OPRRMS Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> AP reader Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Below is that same GP9E (3883) on a commuter
> > train.
> > Did it need any special controls to work
> > commutes?
>
> No. However, SP's freight GP9's weren't equipped
> with a Communicating Pipe, so in order to
> accomplish that a temporary air hose would be run
> from the Communicating hose on the rear of the
> trailing unit to a connection with the cab whistle
> pipe in the air brake compartment under the lead
> unit's cab. The hose would be on the other side
> of the locomotive, so it's not possible to tell if
> it's there in this photo.
>
> > Another photo below:
> > Watsonville Junction, California.
> > February 05, 1987
> >
> > Was Watsonville Jct a busy place back then?
> > Appears to be in this photo.
>
> Fairly busy. It was in a long slow decline as
> more and more perishable traffic shifted to trucks
> and it was eliminated as a crew change point for
> freight trains.

Last straw was when the Coast closed to through freights and when reopened, crews ran through WJ between OA and SLO. Busiest was before 1980