IACN Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I noticed this photo caption. Some SP power
> leased to Mexico came back home, "not the same".
>
>
>
> SP 8749 Mazatlan, Sin Mexico March 14, 1981
>
> In the early 80's Mexico's Ferr. del Pacifico
> leased a number of SP U33C's. These units ran from
> the border at Nogales to Guadalajara. Upon their
> return to the state, they were just not the same.
>
> [live.staticflickr.com]
> 470d8a6_c.jpg
>
> SP 8749 Mazatlan, Sin Mexico March 14, 1981
> by Deane Motis, on Flickr

Yup.

More than one had been wrecked and repaired (to varying degrees). Many others had had parts removed before being returned to the SP - which may actually have been a blessing in disguise, since it made them less likely to be returned to service.

Here's my favorite story about this subject:

NdeM had notified SP they'd be returning a group of the units via the international railroad bridge that spans the Rio Grande from Piedras Negras on the Mexican side to Eagle Pass on the Texas side. As is typical, the delivering railroad wasn't authorized to operate in the other country, so interchange moves were accomplished by shoving the cut as far out onto the bridge as possible without the home road's engine crossing the border line, then the other railroad would reach out and grab it.

SP would, from time to time, have a Road Foreman of Engines take a look at units NdeM was returning as soon as SP pulled them into the yard on the American side.

On this particular day the RFE was someone from SP's Western Division in California who'd been temporarily assigned to the T&L Lines during one of SP's infamous meltdowns.

He watched from the American bank as the NdeM shoved a bunch of the units out onto the bridge, then quickly retreated into Mexico. After the SP brought them the rest of the way, he boarded them to make his inspection.

The cabs had a lot of electrical parts removed, but the real prizes, apparently, were the big green "Agreement" cab seats. Many of the hood doors had metal straps welded to them, preventing them from being opened. The local SP crew told him the NdeM mechanical forces did that to prevent the SP inspector from looking inside the engine room, where'd he see that parts - big and small - had been removed. If he saw that, he'd be able to "refuse" the interchange while it was still out on the bridge, but once it was in the yard on the American side, it was considered to have been "accepted."

A lot of us thought SP should've just told NdeM to keep 'em.