Southern Pacific 4450
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.jpg) Southern Pacific SD9E #4450 with Southern Pacific passenger train #63 at the California Avenue stop in Palo Alto, California | |||||||||||||||||||
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Southern Pacific 4450, nicknamed "Huff", was an EMD SD9E diesel locomotive. #4450 was part of SP's first order of 32 SD9s, and delivered in 1954, with its original number, 5363.[1]
History[edit]
Revenue service[edit]
Southern Pacific 4450 was constructed in April of 1954 by the Electro-Motive Division and it was delivered to the Southern Pacific Transportation Company that same year in 1954.[1] It was initially assigned the number of #5363 after it had arrived on the Southern Pacific Transportation Company.[1]
#5363 was one of 32 members of the first batch of EMD SD9 locomotives to be ordered by the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, numbered 5340-5371.[1]
When delivered, #5363 was classified as a DF-120, which had featured the Southern Pacific's "black widow" paint scheme, had large Mars Signal lights on both ends, and had a steam generator so that it could be used for passenger service. The whole class appears to have initially been assigned to the service district in Oregon.[1]
In 1965, SP 5363 was painted into the grey and scarlet "bloody nose" paint scheme, and numbered SP #3822 and reclassified by the Southern Pacific as an EF618-1. During this time, #3822 was used as a snow-fighting locomotive for the fierce winters on Donner Pass.[1] The locomotive was later rebuilt at the Southern Pacific's own Sacramento General Shops as part of SP's General Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (G.R.I.P.), and received the number of #4450 on November 23rd, 1973 and was reclassified as an EF618E-2.[1]
SP 4450 & 4451 were the only two SD9s to retain their steam generators after being rebuilt while the remaining SD9Es had their steam generators removed.[2][3][4][5] Being that they were now the only two passenger equipped SD9s, they were transferred to the San Francisco–San Jose, California, commuter rail service until Caltrain equipment arrived in 1985.[1][2][3][4][5]
After 1985, 4450 and its mate 4451 (nicknamed "Huff" and "Puff") were used all around the SP system for officers' specials and other passenger operations.[1] After the Union Pacific Railroad took over SP operations in the mid-1990s, 4450 was assigned to local freight service in the San Francisco Bay Area until 1997.[1]
Retirement and preservation[edit]
In 1998, SD9E #4450 was retired from active service on March 26th, 1997 and was purchased by the Golden Gate Railroad Museum at Hunters Point, San Francisco and arrived there on April 28th, 1998.[5][6] SP 4451 ("Puff") was retired on August 30, 1995, and transferred to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad where it presently remains, in derelict condition in Schellville, California.[1]
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In late 2005, the Golden Gate Railroad Museum was evicted from its home at Hunters Point, San Francisco and Southern Pacific 4450 was sold to the Feather River Rail Society (FRRS) and was transferred to the Western Pacific Railroad Museum (WPRM) in Portola, California.[7]
On December 30, 2006, SP 4450 left Hunters Point, San Francisco en route to Portola, California following the Golden Gate Railroad Museum's eviction from Hunters Point.[7]
SD9E #4450 had later met up with fellow SD9E #4404 when it arrived at the Western Pacific Railroad Museum.[7]
Scrapping[edit]
Then, it all came to ahead, when Southern Pacific SD9E #4450 was officially eventually declared surplus to the Western Pacific Railroad Museum's collection along with Milwaukee Road U25B #5057, Northern Vermont DS-4-4-750 #51 and Southern Pacific SD9E #4404. Then, in August of 2013, SD9E #4450 was subsequently scrapped due to its poor condition and lack of alignment control couplers.[8]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Withers (1996), p. 36
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 National Railway Bulletin - Volume 51, Issues 2-6. National Railway Historical Society. 1986. p. 32. Search this book on
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Signor, John R. SP Trainline - Issues 48-58. Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society. p. 8. Search this book on
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Railroadman's Magazine - Volumes 98-99. 1975. p. 51. Search this book on
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Cadillac SD9 #4450 Arrives at Museum". GGRM News. 1998-06-08. Archived from the original on 1999-09-01. Retrieved 2023-09-03. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "SP Retirements, 1995-1997". utahrails.net. Retrieved 2023-11-08
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Vicknair, Eugene (2006). "Issue 135 (May/June/July 2006): Golden Gate Railroad Museum Hospital Train" (PDF). Feather River Rail Society. pp. 8, 10. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
- ↑ Vicknair, Eugene (2013-06-02). "FRRS BoD Mtg Report 02-09-13 Surplus Property Locomotives" (PDF). Feather River Rail Society. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
Further reading[edit]
- Withers, Paul K. (1996). Diesel Era November/December 1996, Vol 7 No.6. Withers Publishing. Search this book on
External links[edit]
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