SP's QUEST FOR POWER - HISTORY OF THE 1960s

this is one chapter of a 1 hour and 43 minute long DVD production on the sp's Quest for more power we bring meaningful history and epic railroading this Glendale scene from 1969 represents the old non-turbocharged EMD power that contrasted greatly with the newer turbocharged EMD and General Electric Power sp's thinking centered on all six axle Power by the mid-60s to better serve their mountainous routes in the west and give the ability to run fewer units with better low-speed Tractive effort the SP had a home on the flatter Central Valley lines for power that had lost favor by this time [Music] the Jeep NES would survive for several more decades pulling locals such as this reefer block heading to Taylor yard in Glendale the heavy Mainline trains would see the likes of these leading SD 45s with 3600 horsepower each making the Jeep 30 and Jeep 9s see more fill-in Duty as over 350 of these bigger 20 cylinder machines were brought in the sd45 on the point of this coastline Reaper train would serve the SP well and if it had any fault at all it was a thirst for fuel one sd45 could truly do the work of a pair of f-units anywhere on the system even on the flat at [Music] speed the GE 25b number 6728 as an example caught EMD somewhat offg guard in 1959 these could outperform any Jeep 30 or similar product this pair on a Maintenance of Way train had 66 others on the roster by 1964 SP never bought the six axle version of the u25 such as these building the oraville dam in Northern California several old Surplus SP bald ones were considered if GE couldn't deliver these to the project in 19 1963 this sd45 leads a pair of u2s at Colton [Music] Crossing SP only bought four of this upgraded model SP had already committed by 1964 to heavier Road power that offered more traction Motors per unit the u50 was really only an experiment to the SP limited to a total of three units it was built by adding two u25 diesels and running gear to a proven frame used under the GE turbine locomotives operated by up this 5,000 horsepower locomotive was the heaviest hitter on the SP with an ungainly 83t length and a half a million pound weight the common parts to the u25b gave them similar problems and the crews weren't fond of the tiny cab and the fatiguing noise of the huge blower motor behind them the good visibility translated into concerns of grade crossing vulnerability to the average engineer these were demoted to heavy transfer service between Colton yard and la and they were usually placed behind the more standard locomotive such as this Jeep 35 from 1964 to 1965 SP bought 175 Jeep 35s many lasted into the '90s [Music] [Music] Union Pacific was the original customer of the big 50s buying 15 total in two orders Up's version lacked the tiny nose door and they seem to Faire better on Up's routes SP also bought three sample DD 35s from EMD this was a dual motor Jeep 3 5 built without a cab as a pure booster model GE and EMD continued to develop larger single diesel machines and the u33c here resulted in 212 sold to the SP following this u33c is a Cotton Belt sd45 known as the flare version for its caned rear radiator section behind it is a pair of SD 40s rated at 3,000 horsepower each from four fewer cylinders the SD 4S and 45s worked well but they had a problem overheating in the long tunnels and snow sheds over Doner pass the tunnel motor versions had air intakes relocated lower to pull in air that wasn't spoiled and preheated by exhaust the u33 is were designed with this lower air intake from the beginning and they didn't suffer the heat recycling [Music] problem here in the Tahachapi at Beeville this eastbound is climbing with the help of three OTS and a trailing sd39 the uots were never favored in use north of Sacramento emds were the rulers of the mountainous Doner And Shasta routes the uots were at home here in Tahachapi and out on the sunset line to the South [Applause] South this train will make a turn to the right and a reverse to the left and climb up into the hillside ahead at Cliff at the end of this sequence we'll see the Caboose at our location and the train well into the distance up on Cliff this train is a fairly standard set of five helpers cut in near the end the last is an aging sd9 still an asset for this type of drag service in [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] 1973 the Train's new elevation shows why the helpers were needed to the southeast of Beeville is the town of Mojave where the Santa fe's yellow colored tracks meet the SP for a shared use of SP tracks up through the tahap [Music] [Applause] we're at the north end of town and this train of empties is heading timetable West with a 2% grade ahead of it if this train was loaded it would have added helpers in [Music] Mojave looking at the freight cars reveals the long list of lost roads that have resulted in the many mergers in the last 30 years once the train reaches the base of the mountains ahead the tracks curve to the left to follow Cash Creek alongside Highway 58 the sd45 was King of the Shasta line and this set a confirms that near Weed [Music] California [Music] an SP tunnel motor and a Union Pacific SD40 pool power unit head into the famous Cana loop with heavy brake Smoke on the Shasta line above the town of dunsmir California this eastbound is just North of clamo Falls Oregon [Music] [Music] out on the Nevada desert this sd45 power train shows their speed this is the eastern part of sp's original transcontinental line linked with the up in [Music] 1869 [Music] [Music] [Music] the sd35 started sp's habit of buying second generation EMD Road power with six axles only 29 units were bought but they laid the foundation for a large future SD40 and 45 purchase the two lead sd35 units are Point helpers and the engineer and the ubo can relax until the helpers cut off this train at the top of the grade the San Timo Canyon is highlighted here as the obstacle between Colton and Indio California on the SP Sunset [Music] [Music] Line This is the famous bont Hill with its 2% plus grades and wicked twisting curves that require heavy Tractive effort the 35s were the last harra for the 56 67 Series diesel EMD squeezed 2500 horsepower from an engine size that began as a 1350 horsepower design decades earlier EMD introduced the successor model 645 series diesel in 1965 higher power without sacrificing emd's reputation for reliability and long life [Music] all [Music] this is the desert near Palm Springs and this looks like a power move with some empty orig jennies heading to faram faram is a junction on the sunset Mainline