed and numerous doors missing, etc... One consist west of Indio was made up of two SD70s in the lead with a dozen dead SD45T-2s in tow. It looks like the UP is cleaning house on the high horsepower tunnel motors. sigh...
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There's still a brace of SP units down at South San Francisco as of September '02, but I suspect that's only because UP's unaware of them. Saw another unit with the "patch job" over in Oakland recently. Looked really idiotic, sort of like a great dane trying to hide behind a chihuahua . . .
-- Paul
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