Good Morning Everybody... Happy Father's Day !!!

I wanted to put in a plug for a brand new railfan VIDEO that finally got completed after one heck of a LOT of work : ***SP STEAM FANTRIPS***

Most of the big Fantrips that were operated on the Southern Pacific during the 1950's were sponsored by either the California-Nevada Railroad Historical Society, the Pacific Coast Chapter: Railway & Locomotive Historical Society and/or the Central Coast Railway Club.

Fantastic STEAM footage on SP using a large variety of locomotives, including an AC-9 and a 3-cylinder 4-10-2 ...

The mainly color footage in the production has never been seen before by the Public. The video was produced by "Greg Scholl Video Productions" ably assisted by three Technical Consultants:
"Phil Gosney, Evan Werkema & Ken Shattock" ... It runs approximately 70-minutes.

One of the most spectacular trips on the video is the famed "Backwoods Special" that journeyed 1200-miles thru three States using ELEVEN locomotives for the grand sum of $ 30.00 !!
Try to do THAT today ...

Here is a brief description of how that one particular fantrip operated:

On Friday, May 28th, 1955, the first day of the trip, the train ran from Oakland to Reno with power being GS-1 4-8-4 #4428 to Roseville and cab-forwards to Reno.
At Roseville, the 4428 came off the train and SP provided two helper units in grimy condition in the form of cab-forwards 4205 and 4224.

Cab Forward 4224 was cut off at Norden for the balance of the segment to Reno.
Saturday morning, May 29th, AC-9 #3804 powered the train out of Reno, but developed problems and was dropped at Wendel. A pair of cab forwards replaced the AC-9 for the run from Wendel. It was a rare scene with double-headed cab-forwards powering a passenger train on the Modoc Line.

A photo run-by was held at the big curve near "Likely" .
At Alturas, the passengers saw many Cab-Forwards waiting for service.
One of the reasons for this trip was the side trip to Lakeview, Oregon. This trip originated out of Alturas and was powered by Baldwin diesel #1451 along with 2-8-0 number # 2592 on the 55 mile branch line.
A lengthy stop was made in Lakeview which included ceremonies and speeches at the depot.
On the return trip, 2-8-0 # 2592 led the train back to Alturas, and that completed the trip on the Lakeview Branch. After reaching Alturas, cab-forwards #4211 and #4247 powered the train toward Klamath Falls, with #4211 only operating as far as Ambrose. The passengers would overnight (Saturday) in Klamath Falls, Oregon.
On Sunday, May 30th, the third and final day, the passengers onboard
found the train west of Klamath Falls behind a cab forward on the Shasta Route to Dunsmuir, California.
At Dunsmuir the cab forward was replaced with GS-6 # 4468. After a stop for water at Gerber, the 4468 continued on the East Valley line to Roseville, and eventually back to Oakland to end this rare 3-day excursion.

Again, all this for $ 30.00 (or $ 43.00 if you wanted space in one of the Pullman cars) ...

Greg Scholl does not plan to release this new production until Fall-2012.. But now that you know about it-- Keep your eyes open and watch for it when it makes its debut!

Here are a couple of locomotives from some of the trips on the video:

[www.yesteryeardepot.com]

[www.railpictures.net]


Thanks for your attention.

Ken Shattock (KRK)