The Western Pacific was one of my favourite railroads and it saddened me when it was merged into the Union Pacific on December 22nd, 1982.
August 1976 -- On Jeff Hartmann's and my drive home from the Feather River Canyon, we caught three Western Pacific F units being washed in Stockton.
August 1976 -- Western Pacific SW9 606, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952, in Marysville. It became South East Kansas SW10 1274 in 1993 then Webb Asset Management 1106 in 2009.
August 1976 -- Western Pacific GP35 3020, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1965 at Pocatello, Idaho. It became Union Pacific 798 in February 1987 and retired in December 1993 then became Eastern Idaho Railroad 798 and is currently Webb Asset Management 3512.
July 1978 -- Western Pacific GP7 713, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1953 at Stockton. It is preserved at the Niles Canyon Railway in Sunol, California.
February 1980 -- Western Pacific GP35 3009, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1963, at Stockton. It became Union Pacific 789 in March 1984 and retired in April 1993. It later became South Kansas and Oklahoma 789, then Webb Asset Management 3506 and scrapped.
April 1980 -- Western Pacific GP7 701, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952 and retired in 1985, at South Sacramento. It was sold to Mountain Diesel Transportation in July 1987 and re-conditioned by Great Western Railway at Loveland, Colorado then leased to Dry Valley Railroad in Soda Springs, Idaho in March 1988 and wrecked on 2 September 1988 at Dry Valley, Idaho and scrapped.
June 1980 -- Sacramento Northern GP7 712, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1953. Upon retirement by new owner Union Pacific, this locomotive was donated in 1985 to the Western Railway Museum near Fairfield, California, where it was repainted and displayed. In 2006, the Feather River Rail Society and Western Railway Museum's successor, Bay Area Electric Railway Association, traded several pieces of equipment, including Sacramento Northern 712.
June 1980 -- Western Pacific F7A 918D, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1950, at Stockton. It was re-numbered Western Pacific 918 in October 1980, then retired in March 1981 due to an electrical fire. It was donated to the Pacific Locomotive Association in June 1982 and restored to operation from 1982 to 1986. After undergoing further restoration, it was moved to Niles Canyon in June 2005 and remains at Sunol, California.
June 1980 -- In Stockton was the green Western Pacific F7A 917-D, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1950, the only time I saw the F units on the move. It is preserved at the Western Pacific Railway Museum in Portola and was acquired in 2005 as part of a trade with the Bay Area Electric Railway Association at Rio Vista Junction.
June 1980 -- At South Sacramento was Western Pacific GP20 2001, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1959; the first GP20 built. Retired in March 1985, it was donated by to the Western Pacific Railway Museum in Portola later that year.
June 1980 -- Western Pacific GP35 3017, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1965, at Merlin, California. It became Union Pacific 795 in 1984 and was retired in 1993 and acquired by Arizona Eastern, numbered 2503. Later, it became West Texas and Lubbock 2503 and is currently Lubbock and Western Railway 3538.
June 1980 -- Western Pacific U30B 3063, built by General Electric in 1969 and scrapped in June 1984, at Williams Loop in the upper Feather River Canyon.
June 1980 -- Western Pacific U30B 3057, nee Western Pacific 757, built by General Electric in 1968 and retired in 1983 and scrapped in 1984, at Merlin.
June 1980 -- Western Pacific GP40-2 3548, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1979, at South Sacramento. It became Union Pacific 903 in February 1984 then was rebuilt into Union Pacific road slug control unit 3005 in December 1990.
July 1980 -- Western Pacific GP7 705, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952 and retired in 1985, at Yuba City. It was sold to Mountain Diesel Transportation in July 1987 then sold to Great Western 705 in August 1987 before becoming Arizona Central 705 in May 1989. It is preserved at the Western Pacific Railway Museum in Portola.
August 1980 -- Western Pacific GP40 3537, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1971, at Pocatello, Idaho. It became Union Pacific 685 and was retired in September 1986 and returned to General American Transportation. It was then sold to Chicago, Missouri and Western and re-numbered 3020 in April 1987 then Gateway Western 3020 in 1990. It later became Kansas City Southern 3152 and then Burlington Junction Railway 705
December 1980 -- Western Pacific SW9 605, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952, at Stockton. It was rebuilt to Union Pacific SW10 1273 in December 1984 then retired in October 1996 and sold to Helm Financial in February 1997, then was sold to Texas Gonzales and Northern Railway Company and numbered 97 and re-numbered 105 at a later date.
