In 1965, S.P. undertook a general renumbering
of all Diesel Electric locomotives. The reasons behind this operation
have
been admirably covered in the S.P. Motive power Annual by Joe Strapac.
Suffice it to say that the 4 torpedo boats were assigned numbers in the
3000 series with the 5623 becoming the 3005. She would wear this number
for 12 years.
Robert J. Zenk says, "I was vestibuling just about the whole way from Oceano that day. But
this was from the rear seat of the Parlor-Observation. It was
SP 2951 that day, the 1937-built car. I
was on board number 98 as it met 99 on April 7, 1968. Number 98 had E9 6050 and FP7 6451 ...
this was the day of the last "Larks", and ridership had been up all
week. 3005 was led by another museum survivor, E9 number 6051
which currently is at home at CSRM in Sacramento". Bob Zenk Photo.
On April 24th, 1971, just 6 days
before S.P. passenger service to Monterey terminated forever, Dudley
Westler
decided that he should go chase the Del Monte. Thank you Dudley! This
railfanning
trip yielded photos of a double header with the 3002 and 3005 coupled
to
an unusually long train. The Del Monte was normally 3 cars but in these
photos, we have 5 with what appears to be one of the S.P. PV fleet on
the
rear. The 3005 does not carry the train number in her boards because in
1967, the S.P. discontinued the use of train numbers for all but
commuter
runs. Left to right, the photos are: loading passengers at the Monterey
station, coming through the cut behind the houses at Seaside,
paralleling
the Monterey highway at Marina, and crossing the Salinas river at
Castroville.
All photos by Dudley Westler.
In March of 1971, Drew Jacksich
caught the 3005 crossing the so called "earthquake bridge" at
Logan. It is my understanding that the SP had it rigged with
sensors to detect any movement from an earthquake on the nearby San
Andreas
fault.
Rod Ciganovich spent a lot of time
in San Francisco, shooting the commute power. Thanks to him, we have
many
color images of the 3005/3189. A close look at the end of the
locomotive
reveals that the tight-lock couplers have been replaced with standard
type
"E" couplers but the frame has yet to be modified for the "switching
step"
rule.
At the 7th street yard, 3005 is
in company with 3200 and another veteran. The 3200 was the first of 10
passenger version of the venerable SD45, known as the SDP45. They were
purchased in 1967 to supplement the fleet of tired ALCo PA's and EMD
E's
but when AMTRAK took over in 1971, they were transferred to the commute
pool. Photo by Rod Ciganovich on 03/15/1975.
Alan Shifley took the left photo
at the Monterey station in 1969. He was one of those fortunate
few
who could travel free on a family pass as his father worked for Pacific
Fruit Express and later, Southern Pacific. The center photo takes
us to San Francisco as the Del Monte prepares to leave the City in
September,
1968. These were the days when the Del Monte was combined with a
commute as far as San Jose. There, one locomotive and all but 3
cars
were dropped off for the return trip to the City while the Del Monte
continued
on. The other photo was taken from a favorite hangout across the
tracks from the Lenzen Avenue roundhouse in 1975. From this spot,
he could watch the evening commute fleet come in, the engines be turned
on the turntable and put on the ready track in preparation for the next
morning. In 1975, the Del Monte was 4 years dead and San Jose was
as close as the 3005 would ever again get to Monterey.
Drew
Jacksich caught the 3005 and its short commute train 151 in May of 1971
at the Santa Clara station.
The
westbound Del Monte has in tow
three commute cars at Millbrae on April 9, 1971. One of these
cars
appears to be the ex-St.Louis Southwestern car they outfitted with lots
and lots of seats for local SF Peninsula service and worked the commute
pool for a while. The S.P. needed to retire some of the subs and
thought it might be a good idea to use these surplus still-painted
daylight
lightweights but the story was that the riders did not like them.
There was likely more to that story like costs, or something.
Karl
R. Koenig photo.
On April 11, 1971, Karl captured
3005 and the eastbound Del Monte south of San Jose at Coyote.
Notice
the open space in the photo. Soon, in 2000, this will be the home
of Cisco Systems and will be just another wall to wall extension of
Silicon
Valley. Karl R. Koenig photo.
Departing the depot on April 23,
1972 at Burlingame, 3005 is eastbound with two car commuter #114
consisting
of 1 sub for smokers and one gallery car for every one else. Karl
R. Koenig photo.
While in Roseville in May of
1972, probably for an annual FRA inspection, 3005 was caught by Steve Schmollinger on
the ready track coupled long hood to long hood with commute geep
3000.
Easing to a stop on
February 23,
1973, eastbound at the Broadway depot with a 3 car train 114 commuter
composed
of all double-deck gallery cars all in the new single-color gray
paint.
Karl R. Koenig photo.
\
From George Ellwood we have this
image of 3005 in San Francisco. Close examination reveals that the
equipment
trust plate is in place on the frame, below the compressor access door.
The plates were 14 X 8" with 6 screw holes and made of brass. One was
mounted
on each side of the frame. Do you have one we could copy?
Robert Dengler shot these
interesting
overhead views in Santa Clara in June of 1972. The 3005 carries the
standard
Nathan P3 air horn, as she did for most of her life. Note that the S.P.
painters were not very concerned with a crisp line where the red meets
the gray on top of the ends. I guess they never counted on photos like
these.
Craig Walker got this
beautiful shot of 3005 with stablemate 3007 in San Francisco on August
26, 1975. They both look as though they had just emerged
from the paint shop within the hour.
