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Chasing the Daylight - Southern Pacific Daylight #4449

Started by meinhosen, July 27, 2009, 08:09:47 PM

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meinhosen

For those of you familiar with US railroad history, you might have heard of the Southern Pacific RR's famous "Daylight" steam locomotive.  I'd like to share a few pictures that I snapped on a recent excursion it took to Owosso, MI for Train Festival 2009.  Sadly, for those of you who are looking up the Festival's website, I missed out on the running of all the other locomotives there over that weekend.

I wish I could provide more than a sampling of the hundreds of photos I snapped, but here's a look at my personal favorites:

(Oh, so you know, I changed the resolution to 800x600, as the larger image sizes weren't working out too well on the post... I wish I could post these in their 3888x2592 glory...)

Seen below is the 4449 pulling out of the museum in Owosso.  Its raining pretty hard, although it did make for some nice shots (this one was taken while I was cowering under an umbrella and tree)


The following series was taken in Alma, MI where the 4449 was using a wye to turn around for the return back to Owosso.  Here we see it on its initial backing into the wye, the next four after this first one are on the southern end of the wye.  I'm not sure if it was done on purpose, but it let out a nice burst of steam right when she cleared the switch, which obscured the engine in a really beautiful way.








Ithaca, MI.  The best of my bunch right after she stopped for her photo run-by for the paying passengers.


Back in Owosso, picture perfect weather for her to come steaming back in to the station.








You're telling me I get to be home for more than 12 months?


art128

That's a wonderful Engine there, that must be impressive to be just next to it !
I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

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threestooges

That... is amazing. That first picture is absolutely breathtaking. You may have missed out on the other operations, but I think someof the pictures steal the show. It would have been so cool to be at that house on the porch as that came around the corner. People occasionally ask me why I like trains... pictures like this help to show part of the reason why.

One of these days I'll have to get up to Portland again where they maintain her. That first picture would make an excellent desktop (or a few of those could make a nice screensaver). Thanks for sharing the pics meinhosen. Great photography and a great subject.
-Matt

Nardo69

Untill now I knew the Daylight only from RRT2 ...

I must say - a great machine. There aren't much 4-8-4s in Europe at all - The French 242A1, the two German 06 (not the best German locos). And the biggest American locos in "my area" are the French 141R (modified 2-8-2 from Baldwin) and the Turkish 46.1

But that IS a great machine - Boxpok wheels, see that giant rod, WOW. It's a two cylinder loco, isn't it? I guess it must sound great when such a diva pulls out of a station with a lon train!


Bernhard  :thumbsup:

BigSlark

Great photographs, meinhosen. 4449 is the first steam locomotive I ever saw in action, it was 1989 at Cajon Pass, California. She was pulling 18 cars up the westbound grade at 45 miles per hour, standing thirty feet from her at that speed was awe inspiring at four years old, to put it mildly. The next week I got to see Union Pacific 8444 (now 844, she's also a 4-8-4) and 3985 (a compound articulated 4-6-6-4) double heading eastbound over Cajon Pass with 25 cars in tow. They had helpers on the rear, but I'm pretty sure the SD-45's were there "just in case" as both locomotives were working hard. A few years later I got to ride in the cab of AT&SF 3751 (another 4-8-4) on her third test run, my grandfather was at the throttle, he regularly ran the 3750's on the Pacific Fast Mail and Chief passenger trains between Los Angeles and Kingman, AZ in the 1940's and 50's. That same year I also got to ride in the cab of Frisco 1522 (a 4-8-2) for a few hundred yards, once again my grandfather talked his way on to the footplate, he had worked with the engineer on the Rock Island in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1935, when they had both signed on as firemen! The next time I visit my parents I need to find the photographs of all these events...

Thank you for bring back some of my favorite memories.

Cheers,
Kevin

meinhosen

Kevin,

Let me just say that I'm extremely jealous of all the opportunities you've had (Cajun Pass is #1 on my "to-do" list of rail fanning/ rail photography) to see and ride in some of the most famous steamers in the U.S.  I've seen and stood in the 3985, but haven't seen it in action since I was very young (I think my age was single digits, so it's been a while).

Here's a few more edits for your viewing pleasure...

The more I see this former Milwaukee Road car, the more I like it (and the more I want to ride in it).  For the record, I didn't even notice the woman waving until I resized this to upload it.


This kid would be me at that age... riding down as fast as possible to the tracks just to see a train, especially this one.






Hope you enjoyed these.   :)
You're telling me I get to be home for more than 12 months?


Sciurus

Woaw, very beautiful locomotive :o
The latest whixh is orange is very typical from the 50's. I don't know the original date, but typical $%Grinno$%. Th railways are securited, allbody can go on! In France, there are fences.

Guillaume :thumbsup:
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* * * * * Longwy * * * * *

art128

Nice photos once again my friend, I really like that skin of train in the first picture, I always loved train like that.(and I always loved train!) BTW, looks like there's no fences between the road and houses and the railway, it's not a bit dangerous ? However, excellent pictures of these wagons and engine.

-Arthur.  :thumbsup:
I'll take a quiet life... A handshake of carbon monoxide.

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BigSlark

Quote from: Sciurus on July 29, 2009, 06:01:40 AM
Woaw, very beautiful locomotive :o
The latest whixh is orange is very typical from the 50's. I don't know the original date, but typical $%Grinno$%. Th railways are securited, allbody can go on! In France, there are fences.

Guillaume :thumbsup:

The Daylight paint scheme of 4449 was actually created in the late 1930's, in an attempt to get more passengers on the Southern Pacific's daytime trains between Los Angeles and San Francisco, which ran along the Pacific Ocean for a good portion of the trip. After diesels took over the Daylight trains in the 1950's, several of these beautiful locomotives were painted black for the remained of their careers.

Most of the railroads in America are unfenced, save for busy lines in urban areas (i.e. commuter trains in New York and Philadelphia, freight lines around the Port of Los Angeles).

Cheers,
Kevin

Albus of Garaway

I apologize for the slight bump, but I just wanted to say thank you so much for these pictures! They were a joy to look at!

-Jason

threestooges

Shamelessly bumping to thank you again for the second set of pictures. As for that kid, that would've been me too... actually it still would be me... I sprinted several blocks on a bike a couple months ago when I was out on a ride and heard the horn in the distance. My legs hurt like the dickens after that, but I got there in time, and that was just for a basic Metrolink train. If this was coming through, I'd probably have considered camping overnight. There's just something about a locomotive/train that is just graceful even with the raw power. (Not sure if this is that video, but I've posted a few from my train spotting rides (Metrolink and Surfliner mainly) here. The sound's a bit scratchy, but that's what come with using an old digital still camera that has a video feature. It works though.) Thanks again Meinhosen. Great pics.
-Matt