August 1981 -- Western Pacific SW9 601, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952, at Stockton. It was rebuilt as Union Pacific SW10 1271 in November 1984, retired in June 1991 and sold to Peoria Locomotive Works and became Peoria and Pekin Union 701 in January 1993. Later, it became Tazewell and Peoria 701, then Tazewell and Peoria 1351.
August 1981 -- Western Pacific GP9 725, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1955, at South Sacramento. It became Union Pacific 300 and was repainted into their armour yellow and harbour mist gray paint scheme with red lettering in in January 1985 and retired in May 1985. In August, it was sold to Iowa Interstate Railroad as their 300 and spent ten years there before being sold to the Feather River Rail Society in 1995 and is preserved in Portola.
August 1981 -- Western Pacific U23B 2265, built by General Electric in 1972, at MP 2 north of Keddie on the Highline. It was retired in 1987, sold to General Electric in February 1988 and rebuilt to Monongahela Super 7-23B 2310 in March 1990.
August 1981 -- Western Pacific GP35 3001, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1963, at MP 2 north of Keddie. It became Union Pacific 782 in March 1984, retired in December 1993 and sold to Eastern Idaho Railroad, retaining its number. It is currently Webb Asset Management 3501.
August 1981 -- Sacramento Northern GP7 711, nee Western Pacific 711, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1953, at Yuba City. It became Union Pacific 113:2 in August 1984, retired in October 1984 and scrapped in August 1985.
1/18/1986 -- Western Pacific GP7 708, built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952 and retired in 1984, rests at the Western Pacific Railway Museum in Portola.
1/18/1986 -- Western Pacific U30B 3051, built by General Electric in 1975, at the Western Pacific Railway Museum in Portola. Western Pacific realized that they could purchase 5 U30B's for the price of 4 SD45's and GE's 4 cycle engines were a lot more fuel efficient than EMD's 20 cylinder monster. Western Pacific purchased 5 examples in 1967 at a cost per unit of $234,458 then ordered 15 more. U30B 751 was delivered in Silver and Orange with large Western Pacific "Feather River Route" medallion on the cab sides, black and orange chevron style warning stripes, signal lights in the nose, and rode on Blomberg trucks from traded in EMD locomotives. Western Pacific's U30B's were retired by successor Union Pacific after the merger, and 3051 was donated by Union Pacific in 1985.
1989 -- Sacramento Northern SW1 402, nee Western Pacific 502, built by Electro-Motive Corporation in 1939, retired in 1981, was donated to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento in 1983.
July 1992 -- Western Pacific SW1 501, nee EMC 906, built by Electro-Motive Corporation in 1939. It was the first diesel locomotive owned by the railroad. This and two others SW1's became regulars in the yards at San Francisco, Oakland and Sacramento and proved that steam power was the way of the past. After serving Western Pacific for over 25 years, 501 found a second life on the rails of Western Pacific's subsidiary Sacramento Northern and was re-numbered SN 401. It would finally be set aside in the late 1970's and spent several years on the Stockton deadline. However, she was resurrected in 1981 when Western Pacific customer Corn Products Corporation needed a locomotive for its Stockton facility. Rebuilt by the railroad, she worked shuffling grain hoppers in south Stockton. In 1987, CPC graciously donated the 501 to the Feather River Railway Museum in Portola and she has now been restored to her original WP black and white colors, preserved as the most prominent symbol of the Western Pacific's embrace of diesel power.
July 1992 -- This photograph is being included because it is painted as Western Pacific 512, but is really Lone Star Defense S1, 100, nee United States Army 7372, built by American Locomotive Company in 1941.
1994
7/2/1994 -- Western Pacific F7A 913, Western Pacific FP7A 805A and Western Pacifc F7A 921 during the Circle the Wagons celebration in Portola.
December 1980 -- Western Pacific caboose 445, built by International Car in 1956, at South Sacramento brings this to an end. This caboose is preserved at the Sacramento Valley Live Steamers in Rancho Cordova.
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