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After a small break, I decieded to come back with a small bang. I try to stop at the Barstow Yard everytime I make my trip from Ft. Irwin to Victorville.
Once parked i stepped out of the van and look what i found. Two SF Geeps doing some switch work
After awhile a intermodel train led by UP, blew by me I was only able to take a pic of the SD70M at the tail end of the con
Towards the end of my hour stay, I started up the van and loaded up, and started to back out of my parking space when I looked up. A SP SD45 creeping though the yard when I was leaving.
I also took some pics of stuff inside and out side of the museum.
Outside we have:
UP SD40-2
I cant think of the name for this one at the moment.
A 44 Tonner
Inside we have:
Display SD45T's
A train sim maybe?
And a old heating stone. Used in Steam Engines to keep the boilers hot when sitting around in the yards. Was unearthed in 93 (I think) when the turntable was taken out of service.
Tasco,
I guess about the only good thing you can say about Fort Irwin is that you get to pass through Barstow first and take train pics. I hope you've at least got some air conditioned quarters out there.
I haven't been through Barstow in about 10 years and I'm glad to see the old highway bridge is still there. The Santa Fe unit is a rare bird, an SDFP-45. She started life as an FP-45, nine of which were delivered the AT&SF for passenger service in the 60's. After Amtrak, they were regeared for freight service and painted in the blue and yellow paint scheme. They were repainted in 1989 to a modified warbonnet scheme, which they wore until their retirement in the mid 90's. The #95 was donated to the Western America Railroad Museum in 1999 after finally being taken out of service due to a cracked block that developed in 1998. She was the longest serving of any of the nine FP-45's.
The 44 tonner is an original AT&SF engine. She did switching work in LA until she was sold to the US Government in 1962. She spent most of the rest of her career as the yard switcher at the Yermo Marine Corps Station. I'm glad to see she's been saved.
I don't know much else except that's a diesel engine simulator uses to train engineers and I never knew that heated balls were used to keep boilers warm overnight. Thanks for the pictures.
Thanks for that good info UP2CSX. Im heading do Barstow once again soon so i hope to get better pics. Im crossing my fingers to get more pics of that SD45...love them engines.
Tasco,
I was looking at those picture again. The GE is really a 65 tonner, not the 44 tonner as shown on the museum site. I don't know how I missed the front platform rails, which you never see on a 44 tonner. I'm also intrigued by the silver painted objects on both ends of the cab. That's where the exhaust stacks would normally be but those look like a pair of mars lights. See if you can find out any more information about this unit on your next trip. I'm guessing it might be an ex-Southwest Portland Cement switcher.
Thanks for the additional pictures, Tasco. The label would indicate that this indeed is a 65 tonner but it came straight from the military as evidenced by Fed CC and Demil codes on the tag. Did you notice if those were actually Mars lights mounted on both ends of the cab? The mystery deepens. I'll have to do some digging.
In the second picture, the 2451 is a GP-30 and the 6302 is an SD-45. #1929 is a rare bird, an SD-39. The Santa Fe operated 20 of a total of only 54 built.
Good stuff, keep it comng. Barstow was always one of my favorite places, along with Yermo on the UP. Lots of action is a relatively small area.
Thanks for that head on picture, Tasco. I thought they looked like Mars lights (or Gyralights, not sure which) from the side. That headlight is also an aftermarket replacement. It looks like the original GE engines were pulled and replaced with Caterpillar engines by the location and size of the exhasut stacks. All the windows are new also so it must have been through a rebuild not too long before it was declared surplus and donated to the museum. I'm still digging around trying to find information on this critter.
Yeah, the yard is awesome, I was there just a couple of days ago, in fact!
The town is a real HeII hole, but the yards are impressive, to say the least. Darn, now I'm jealous, and cannot believe my eyes, an UNPATCHED SP SD45!?! Talk about luck. That has to be one of the very very last ones.
Nice pics again, Tasco. I thought that GP-30/SD-45 pair might be yard switchers by their track position being off the main. Who would have ever thought that an SD-45 would be a yard switcher someday? Can't tell exactly where in Cajon the other picture is but it looks like it's near Sullivan's Curve. At least there were some offshore winds blowing so you could see the mountains instead of the usual brown haze up there.
I decided to look around the muesum yard and climbed up a very old car that had this:
I dont know why this is here nor how long its been there but i think its a great find for the SF. It needs to be restored and put up somewhere for people to see.
Correct on those engines, Josh. However, in my memory, the neon sign was actually mounted on the diesel shops, not on the Casa del Desierto. I don't recall any type of neon sign on the station itself, at least from when I first saw it, in 1966.
Thanks for the pictures.
I'll have to do some digging.
