Ok all you trains guys, how many of you can tell me about the following picture. You SP guys should know this one. I know, so this is a test. LOL. Beautiful train! Enjoy the cool photo. Be well, Carl
SP Sunset Route, Pecos River Bridge. And I'm a Boston & Maine Yankee... Went over it back in 2010, both ways...
What always amazed me about the Daylight trains is their lack of head-end cars. No RPO, no express cars or reefers, not even a full baggage car. I think any train looks so much better without the heavyweight or mismatched cars that often made up the head-end car rosters of many railroads. How did SP manage this train without the revenue from mail or express contracts?
Hank, You are right, that is the "Pecos River high bridge" as it is called. The Amistad dam at Del Rio area backed up the lake into the river canyon. I lived in Del Rio back in the late '40's but have not seen the area since that dam was built. Maybe Russell could shed some light? But what was the occasion?
Maybe they put the mail and express on other trains on the same route, maybe the occupancy was so high they could make a profit on passengers only. Or, like most companies, ran at a financial loss but wanted to make it up with prestige. Italian railways ran the famous Settebello trainsets at a huge financial loss for decades just for "showing the flag" (easier for them as this was a state company).
Carl, IIRC there still was a river w-a-a-a-y below the bridge, not a lake. I don't like heights, but it was a neat view straight down.
That has to be one of the few trips I did not go on with the 4449 since moving to Oregon, now Washington.
In May, 1984, she crossed Texas on the way to New Orleans for the World's Fair carrying an auxiliary water tender like that. For the record, I'm not an SP guy, even if I'm right.
acptulsa, I'll forgive you for not being an SP nut. You are correct. This was the westbound return trip from NOLA in 1984, "The Louisiana World's Fair Daylight" crossing the Pecos river. Long live the Daylights!
Yeah, the Daylight trains did not run in Texas in their day. The Sunbeam with the same paint scheme ran between Houston and Dallas but not in West Texas. Maybe when they were delivered from Pullman to California in the 1930s but I would think back then they went via the Rock Island route through Tucumcari or on the Overland route. The old bridge was still there back then anyway. So had to be the 1984 recreation.
The Sunset ran those colors across western Texas. You don't seem to be an SP fan. You must have taste, too. Not that the Sunset (/Daylight/Sunbeam) sceme wasn't the second most beautiful paint scheme ever. But will my Brethren of the Sacred Faith forgive me for my grudging admiration of those pretty Girl Scouts like 4449? After all, the 3765 and 3776 Classes were never streamlined because they were too heavy with extra 300 psi muscle. And there's nothing wrong with that!
Not quite. Twas just silver and scarlet. However the Daylight colors were represented in the PAs that pulled the Sunset.
I stand corrected. I was under the impression the Sunset wore the Daylight colors for a time prior to the Budd equipment arriving. But, no, it did stay green. I had seen footage taken in Texas, but it would seem that was the Sunbeam.