Southern Pacific Remembered

[Focalplane]

Recently I have been looking back over my association with the Espee, be it living in Houston, buying SP models and books or just watching videos. Recently YouTube seems to have been the repository for several reworked 16mm and 8mm movies which are well worth watching. Mostly California, of course, but reference to other divisions is made from time to time.

One of the best compilations is a documentary hosted by Michael Gross on the Daylight story. It’s one I have seen before many times but good that it is back on line. Other movies that kept me up late featured the last built GS, 4460. This was used for the end of SP Steam rail fan trips. A GS6, 4460 was originally with the Cotton Belt (IIRC) but transferred to California for the end. It was then gifted to St. Louis where it still “lives”, albeit not in running condition. The better known 4449 does, however, claim the title of SP flagship.

Gifting locomotives to local communities was a major reason the SP lives on today. Most have survived with cosmetic refurbishments but asbestos has been the main reason so few have been fully restored. The 2-10-2 no. 982 (that’s a T&NO number) given to Houston was plinthed in Hermann Park for years while various groups tried to get funding for full restoration. In the end it was moved to near the new baseball park in what was once Union Station. In all honesty, why restore a large freight locomotive for a tourist line? Only Union Pacific could do that!

Part of my job at the moment is to salvage boxes of photos and slides from my Texas days and there are many photos there of the Espee, both infrastructure and rolling stock. A lot are modern but as they are all gone now they have become historic as well.

So I plan to use this thread as a means of sharing my photos, thoughts and so on. I welcome others’ contributions to the thread!

As a taster, then, here is a West Texas panorama of the Sunset Line, looking west from the grade crossing at Marathon.



The story here is that in steam days the box cars carrying fresh fruit and produce from California had to be iced down and Marathon had a water supply to provide the ice. All gone now, of course. The nearest station is now at Alpine, farther west, where Amtrak still operates the modern day Sunset Limited. The restored Gage Hotel is just to the right of the photo and guests are kept awake at night by the crossing bell as freight trains rumble through the small “one horse” town. Photo dated 1998.

 

[Focalplane]

While still in Marathon, though the photo was taken in 1999 (we visited often), here is the one remaining fixed piece of infrastructure besides track.



It's the concrete base of the water tank that refilled thirsty tenders.

When I wrote "fixed", the old depot building is still in Marathon but was lifted whole to another site in the town to become the local museum. However, it would appear the museum never happened, though there is one elsewhere in the town. Here is a link. I have a photo somewhere so will post my version when I find it.

 

[Focalplane]

Where is Marathon and why does it have that name?

Well, the surveyor thought the area looked a lot like Greece.

Here is a thumbnail excerpt from the c.1920s system wide SP maps. These came with Dunscomb’s book but were loose so easily mislaid. I have mislaid, but not lost, mine. However I scanned them before I mislaid them!



Principal points of interest today are Sanderson (crew change) and Alpine (Amtrak station). Texas Highway 90 follows the Sunset Line at this point. The area to the south is now Big Bend National Park.

 

[Focalplane]

In the first post I mentioned the 2-10-2 (Santa Fe nickname) plinthed in Houston's Hermann Park while we lived nearby. Here's a photo taken between the railings that prevented vandalism and inadvertent asbestos poisoning of treasure hunters:



I am sure a Google search will find it at its later location near Union Station. It was probably safer here.

The 2-10-2s swapped numbers frequently. Apparently the T&NO RR liked them as many ended up in the "Atlantic Lines". So as a gift, the class seemed appropriate. If based in Houston, this locomotive would have been based at the Hardy Street shed complex, just east of Downtown. I used to visit this area 20+ years ago but now find that the entire complex has been "scraped" for redevelopment. The SP considered that a freight train need go no faster than 40 mph unless it carried perishable goods, so these long haul dragsters would have been ideal across the relatively flat Atlantic Lines system (an ironic term generated in San Francisco as Houston and New Orleans are not exactly on the Atlantic Ocean!)

 

[Focalplane]

Back to Marathon, and an eastbound double stack passing through. Most trains were of this type, usually two or three locos. The highest point of the Sunset Route is just west of Alpine at Paisano Pass, much the lowest watershed of all transcontinental routes.



This was taken in September 1994.

 

[Focalplane]

Moving west to Alpine, the principal town in the immediate area, it continues to be served by Amtrak’s Sunset Limited. The simple station building still exists as does a complete water tower. There’s not much else to report but Alpine also served the minor but at one time potentially important Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Rail Road. (KCM&ORR). This line approached from the northeast, joined the Sunset Route up to Paisano Pass and then headed off to Mexico. When NAFTA became law there was hope that this line could make money. I doubt if it did, too many lineside fires didn’t help. A friend shot a video and reported numerous fires and little progress down the line.

However, Highway 90 crosses the line just after it runs south from Paisano Junction and the track bed gives useful insight for modelling a rarely used line.

