That SP AC was so much fun.

We had a number of former SP cars on the 4449's trip to New Orleans. Each car had four to eight 110lb propane tanks that ran the AC and electric power. Somehow, those tanks were not replaced by magic. First,one had to find a gas company that would come out and fill them. These tanks were filled by weight, not volume. We had rigged up a portable scale which was used to put the correct amount into each tank. Before doing that, however, all of the empty tanks had to be removed from under the cars and brought to a central filling location. We usually had armies of people that would help wash the engine but many began to have emergency "doctor's appointments","pick up the kids at Little League" etc when it came to helping with the propane tanks (and/or washing the train. But that is another story). It was usually left to Pete Dorland, Ken Keeler, Larry Miller and myself to deal with the tank problem. Adding to the fun was by the time we got around to filling the tanks it was usually dark and we were rolling 110 lb tanks down the ballast in locations where we had never been before usually accompanied by 98% humidity and nasty flies.

The worst night was when we had to replace 28 tanks!

We eventually developed a loading technique whereby the tank was placed upside down on the edge of the tank bunker. One would than grab the top part of the can and lift it up quickly thereby transferring the weight from the tank to the bunker. In fact, we were so much younger (and stupid) in those days that we would have time trials to see how many each of us could load.

The SP's AC units were basically worn out. We had to get the whole train running by 6am. Failure to do so meant that we were fighting a loosing battle. The situation was compounded by railfans leaving the vestibule doors open and constantly opening and shutting the doors while moving about the train. The only way of dealing with the heat and humidity of Louisiana was to know that eventually we would turn around and head back to Portland.

Added to the doppler effect of each car was the sound of a starting motor trying to bring to life a dead Waukesha engineator or ice engine. Everytime I see a photo of that New Orleans train I can picture Jim Brugerre trying his magic one more time on a Waukesha.