Hello everbody,
After driving along the coast on my way to and from work in San Clemente, I've been wondering what locomotives ran on this particular line from Los Angeles to San Diego when Santa Fe was still operating as a Class One system.
I know F units, E Units, and Alco PA's were used, but were any of these locomotives used?
U-boats? yes SF had a couple of them. U30's/U33CG's?
F45's/FP45's ?
SD40-2's ?
SD45-2's ?
GP40X's ?
GP39-2's ?
GP38-2's ?
GP9's ?
GP7's ?
Anyone who lived in San Juan or San Clemente during that time frame might remember, come on someone has to know!
I believe it was mostly 4 axle equipment, in the 80s they used CF7s for switching.
I remember seeing GP-30's switching in the 2001-2002 timeframe. ATK was using F40PH's during that era.
Were the GP30's Blue/Yellow?
I remember the AMTK F40PH's although the "F40PH's were being replaced by the F59PHI's and I remember them vanishing around 2000/2001.
Santa Fe was still using GP7/9s (rebuilds...GP7u, GP9u) on the line too. I remember seeing these around Fullerton all the time in the mid 80s.
As far as the San Diegans, it was only F40s (Amtrak of course). And the reworked metroliner cabcars for push pull service.
Oh and yes the GP30s were blue/yellow. Actually most everything on the San Diegan line was blue/yellow during the time frame you're asking about. For some variety you can throw in a few Kodachrome locos too if mid 1980s.
I did some Microsoft trainsim pics way back when to try and replicate some 80s-to early 2000 scenes. Still have the screen grabs:
1980s San Diegan
Early 90s short ballast train:
Mid 2000s BNSF local:
Matt from Anaheim, CA and Bayfield, COClick Here for my model train photo website
Were SD75M's and GP50's ever used on the coastline?
The local freights that operated out of Oceanside did use GP35 and GP30 usually in 3-unit consists. I have also seen low-nosed GP9s on photos at Oceanside.
The San-Diego - Barstow and San-Diego - SB freights used SD40-2 and SD-45 from what i have seen in period photos.
As others mentioned, for passenger motive power, it was non-ATSF.