First, Alpine Depot



Next the complete water tower, though whether it is still there or not I could not say.



The view toward Paisano Junction, the high point of the Sunset Route, with Mexico bound track of the KCM&ORR running toward the overbridge.





I feel sure Steve Fay (Compton Castle) will like the last two photos! I think you can see how even a diesel engine could start fires!

 

[Focalplane]

Found it! My photo of the Marathon Depot building, taken after it had been picked up and placed on blocks in December 1997.

 

[Focalplane]

Before Houston became the city it is today it went by the name of Harrisburg. This is now a poor suburb on the east side of the city, hardly mentioned on maps and mostly forgotten. But the railways that focus on the city have given it a legacy. The first railroad was the GH&SA, Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railroad. This acronym can be found on old maps. For reasons beyond the scope of this thread Harrisburg gave way to the Allen Brothers’ settlement on Buffalo Bayou and Houston became the focus for further development. However, Houston is in Harris County!

Why this preamble? Well, a look at the city’s coat of arms tells the story better than I.



New immigrants to Houston were wooed by leaflets proclaimed a load of untruths and omissions about what life would be like once they took passage to the New World. Sketches showed mountains in the distance, spoke of fertile lands where there were swamps and forgot to mention rampant diseases and the native Americans. It is perhaps logical that many arrivals immediately took a train out of town! Perhaps in search of those mountains, but certainly to get away from the mosquitos and dirty water that caused many deaths.

There is no doubt that the railways made Houston. Oil had yet to be found and you could say that the only reason Houston existed was so people and freight could more easily go somewhere else!

Here is a Southern Pacific sketch of Harris County showing their lines in heavy lines and everyone else's as well.



The thicker line under the U of County is the main yard of the SP, known as Englewood Yard. Now owned and operated by UP. Moving west from there is the location of Hardy Street MPD and Works. And just north of the city centre is where the SP had its own through station, the Grand Central. Built in 1934 it was demolished in 1959 to make way for an Interstate (I45) though one platform remains for Amtrak to use.



The station was built by Southern Pacific and the City of Houston. All other railroads used Union Station, now a baseball park!

EDITED TO ADD:

A recently discovered photo of the train sheds behind the above photograph also shows the Sunbeam streamliner departing for Dallas.


The station building is above the locomotive. Of the 8 platforms only one now remains. Downtown is off to the right of the picture. The photo is accredited to Roger S. Plummer and was taken on August 9th, 1953.

 

[richard carr]

Paul

This is great, I'm a bit of an SP fan to say the least.

I have only 1 photo of an SP liveried loco, I took this in July 2014, I was travelling on the train from Chicago to Sacremento and we stopped for quite a while in Salt Lake City, even though we were already 8 hours late by this point, and this went through still in SP liverey with UP patches 18 years after the merger.

Richard

 

[Focalplane]

What about this one?

No. 1996 - Southern Pacific Heritage Locomotive

No. 1996 incorporates Southern Pacific’s historic colors and graphic elements to honor the men and women of the SP.

www.up.com

Paul

 

[Tim Humphreys ex Mudhen]

We stopped by in Helper Utah back in 2014. This followed after travelling through on Zephyr the year previously and wanting to see the town in close-up. Its very hot and dry in the summer. Here's four photos showing part of the main drag and some locos with one featuring SP livery.

 

[Focalplane]

We went through Helper on the eastbound Zephyr which was on time leaving Salt Lake so it was barely light. I can imagine how hot the place becomes by midday. I am going to address the Salt Lake/Ogden area later, as Houston is calling to keep me on track!

I do rue the fact that I never got to visit real SP country. I did have a job offer to move to Bakersfield but decided to stay in Texas, a good decision as it turned out.

 

[Focalplane]

So, why Pacific Lines, Atlantic Lines and Mexican Lines? And why the Texas and New Orleans Rail Road? Before I researched the answers I kept seeing TNORR on land maps used to define oil leases. A lot of land at that!

The answers are several, complex and political, so I will skirt the rationale altogether. It served Southern Pacific to own subsidiaries (not only in Texas and Louisiana). The Pacific Central was leased for about 70 years before finally being incorporated.

There is also something in Texas called the Rail Road Commission. It no longer has anything to do with railroads (since 2005) but a lot to do with the oil industry among others. A regulatory commission, it looks after the State’s interests and even set world oil prices before OPEC was formed. It is likely that SP found dealing with the regulatory commission difficult, so kept the T&NO at arms length.

This meant that locomotives, in particular, were owned either by the parent or by the lessee, and they had separate numbers. This meant that one class of locomotive might have two sets of numbers, but also that a loco once owned by SP would be given a new number if transferred to T&NO. This also applied to rolling stock, but tended to be less confusing.

