EsPee

why i am asking.  

found something during my search for stuff to post in the photos and artwork thread that may be of interest to said person, whomever it may be.

I have absolutely no connection, past or present, to the Southern Pacific however I'm a big fan of anything to do with the SP. As a member of the Southern Pacific Technical & Historic Society (SPT&HS) I've developed a keen interest in the history and past operations of my favorite railroad. Also having grown up as a child in Southern California the SP must have been imprinted in my mind at a very young age.

So post it for all the SP fans?  I lived on the EP&SW main line for a year in Arizona, and have no fewer than seven Cab Forward models - at least one of each wheel arrangement, plus five Mikes, two Decks, and three Daylights.  Among others . . .

I'm a big fan, though no connections. My first O scale locomotive was an MTH Premiere SP GP-38, and it's still one of my favorites. My first boxcars were SP and Cotton Belt, which I grew up watching here in the Bay Area.

Fred

No connection other than the fact I have been modeling SP exclusively in 1/87 for the past fifty years.

Pete

No connection, and I'm not an Espee fan in the strictest sense. 

However, I AM quite a fan of an Espee predecessor: Central Pacific. 

The Central Pacific through the Sierra Mountains in the late 1860s is one of the most amazing funnel n' diamond stack routes to be found anywhere. The mystique and drama of Donner Pass in the late 1860s truly can't be equaled.

The above strictly FWIW.  (But it sure felt good typing it.)

Hey Bob2, where did you live on the EP&SW?  I grew up in Douglas, AZ and spent much of my youth (late 40s and 50s) at the ex-EP&SW depot and yards there.  Not many folks are aware of that railroad's history and association with the SP.

I'm far from the biggest SP fan.  SP was the arch-rival competitor of my home road, and, -- on the SP Pacific Lines -- was not a friendly outfit to rail fans or other railroads.  Despite this, however, it could not help but fascinate an observer.  It had more tunnels than any other western railroad, and every Espee route out of California except the Sunset Route had to negotiate tunnels.  They ran extremely long freight trains.  Their few hotshot freight trains were really hot.  Their antics to get out of the passenger business were legendary, but their trains were always clean and well-maintained.  After about 1960, their freight engines were the filthiest I have ever seen (remember all those tunnels) but their passenger engines were always freshly washed.  They were completely sold on oscillating headlights and applied them to almost any diesel that might pull a train on the main track of the main or branch lines, including switch engines that could do industry switching and make short main line movements.  And, of course, there was their steam roster, which was impressive.

How can you not have at least some affection for a railroad with such a corporate personality?

So, I have an SP Baldwin AS-616 diesel and an SP caboose as the only foreign line engine and caboose on my Santa Fe layout.

Peter - Fairbank, 1951.  I did the last half of fourth grade at Tombstone Elementary, and rode the Doodlebug on occasion.  Daylights and Cab Forwards thundered through my back yard - the old EPSW depot was my home.  Gone, now.