A HEATED SP RAILROAD STORY

this is one section of a lengthy and available DVD video this portion features The Yuma Arizona to Indio California part of the sunset line see the description below for further information [Music] this feature brings back the last 5 years of the SP as an independent railroad the SP was a colorful Railroad in the sense of its history and character the earlier 1988 merger with the Rio Grand helped heal many of sp's troubles since the ICC or Interstate Commerce Commission denied the merger earlier with the Santa Fe the merged Rio Grand and SP systems experienced an increase in business that sent them looking for more power to handle the traffic surge some of the run through and pulled power arrangements with other roads brought many colorful mixes of power in spite of the freshly painted units with the speed lettering on the flanks many of sp's units were still rather grimy [Applause] least units brought splashes of color to many SP [Music] trains many older units such as Jeep 35s sd9 and gp9s were still around running on locals and transfer jobs but waiting for their retirement [Applause] this kahone pass westbound is a colorful message expressed in paint schemes of sp's 1988 merger that happened and the one that was denied by the ICC gp9 number 3380 on this weed sprayer work Trin was built in the mid1 1950s 3380 was finally retired by 1995 a remarkable career for this first generation General Mot Motor [Music] [Music] Diesel this Baldwin Park Branch line the trailing gp35 number 6310 and the wigwag signal are all gone in addition to the real grand and Cotton Belt power the SP also needed least power from many sources to keep up with tra traffic growth in the early '90s one of the best operations on the SP was the sunset route the sunset line ran All the Way East to New Orleans with a wealth of traffic sources and connections we'll trace the action on the Yuma subdivision portion of the sunset line starting in Yuma Arizona and will work our way west about 120 Mi to Colton California this eastbound stack train is crossing the Colorado River in Yuma Arizona it will travel through Arizona New Mexico Texas and Louisiana about 4 miles to the West two more eastbound head toward Yuma [Music] this westbound is crossing the All-American Canal that takes water from the Imperial Dam to the greater Imperial Valley and its vast desert farming areas the desert run from a Ross Westward to nyand is devoid of civilization the only trees are a few Tamarisk trees planted by the railroad to help keep huge amounts of blowing sand off the tracks a [Music] one of the few roads crossing the tracks is ogleby road if you travel here you are on your own for fuel food or any other considerations most of the following scenes were taken from dirt roads that have numerous sand traps [Music] [Music] [Music] flash floods can turn the dry desert into a flood zone in short order you will see many low bridges and coverts along this line to accommodate runoff flood waters from occasional but violent desert rainstorms [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] the soil in this desert region is capable of growing many fine crops and with multiple growing Seasons the lack of water was solved Generations ago this is the Flowing Wells Canal another irrigation canal that brings life to the desert growing [Music] [Music] areas 3 and 1/2 miles west is the town of of nyand California it's the railroad's gateway to the Imperial Valley we'll see a morning eastbound followed by a Westbound at beel Road [Music] [Music] Nyland was a 1916 era name that referenced the fertile soil and irrigation of the Nile Valley in Egypt Nyland is about 120 ft below sea level as trains travel West they will drop about another 80 ft let's jump to the North End of the salt and sea at mortmar and then work our way back down to nyand the sutan sea was created by a flooding disaster over 100 years ago it remains as a 376 squ mile saltwater lake its Shoreline is 227 ft below sea level when the Colorado River broke through its banks back in the early 1900s this action and heavy rainstorms flooded the region all the way down to the Mexican border the remaining water is the saltan sea in prehistoric times this entire desert area was actually a deep Inland sea but in recent ages it was dry as a bone until the Epic flood the old tracks were replaced by a higher line since they are underwater to this day today the remaining salty lake is used for recreation and migrating water fowl looking West with the saltan Sea and the state park off in the distance we'll watch a morning westbound Crossing Parkside Drive this Eastbound at the same location is heading back to nyand all the blue gray and yellow colored CSX power on these trains comes from run through agreements between the SP and the CSX systems once run through TR reach New Orleans they would continue East on CSX tracks theam was once The Interchange yard for Kaiser Steel's Eagle Mountain or trains from 1948 to 1986 Highway 111 parallels the tracks from nyand to Indio it makes it easy to follow trains this is Bertram heading east led by 8164 with a22 car Freight heading back running through nyand under the signal Bridge these 1994 built General Electric c44 d9w units were a group of 101 bought by the SP they were equipped with DC traction Motors and The 7fdl 4400 horsepower diesel engine this group had had numbers from 8100 to 8200 this eastbound is now in the Nyan yard that was long ago a crew change Point modern railroading has improved things to the point that Crews run all the way between Yuma Arizona and West Colton California let's leave nyand again and work back Compass North and timetable West toward Colton California pacing a box car freak behind a pair of GE c44 d9w units a 279 unit order of the similar looking ac4400 CW models came in 1995 this group had the same horsepower r rating but included AC traction Motors the ACs were numbered 100 to 378 the ACs were associated with sp's coal trains the DC and AC versions can be run together but the superior traction control and heat efficiency of the AC's traction Motors puts unwanted stress on the DC versions in some situations we'll take a quick look at AC unit on Tennessee pass from a distance the three-digit number instead of the customary four digits is the spotting feature for the AC's the three-phase AC traction motors have three thyr per axle and each axle has independent wheel slip control a thyer is a four- layer semiconductor invented in the mid-50s by GE it is similar to the small Triax that form the lamp dimmers in your home lighting this area is now 196 ft below sea level the climate and productive date palm production here is from a reference to Mecca in Saudi Arabia now we come to a stop at the West End of Mecca siding to meet an eastbound [Music] train between AOSS and thermal The Yuma subdivision is single track under CTC control the siding at Mecca is typical with an 8388 ft length the longest on the subdivision is at th000 Palms with a 21,000 ft length [Music] going SP and the Sea land Corporation are credited with developing the idea of double stacking containers in the 1980s with double stacking of containers the same cargo can be hauled with shorter trains allowing shorter sidings the higher profile would seem to cost a bit more fuel but the fewer axles make up for this look for this DVD on our website CSP movies.com [Music]

Channel: Charles Smiley Presents Videos

Views: 4,481

Keywords: southern pacific trains, southern pacific sunset line, southern pacific tucson, southern pacific pantano wash, southern pacific freight trains, southern pacific lordsburg district, southern pacific trains arizona, railroad movies, railroad dvds, charles smiley videos, www.cspmovies.com, railroad films, railroad videos, american freight trains, trains in the southwest

Id: hfzKH59RawE

Length: 22min 26sec (1346 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 25 2024