Photo # 1.....The date is June 25, 1955 and the Budd Car SP-10 has taken over train 246, plus it bumped pacific 2486. The 2486 wandered around for a while working the Sacramento Daylight, and this photographer shot her as a pilot engine on a set of F's with no ATS at Martinez. One day while the photographer was at Bayshore Yard, he saw her being dismantled. In the case of the SP-10, the union required a five many crew for a one car train which met that the train couldn't pay for its self....SP wanted an engineer and a conductor only, but that never happened and soon SP-10 lost its job and went to the NWP.
Photo # 2 and 3.....SP was planning to put diesels on trains 90 and 91 so this photographer made a trip to San Luis Obispo in July 1955, hoping to get some steam still in operation, but all he found was 2-10-2, 3661, and two GS's in the round house, so he went up to horseshoe curve and waited for #91 but it had a two unit set of diesels as the helpers...the 5613 and 5444....there was nothing running the rest of the day so in the morning as he was getting up he heard a sharp bark and it was the 3661 on the point of a sugar beet train with a A-B-A set of F's as the helper...there was no way he could catch up to 3661, so he headed back home but caught up with #91 headed to San Francisco with the 4446 as the power.
Photo #4...this photographer was going like a bat out hell to catch the 4446 and made his first shot at 4446 pulling out of King city. Note all the head end equipment (RPO, Baggage cars)...a true heavy weight....and the 4446 was outright moving.
Photos taken by and courtesy of George Manley
Matt