that once saw trios of geu boats pulling iron ore trains down from Kaiser's Eagle Mountain mine four u28 C's were built by GE to replace Kaiser's old Fleet of bald ones SP bought a set of 10 nearly identical u28 c's for taking the or trains over Bowmont Hill to Fontana where Kaiser's steel mill was located this whole process dates from a late World War II buildup of Steel making capacity in Southern California the the steel plant was closed by 1983 and with it the mine as well while it lasted sp's heaviest trains were the or trains running to Fontana by 1973 SP would have nearly 2400 locomotives on the roster and the70s became a time of economic slowdown that would put many of the uots in storage the SP could keep the emds operational for less money so the GES were always the first to be stored when traffic dropped eventually it would be become a habit with so much depth that it was the handwriting on the wall for the early GES all this activity is along the eastern shore of the salt and sea visible Behind These hot eastbound the salt and sea resulted from a combination of natural and man-made disasters around 1905 that flooded a 400 square mile area of this desert leaving this large salty lake that persists to this day we covered much of this story in our SP Sunset salute [Applause] video the sp's prized Sunset line had a growing amount of traffic that needed to avoid the bottleneck of running through Los Angeles Indio was once considered for a superyard to avoid crowded Los Angeles the town fathers weren't interested so it was built as a larger new facility in Colton California this 560 acre facility was opened with a public event inviting thousands with all the celebrations that were appropriate for the West's largest classification yard at the time by 1973 SP trains handled 88% of all copper 65% of cotton 97% of rice 75% of oil and 40% of the lumber handled by rail in the US an operation this large needed a western yard with this [Music] capacity [Music] [Music] [Music] the old Taylor yard with its poor location aging facilities and confined space along the edge of the LA River in Glendale would wither and die before long SP needed a way to Route any traffic by a new way if it was not specifically headed into Los Angeles this was the Palmdale cut off that was built by 1967 between Colton yard and Palmdale [Music] California the Santa Fe conquered kahone pass in 1885 Santa Fe trains struggling on the 2% plus grades here have always been the Big Show for Santa Fe fans in California this is another helper territory that has brought rail fans from around the world the Union Pacific has been a trackage rights guest here since 1905 the original name of the Union Pacific Line through here was the Los Angeles and Salt Lake railroad built by by Senator William [Music] Clark as this Union Pacific train begins its trip to Salt Lake City the camera shows the old station and other structures at Summit the new SP tracks were being built Above This elevation and these scen are a record of the finishing touches being made to the tracks [Music] here much of the early machinery and supplies were brought in by Road using sp's PMT trucks until the rails could bring the [Music] rest back in 1967 this was the largest track laning project the US had seen in 25 years laying 78 Mi between Colton and Palmdale this reduced travel by 46 Mi for trains unrelated to the Greater Los angelis [Music] area this welded Rail train is returning empty to bring back more Rail and quarter mile continuous sections to complete some of the remaining sidings the SP tracks will be open to regular traffic soon and the train loads of ballast are still coming in to finish the job [Applause] [Music] this eastbound running through Palmdale will soon have a choice to run Compass South over the sagus line into LA or take the Palmdale cut off shown here as the flyover and tracks were being completed the new tracks run to the mountain range shown in the distance where famous kahone pass is located this is highvolt where the SP tracks begin their parallel run with the Santa Fe tracks further down the line This is Highland the tracks below of the Santa Fe show this as Summit on their Tim [Music] taes lead unit 7158 is a u28c originally bought to work the Kaiser or trains to [Music] [Applause] [Music] Fontana the SP trains heading compus north are actually West bounds in the SP timetables but a Santa Fe train running the same direction at the track parallel here is an eastbound by their timetable the Santa Fe built through coone Pass years ago to be a direct competitor to the SP for Los Angeles traffic ironically SP built their line through as a way to bolster non La bound traffic let's take a last look at Mojave and the loop at way long into Hatchi at Mojave SP joined the Santa Fe off Santa fe's needles to Mojave line that SP sold Santa Fe many years ago the early' 7s was still a time when paper train orders were the rule and this eastbound has just dropped down from the Tahachapi mountains into the hot desert at Mojave the station was removed years ago once radios were a proven item for train orders the section in the Tahachapi between Caliente and Marcel has many operational and Scenic wonders but the famous loop at way long is the heavy draw that brings fans from all over the site of huge manifests crossing over themselves on a severe curving grade is actually a National Historic Site [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] that [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] w this was once a sloping Hillside altered in form to conquer gravity in the most efficient way all the earth cut and fill work was performed with hand shovels and wheelbarrows over 100 years ago in closing we'll look back 30 years ago at Colton Crossing where the Santa Fe tracks to kahone pass cross the sp's sunset line [Music] [Music] [Music] look on our website to add the entire video to your collection and thanks for watching

Channel: Charles Smiley Presents Videos

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Keywords: southern pacific railroad, southern pacific west colton, southern pacific locomotive, southern pacific cabooses, southern pacific coastline, southern pacific tehachapi, southern pacific arizona, southern pacific california, southern pacific freight trains, southern pacific U-50, www.cspmovies.com, train videos, train films, train movies, www.trainmovies.com, southern pacific cajon pass, southern pacific taylor yard, southern pacific los angeles

Id: UY1df_f0Sg4

Length: 32min 5sec (1925 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 01 2024