Odd Consist in Portland, Oregon (PDX)

I was at Portland Union Station today to go pick up a friend. I noticed on the western-most track, there was a was Genesis parked with about 5 Horizon cars. I figured it was just a equipment subsitution untill as I was walking towards the main entrance I noticed at the end is a stainless steel private car, but had no reporting marks whatsoever on it.

Once I found my friend and we got back to my car, I noticed the Genesis was coupled to the end of the Horizon car nose first, which I guess it was wyed.

Any one got a good explanation here? wigwagfan, I am looking in your directon

MODERATOR'S NOTE:

We're talking Portland, OREGON here.

Mr. Skelly,

Believe that the equipment is there for this weekend's excursion from Portland to Bend with the Southern Pacific #4449. Since it is a mainline excursion it is technically operating as an Amtrak train, and can fall under Amtrak's insurance (which is, from what I understand, much cheaper to buy into rather than a standalone policy with a $100M minimum cap, which is required on virtually all railroads.)

A tidbit about the excursion:

The "Deschutes Steam Special" is sponsored by the Northwest Rail Museum and is being operated through Amtrak with the cooperation of the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroad. NO ticketing is available through anyone but the Northwest Rail Museum. Please do not call Amtrak - they will not have information.

The P42 is there for HEP, and as a backup engine should anything happen to the GS-4. I don't know if the trip is sold out or not, but tickets started at $675 - for the round-trip from Portland to Bend and back, with overnight accomodations and meals included. Unfortunately, a tad bit out of my price range.

Ohhh...that explains why the P42 is nose-coupled.

anybody remember the days when SP would supply a clean unit, sometimes that SD45 (I think) painted in daylight colors? I can't complain about the gennie, because mainline steam is rare, but nothing beats the real thing...

edit: this 'un http://espee.railfan.net/spsd44r.html

SD-45 in DAYLIGHT COLORS????

Huh?

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, went to college at Santa Barbara (post A-Day) and camped at either Gaviota or Refugio from 1962 or so to 1978.

I've seen Daylight E units hauling the Daylight;
Gray F-units hauling the Daylight
Gray SDP-45s of the SP hauling the Daylight
Daylight, Overland Route, and Stainless/Simulated stainless SP cars
The Lark after sunset
SDP-40Fs in the original pointless arrow scheme...

But I've never seen a SD-45 in Daylight paint scheme.

check the link above - it's "inverse daylight, with orange body/red stripe, and one SD45 rebuild got it, as did one SD40. The longer SD45 really pulls off the look though. And SP considered it an SD44.

edit - if you have a copy of Pentrex's tape of 4449 hauling the New Orleans steam special of 1984, you'll see the SD44 helping 4449 in the snow and mountains somewhere (cali?)

If we're lucky, BNSF will repeat what it did a few years ago and assign its very own #4449 (a Dash 9-44CW) to the consist. But this train is running on BNSF rails - not UP.

By the way, there is one guy who is affiliated with the #4449 team, that has ex-Amtrak F40PH #231, and he IS repainting it into SP Daylight colors. (The "official" reason is that the engine needed a new paint job, he wanted to use his donor's dollars for mechanical work, and there was plenty of red and orange paint around. So why not for a few years?)

BTW: Picture of SP's "Daylight" SD-44 (in a SD-45 carbody) and SD-40R.

And at one time, Doyle McCormack (CMO of the #4449 team) owned a F45, also painted in Daylight colors but with NYC style striping (or so I'm told). Believe this particular locomotive is now owned by Montana RailLink, and most certainly NOT in red and orange anymore.

wigwagfan> Those PICS are awesome, and I really like that and think that they shold use it.

What do Mr. McCormick and his friends do to fund their enormous toy trains?

Wait, I just remembered something!

Did the 4449 go through Hillsboro on the P&W around 1995 or 1996?

The reason I asked is because I actually looked at a picture of the 4449 and I seem to have a memory of my father waking me up early one Sunday morning and going go look at it and waiting forever for it to get going.

AgentSkelly wrote:Wait, I just remembered something!

Did the 4449 go through Hillsboro on the P&W around 1995 or 1996?

The reason I asked is because I actually looked at a picture of the 4449 and I seem to have a memory of my father waking me up early one Sunday morning and going go look at it and waiting forever for it to get going.

Yes.

Unfortunately, I had departed for Idaho two months prior to this trip; otherwise some of these pictures I would have the exact same angle of:

4449 in McMinnville; grain elevator in background (no longer standing)

4449 in front of McMinnville depot (it is still standing).

4449 relettered.

Why this particular photographer never bothered to get a picture of the #4449 passing one of McMinnville's THREE steam-era wig-wag signals (at the time; all have since been replaced), I will never know...

OK. The SP units were repainted waaay after A-Day, and indeed look like how SP covered up the existence of the non-merger with ATSF.

So far as I know, the last Daylight painted Diesel passenger locomotive, most likely an E unit, was repainted to SP gray by 1967, and off the roster at A-Day.

As I recall, in Trains Magazine a year or so back were some Steinheimer photos of the last SP F units ... and one was in Daylight right to the very end.

MODERATOR'S NOTE:

This topic, while indeed quite fun, is tangential at best to Amtrak. I am moving it to Mr Benton's Rail Travel and Trip Reports forum.

wigwagfan wrote:If we're lucky, BNSF will repeat what it did a few years ago and assign its very own #4449 (a Dash 9-44CW) to the consist. But this train is running on BNSF rails - not UP.

By the way, there is one guy who is affiliated with the #4449 team, that has ex-Amtrak F40PH #231, and he IS repainting it into SP Daylight colors. (The "official" reason is that the engine needed a new paint job, he wanted to use his donor's dollars for mechanical work, and there was plenty of red and orange paint around. So why not for a few years?)

BTW: Picture of SP's "Daylight" SD-44 (in a SD-45 carbody) and SD-40R.

And at one time, Doyle McCormack (CMO of the #4449 team) owned a F45, also painted in Daylight colors but with NYC style striping (or so I'm told). Believe this particular locomotive is now owned by Montana RailLink, and most certainly NOT in red and orange anymore.

Hey all, I realize I'm reviving a old thread but this is the one that had the only pic with a good close up bow shot of an FP-45 I could find. My question was, referencing wigwagfans FP-45 link. What are the 2 lights to the left and right of the illuminated number panels? I was guessing they were either white ditch lights or red freds. Main reason for my question is that I'm putting a DCC Decoder into and older Amtrak FP-45 and wanted to make it look a lil more authentic when lit up. THANKS

first of all, locomotives have noses, not bows. bows are on boats and ships.

second, they aren't ditch lights or mars lights. they're marker lights. they can be red, white or green.

did i mention that locomotives aren't ships?

HA. Ok, bow was the first thing that came into my head. I did think of calling it a nose but I thought that was too close to airplanes. But thank you for the information.