Southern Pacific Railroad began with a simple idea: to connect San Francisco and San Diego, California, by rail. A century later, Southern Pacific had become one of the largest railroads in America, with lines that stretched from coast to coast (connecting to New York via Morgan Line steamships) and from the south to the northwest. In 1959, SP moved more ton-miles of freight than any other U.S. railroad. Engines featured here reach back to the era of SP steam, and forward to the diesels of the 1970s.
This 2023 monthly wall calendar features: Large blocks for notes | Superb printing quality | Heavy 100-pound paper | Deluxe 11- by 14-inch size
Locomotives and trains featured in this edition include:
• It is 4:55pm, and coastal fog has again rolled into the Tehachapi Mountains as Southern Pacific 8538 (consisting of two SDP40-T2s, an SD45, an SD40-2, and a merger-painted GP30) are running southbound with the BKLB, a Bakersfield to Long Beach crude oil train.
• Southern Pacific 18 is leading a mixed train across the Owens River in February 1952. Locomotive 18, an oil-fired, ten-wheeler (4-6-0), was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1911. Engine 18 was purchased second hand by the Southern Pacific in 1928, retired in 1954, and put on display at Independence, CA.
• Southern Pacific 4340, a Class MT-2 Mountain (4-8-2), awaits a call at the Fresno, CA engine terminal on March 18, 1956. 4340 was built by the Sacramento Shops in 1928.
• Southern Pacific 6010, (An Alco PA diesel), and two other units whisk Train #10, the northbound Shasta Daylight past the recently closed Port Costa, CA engine terminal in July 1959.
• Southern Pacific 3765, a Model GP9, hustles a local freight southbound across the bridge in Martinez, CA on May 6, 1971. This is the Benicia-Martinez Bridge. The railroad started the construction in 1928 and it went into service for the railroad in 1930.
• Southern Pacific subsidiary St. Louis Southwestern Engine 9380 is the head SD40-2T Tunnel Motor leading a southbound freight out of Tehachapi Tunnel #5 several miles south of Bealville, CA on August 15, 1995. There are two different kinds of SD40-2s, a very popular EMD locomotive.
• Southern Pacific 4451 is a Class GS-4 Northern (4-8-4), built by the Lima Locomotive Works in 1941. It is leading northbound commuter train #142 out of San Francisco, CA on July 23, 1953.
• Southern Pacific 6813 (the first two units are SP SD40-2T Tunnel Motors, then a Union Pacific SD40-2, and another SP Tunnel Motor) leads the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey “Red Train” northbound a mile south of Monolith, CA on August 17, 2017.
• Southern Pacific 6453 (an EMD Class FP-7) is on Train #52, the northbound San Joaquin Daylight, making a quick stop at Port Costa, CA on September 22, 1957. Sitting next to it is Southern Pacific 2728, a Class C-8 Consolidation.
• Southern Pacific 3715, a Santa Fe Class F-1 (2-10-2), is sitting at Santa Margarita, CA on December 16, 1955. Baldwin Locomotive Works built 50 locomotives in this class in 1921.
• Southern Pacific Switcher 1264, one of 38 locomotives built by the Southern Pacific shops between 1919 and 1923, has Western Pacific 805-D (an all-EMD consist: one FP7 and two F3Bs) in tow with the California Zephyr at Oakland, CA on October 23, 1954.
• Southern Pacific 4215, a Class AC-10 (4-8-8-2) Cab Forward, is simmering quietly at Taylor Roundhouse, Los Angeles, CA in September 1954. The Baldwin Locomotive Works delivered 40 of these locomotives during the war year 1942.
Published by Tide-mark Press © 2022
