Speeding along near Rosamond, CA, December 22, 1975 (Tom Gildersleeve) Curving around north of Mojave, CA, December 22, 1975 (Tom Gildersleeve)
Wow -- he found some superb photo locations. These days it seems that people are crowded up everywhere trackside.
Winding down of Tehachapi Pass in the area of Cable, December 22, 1975 (Tom Gildersleeve) Heading for the famous Tehachapi Loop itself (the upper level is visible in the background), December 22, 1975 (Tom Gildersleeve)
Heading for Tehachapi Loop, just slightly previous, December 22, 1975 (Tom Gildersleeve) Popping out of Tunnel 5 near Bealville, December 22, 1975 (Tom Gildersleeve)
Gildersleeve had some great stuff. I have a couple of his MILW sets and a few more odds and end around here.
On the San Francisco waterfront, December 14, 1975 (Alan Miller) In Mission Bay, December 9, 1975 (Alan Miller)
I still marvel at the 4449's achievement in her AFT duty, reliably covering thousands of miles on a tight schedule with makeshift servicings, including water from town fire trucks and fuel from local oil dealers. I first saw her bringing the AFT into Crystal Lake, IL on the C&NW near our home almost exactly 46 years ago in August 1975. The night she departed for Chicago, our windows were open and my Dad woke me up at a very late hour so that I could hear her working down the main and listen to echo of the whistle. The night air carried the sounds with beautiful clarity. Fine memories that don't seem so long ago.
Rolling through East Palo Alto, December 9, 1975 (John Kirchner) Over the Sierras at Yuba Gap, November 27, 1975 (John Kirchner)
Hardcoaler, maybe i am wrong and do not have any intention to spoil the AFT trip, however if these diesels behind the 4449 were actually pulling part of the weight and not just providing head end power as it looks like in most of the pictures by the white only exhaust plume (they do this most of the time in Italy, both to increase tonnage and not to stress the old steamers boilers and mechanics too much), that may explain part of the reliability issue. In any case it is a beautiful locomotive, even if I like it better with the daylight paint, and any old lady deserves a friendly hand.
It's not so much what's really pulling the train, or how much 4449 is pulling, but what it's pulling. There's a lot of history behind those locomotives. And I'm happy to see such an illustrious locomotive on the lead, carrying around artifacts of the great history of the United States. A history a lot of countries could envy. As far as the paint goes, it's another one of this grand lady's dresses from her closet. And all you guys know that one should never ever say that a lady doesn't look good in whatever clothes she's wearing, under pain of her wrath. Right?
Heading through Grass Lake, CA to eventually meet up in Chicago, June 21, 1975 (John Kirchner) At Colton, CA at 5:30AM, January 21, 1976 (Tom Gildersleeve)
I just remembered that I have a 7", 33-1/3 RPM phonograph record of 4449's sounds, as produced by Arkay Enterprises in 1975, masters of railroad sound effects records in the day. I spun it up on my aging turntable this afternoon and the quality is excellent. Several of the various tracks include intermittent use of her air horn which must have most certainly cleared the right of way. You can see the horn on the album cover just to the left of the number board.
Passing through Corona, CA at 3:20AM, January 21, 1976 (Tom Gildersleeve) Over the lagoon at Del Mar, CA, January 19, 1976 (Tom Gildersleeve)
That's probably the prettiest of the lot - night shot over a reflecting body of water. And how she shines in the lights!