Originally Posted by leavingtracks:
Actually, El Capitan is about 3,000 feet tall on its tallest face. ...
ok... i suppose i should have considered elevation above the valley and not above sea level. that did sound a bit too tall.
Thanks Matt! Great Pix of the Alco PA's.
Does anyone know if the train consists of both the Chief and ElCap?
I have photos of both, I have some that are just El Cap cars and some that are both El Cap and Super Chief. some have super chief at the front and some have them at the rear, some have both front and ear. I dont think I have many that have the transition car in them
Matt, from the looks of the bridge structure and the mountain in the background the location 'looks' to be Barstow, California. If so, the bridge is the "First Street bridge" which crosses over the Santa Fe main line. This would be the west bound El Cap. In 1966, the old freight yard would be to the viewer's right, while the Harvey House is to the views left. The Harvey house is hidden be the diesels and train cars. This train is so long that it diesels extended beyond the station (Harvey House). In 1966, I spent many a Saturday at this station watching the train come and go.
Originally Posted by Matt Makens:
As promised here is the first photo I cam across of the El Cap behind PA's. This is somewhere in California in 1966 behind an A-B-B-A set. According to my dad, he saw the El Capitan behind Alco's on 4 or 5 separate occasions in a one year period. It was not that "rare" of a site to see them pulling the El Cap. The Santa Fe rarely if ever mixed equipment so they were almost always in a complete consist.
"BigBoy", you just might be correct. Looking at old photos of the 1966 Santa Fe Barstow station (Harvey House), old freight yard, 1st street bridge structure and signature mountain (in the back ground)...this just may be Barstow, Cailf.
Originally Posted by BigBoy:
Matt, from the looks of the bridge structure and the mountain in the background the location 'looks' to be Barstow, California. If so, the bridge is the "First Street bridge" which crosses over the Santa Fe main line. This would be the west bound El Cap. In 1966, the old freight yard would be to the viewer's right, while the Harvey House is to the views left. The Harvey house is hidden be the diesels and train cars. This train is so long that it diesels extended beyond the station (Harvey House). In 1966, I spent many a Saturday at this station watching the train come and go.
Originally Posted by Matt Makens:
As promised here is the first photo I cam across of the El Cap behind PA's. This is somewhere in California in 1966 behind an A-B-B-A set. According to my dad, he saw the El Capitan behind Alco's on 4 or 5 separate occasions in a one year period. It was not that "rare" of a site to see them pulling the El Cap. The Santa Fe rarely if ever mixed equipment so they were almost always in a complete consist.
"BigBoy" can you agree, that another visual 'Barstow, Calif.' landmark is the white fence that can be seen in the photo (to the viewer's left). Even today, a similar white fence/grade rail is still there. This fence follows a road that enters another lower/smaller bridge that crosses over the dry Majave River.
Originally Posted by Barstow Depot:
"BigBoy", you just might be correct. Looking at old photos of the 1966 Santa Fe Barstow station (Harvey House), old freight yard, 1st street bridge structure and signature mountain (in the back ground)...this just may be Barstow, Cailf.
Originally Posted by BigBoy:
Matt, from the looks of the bridge structure and the mountain in the background the location 'looks' to be Barstow, California. If so, the bridge is the "First Street bridge" which crosses over the Santa Fe main line. This would be the west bound El Cap. In 1966, the old freight yard would be to the viewer's right, while the Harvey House is to the views left. The Harvey house is hidden be the diesels and train cars. This train is so long that it diesels extended beyond the station (Harvey House). In 1966, I spent many a Saturday at this station watching the train come and go.
Originally Posted by Matt Makens:
As promised here is the first photo I cam across of the El Cap behind PA's. This is somewhere in California in 1966 behind an A-B-B-A set. According to my dad, he saw the El Capitan behind Alco's on 4 or 5 separate occasions in a one year period. It was not that "rare" of a site to see them pulling the El Cap. The Santa Fe rarely if ever mixed equipment so they were almost always in a complete consist.
Photo taken on January 1st 1967 around 7 am in Barstow California. This is the west bound El Cap
Matt, will you be posting more of your Dad's photos? Please do so.
Originally Posted by Matt Makens:
Photo taken on January 1st 1967 around 7 am in Barstow California. This is the west bound El Cap
yes, I will post more. Right now I'm scanning 120mm negatives of my dads alco chasing trip in 1966-67. I've got lots of Alco's in SF and SP
Originally Posted by Matt Makens:
As promised here is the first photo I cam across of the El Cap behind PA's. This is somewhere in California in 1966 behind an A-B-B-A set. According to my dad, he saw the El Capitan behind Alco's on 4 or 5 separate occasions in a one year period. It was not that "rare" of a site to see them pulling the El Cap. The Santa Fe rarely if ever mixed equipment so they were almost always in a complete consist.
Odd the EL CAP had a head end container trailer. The SFC did have those regularly. But this is late in the passenger game, so this possible. ATSF might have had a power shortage. About this time were not the FP45's and U28/30CG's ordered?
Originally Posted by Matt Makens:
Did anyone ever make a scale model of Santa Fe's El Capitan with bi-level cars? I know Lionel made some Santa Fe superliner and they look really nice but I would like to have a full scale El Cap
Matt, Maybe in O scale 2 rail brass, but no "O" scale 3 rail manufacturer has ever made a scale model of the "True" Budd built HI-Level (Not Bi-Level) El Cap cars. What made this train unique, was that it was custom built for the Santa Fe only, to the extent that (2) Hi-Level prototype's were built to see if they would be accepted by the traveling public before Santa Fe placed an order with the Budd Co. The modified roof on the transition car was even custom made in the Topeka shops.
The 21" K-Line cars were the closest representation of the El Cap, but K-Line failed to produce the "Top of the Cap" Lounge car which was the El Cap's signature car??? Within the last few years, N and HO manufactures have produced excellent models of the complete EL Cap consist. Hopefully in the near future, one of the big O scale manufacturer will produce them,... think Atlas 21" CZ cars but only in AT&SF Hi Level El Capitan!!! "Santa Fe all the Way"
Joe
Guys & Gals -
I not trying to convert anybody by posting a link to this El Capitan video. Forget for a moment that the center rail is missing, and just enjoy the the "train".
WARNING: This is a Walthers HO El Capitan... View at your own risk.
This one was taken a year later than the first
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Matt...the only photo that I see is in your last post above this one but you seem to be referring to other photos you've posted....I don't see them. Am I missing something? I appreciate you doing this but somehow I am not seeing the photos, links, or....??
Thanks,
Alan
Being that these are taken in the winter it stands to reason that with passenger service at a low point for the seasons these trains are mixed El Cap SC trains
Matt
Thanks for sharing the picture with the "PA's"
No problem, my dad took tons of alco pics. Spent 6 months chasing Alcos
This one isnt santa fe but hey
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In researching just a bit more, I have found that E6 locomotives were used both on the SuperChief and the El Capitan from 1940-1946. Based on this, it would not be prototypical for an E6 MU to be pulling this set of Hi Level cars...but IMHO it would be fun and look great.
