The Owners

The caption of this photo could well be, "Did we really do this?". Sitting at the West Oakland Diesel shop of the S.P. on June, 15, 1995, the 5623 is ready to go to Sacramento for display at Railfair 1995. This was her first public outing and the first time we had a chance to get her out on the main. That's Errol on the left and me with the OTR Jacket. Yes, we were proud. The owners of the SP5623 are otherwise fairly normal guys. Errol is a Retired Union Pacific engineer in the Bay Area and Howard is the retired machinist and computer programmer for the Oakland Terminal Railway. The first question we are asked (usually, in a manner reflecting disbelief) about owning a locomotive is, "Where do you keep it?". The answer was, "on a siding where I work". The 5623 was leased to the OTR as a spare locomotive and sat on the same track as the SP2467, with which it went to Sacramento for Railfair

1999. The 5623 now calls the Niles Canyon Railway home. The next question asked is almost always, "How much did it cost?". The answer should be, "none of your business", but as we are such nice guys, we usually respond with something like, "about as much as a good, new car". This figure does not include the several thousands of dollars we have put into it, primarily for the body work and paint job. But, it is a great toy and we have had some great times with it. We like other folks to enjoy it too and try to maintain the philosophy of, "if you can't have fun with it, don't bother". If you are around, ask for a tour. If you would like special photographs for a modeling project, email me and I will see what we can do.