Santa Fe 4-8-4 3751 was invited to San Bernardino for the re-dedication of the San Bernardino station and the schedule was posted on the San Bernardino Railroad Heritage Society website, the group which owns and operates the steam engine. I contacted Bill Compton who was happy to go with me on Saturday and Jeff Hartmann would join me on Sunday. Bill and I thought about taking pictures as it travelled down the middle of Interstate 10, but I thought about the morning light which would straight down the tracks. El Monte was then chosen as the location and on Saturday June 12th, Bill picked me up and we drove to El Monte.
We arrived with double greens on both the Metrolink line west and on Union Pacific's Sunset Line going east. A Union Pacific freight was sitting in the siding and we tried two grade crossings before settling on a cul-de-sac. A Union Pacific foreman asked us what we were doing and we told him of Santa Fe 3751's pending arrival and he told us he had seen Union Pacific 3985 in Pine Bluff a couple of weeks ago. A back hoe operator then pulled up, asking what we were doing there and once he found out, he was glad we were out to witness this event.
On-time Metrolink 381 bound for Los Angeles was scheduled to arrive at LAUPT at 8:15 AM, five minutes before the steam train's departure time.
Next, Union Pacific 4203 East with all the locomotives running elephant-style passed through El Monte. Now it would only be time before Santa Fe 3751 came through and more people arrived along the tracks, including one idiot wearing a blue 88 jersey, along with a friend, who were wandering out on the mainline. When the train approached, the 88 shirt man and friend ran out across the two Metrolink tracks onto the Union Pacific mainline to get a picture. The friend then ran right in front of Santa Fe 3751.
Santa Fe 3751 steamed through El Monte and what a beautiful sight she was. Bill and I returned to Santa Ana via Los Nietos and Anaheim.
On Sunday, I met Jeff and our first stop was at Heritage Park in Santa Fe Springs.
The star of the collection is Santa Fe 2-8-0 870, nee St. Louis, Rocky Mountain & Pacific 101 built by Burnham Williams in 1906. Despite its sweeping name, the StLRM&P operated entirely in northern New Mexico, mainly serving the coal fields around Raton Pass. It was taken over by the AT&SF in 1913 and operated as a subsidiary. The Santa Fe changed the name to the Rocky Mountain & Santa Fe in 1915 and renumbered the locomotives 870 to 874.
In 1940, the Santa Fe sold three 2-8-0s (769, 870 and 874) to the Albuquerque & Los Cerrillos Coal Company, which operated a coal mine in Madrid, New Mexico, connected by a branch line from the AT&SF at Waldo. As demand for coal fell off in the 1950's, however, the mine was shut and the branch line abandoned in 1959. 769 and 870 were left at Madrid sitting amid the remains of the mine operation. In 1989, the City of Santa Fe Springs acquired 870 and it was was restored to its post-1924 Santa Fe appearance and moved to the current location in Heritage Park at 12100 Mora Drive.
A replica of the Santa Fe Springs station and hand car/tool shed. From there, we made our way to Industry and to a location to photograph the westbound Santa Fe 3751. Other than one railfan who drove there to check out the location, we were only visited by a security guard who kept his distance.
On the scanner we heard an over nine-hour-late Sunset Limited approaching from the east so we relocated to the Sunset Route for a quick picture and returned to the spot and the scanner told us Santa Fe 3751 would meet Metrolink 390 right where we were.
First the Metrolink train passed.
That was followed by Santa Fe 3751 in perfect afternoon light. Once he passed, Jeff and I returned to Santa Ana.
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