I visited the collection at the Safeway warehouse in 1973. I think the 3 V&T steamers and maybe a couple of wooden coaches were inside. UP gave 4466 to the state that day. The E-unit, F-unit and Baldwin road switcher were stored outside.

I believe that in Spring 1986, when ATSF gave the CSRM their collection, the railroad expected the merger with the SP to go through within a few months. The CSRM would have been an on-line museum for SPSF, and the new railroad probably planned to shut down the SP Sacramento shops within a year or two, and, probably to have donated some of the shop buildings to the CSRM as shop buildings for the museum, which would have given the CSRM a place to store and maintain the Santa Fe collection as well as other equipment.

A few months later, the ICC turned down SPSF and SP was left to its own devices. Security had been fairly tight at the Sacramento shops for many years, but as the 80s turned into the 90s, it seemed to get lax. The CSRM could well have invested in a rent-a-cop and a lot of tarps to cover up their equipment, but that is ancient history now. They have gotten rid of a lot of equipment in recent years. An SP sleeper and snowplow and that little center cab diesel that used to pull the Halloween train are now in Truckee, in addition to the Alco S-2 in Campo and FM in Illinois.

Mike T.