While we are at it, what about the Cotton Belt? Another SP subsidiary from 1932, the St. Louis and South Western (SSW) was finally brought under the corporate banner in 1992. More widely known as the Cotton Belt, the SSW was really a further extension to the east and north of a sprawling railroad empire. It also built, sourced and ran its own fleet of locomotives, Northern 4-8-4 no. 819 having been preserved.

I have kept this simple on purpose, but it does explain some of the oddities that surround the history of the SP. Ending with some box cars!

 

[Focalplane]

A note on the provenance of the box cars. The Cotton Belt car was bought quite recently (well 10 years ago) in Canada and cost $30. Made by Kadee it had their couplers and came in a nice perspex/plexigass box. The other three were made by Accurail and came with cheap couplers that were replaced with Kadees (as we are wont to do!). They came in a simple cardboard box and cost less than $10 in the late 1980s. At that price a long train was not so difficult to assemble. They have stored and traveled well.

The box cars are sitting on Micro Engineering HO 83 track. Pre-weathered rails.

I'll address coaches later. And leave the locos until later still.

 

[John Bradshaw]

I always liked the SP speed letter scheme (when you could see it......), I found the great consolidation of US railroads quite sad really as it was such a varied and colourful railway scene.

 

[Focalplane]

Yes, John, I agree. At one point in its history Houston was served by:

• Southern Pacific
  • Texas & New Orleans
  • St. Louis South Western
• Santa Fe
• Rock Island
• Missouri Pacific
• Missouri Kansas and Texas
• Texas Pacific
• Kansas City Southern
• Union Pacific
• Houston Port Authority

To name a few recognisable names. In fact Union Pacific bought its way in to the area, now it and Burlington Northern Santa Fe dominate.

To be accurate, the Santa Fe avoided Houston, its regional HQ being in Galveston.

In some cases the names linger on. There’s the MoPac Expressway in Austin, for example. And the town of Katy west of Houston is named after the MKT, as is the Katy Freeway (I-10)

 

[allegheny1600]

Hello Paul,
I shall follow this as I have been a fan of the Espee since about 1990, when I first became interested in US railroads.
After I stopped the “buy everything American“ phase, I concentrated on the Southern Pacific for a few years, then switched over to the C&NW.
Later, due to a Texan friend, I started following and collecting models for, the Texas & Pacific, so you can guess which road I don’t like!
Fortunately, I was able to get a visit in before the road based in Omaha took over so if you’re willing, I’ll post my snaps here (when I find them!).
Cheers,
John

 

[Focalplane]

John, more than willing, please post your memories!

I also collected UP models because of their steam programme, I have two E8s, an SD7, a Mikado and believe it or not a Rivarossi Big Boy and Challenger. No longer a favourite railroad, like yourself. I know a thing or two about the “merger” back in 1996, the incompatibilities were numerous, enough to set back the US economy. To think that at one time SP and UP were partners in the early diesel streamliner days.

T&P, like most railroad companies, spun off its oil rights. I worked on a drill ship in the Gulf of Thailand in 1975 for Texas Pacific Petroleum!

 

[allegheny1600]

Thanks Paul,
I can’t knock the UP too much as their steam program is excellent and they are to be applauded for it plus a really good friend of mine is very fond of all their steam! I have to admit, I’d love a 9000 class.
But, yes - the 1995 merger with C&NW was bad enough, you’d think they would have been prepared the following year, for the SP merger and it really hit the rocks.
Anyway, I was lucky enough to go to Los Angeles with an old school friend, whose father was great friends with a guy in LA - in whose house we were able to stay f.o.c. for nearly three weeks!
With this arrangement, we mainly did what my friends wanted to do but we did immerse ourselves in the American culture, a baseball game was enjoyed, trips to the beach (Venice), opening night of Beverly Hills Planet Hollywood, numerous computing and audio/visual things were done. . . .
However, we did go up to Tehachapi Loop for a few hours (it was quite a trek from central LA), I got to go to Longs model store and we did the coast route to San Francisco over the course of two days, that was stunning.
From SF, I had a good morning at the railway station then we went to Sacramento and the CSRM. From there, we followed the line up and over Donner Pass but by the time we were ab to spot any trains, it was dark and all we could see were the headlights.
Our destination was Reno but we also took in Lake Tahoe and Yosemite national park, boy, was that fantastic! It’s only been in the last couple of years that I learned there was a very interesting railway line into the park, very ably modelled by Jack Burgess, see link;

Anyway! Heading back towards LA from this little adventure, we parelleled the SP for miles upon miles and even though it was “only” single track, there were loads of trains to be seen. I believe I did get some pictures and I seem to recall, they were mainly really modern power, widecab GEs and the like, all in Speed Letter livery, gorgeous!
I am currently sorting through my stuff so I hope to find the pictures soon.
Cheers,
John

 

[Focalplane]

The Yosemite Valley video is simply fantastic, John, thanks for sharing it! I have just finished watching and recommend it to anyone striving for perfection and prepared to actually finish a model railway!