George Andrews Wrote:
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> Note that Espee 3100 has had the middle of the
> radiator grille blanked off with sheet metal. I
> always found it odd that Espee never went for the
> alligators like Santa Fe did, considering the
> units' pulling abilities & Espee's drag freight
> mentality. Maybe it was the EMD fondness @ 1
> Market St.

SP went with RSD-12s rebuilt from RSD-5s instead. Alco probably gave SP a "good deal" on them. There's some indication that SP originally intended to trade in all of their RSD-5s one-for-one for RSD-12s, but stopped after only 21. Originally assigned to the Tehachapi Freight Pool, the RSD-12s were replaced by SD35s only three years later, indicating less than stellar performance. SP also passed on SD24s after testing the three that EMD had sent.

The three RSD-15s SP did purchase only lasted in the Tehachapi pool for about nine months (and photos of them there are relatively rare, except for some taken during their intial testig period) before being transferred to the T&NO to be used in the pool with Cotton Belt's just-delivered RSD-15s between East St. Louis and San Antonio.