Those 1500s were great engines. The only time I worked on them was at Guadalupe or Lompoc until I worked out of Klamath or Portland on goats. I was on a wreck train at San Lucas with one. We dead headed out of SLO to San Lucas and took the switcher and about 6 cars and a caboose on to Wat. Jct. (They had been used on the clean up)

We sailed right on down the line at 65 mph. It rode great and it would act up at the same places (rough track) the big power did if you didn't pull the train thru. The added feature was to be able to look back at the car you were coupled up to, right out the rear window. Talk about hunting. The head man was always a little shy about things so I waited until we were almost to Salinas. Then I told him to watch the truck of the hopper we were coupled to. I thought he would jump right out of his skin. He didn't take his eyes off it until we cut away from it in Watsonville.

As the old hoghead said to his new young student fireman, "Don't keep looking back there son. Bad things happen back there and we will know about them soon enough."

Nudge