The Modesto & Empire Traction Company is famous in railfan circles for it's roster of spotless GE 70 ton locomotives, which have served the Central California short line well since 1947. Ominous news on numerous railfan forums tell of M&ET's upgrading and subsequent retirement of these wonderful locomotives. Even more concerning, in order to get tax credits for it's new Genset locomotives, the engines on the 70 tonners must be destroyed. An effort to preserve one of the 70 tonners appears to be underway, but requires that the locomotive be shipped overseas - the only way it can be saved in operable order. The 'saved' locomotive is #608. When the news hit that it would be making it's last revenue run, railfans flocked to Modesto to capture the occasion. Here she is making an exchange with the SP in downtown Modesto: Reliable sources say the locomotive is to be loaded on a flat car and shipped out of Modesto very soon. More to come....
Did you develop this story of this particular story yourself, or is that the true fate of those great 70 tonners in reality?
That's just sad. You would think some kind of exception could be made for them to go to a museum for preservation. Another case of a good deed gone wrong.
That is rather tragic. At one time M&ET also rostered the only two 70Ts equipped with dynamic brakes but I don't think that they have been in service for a long time. The main difference is that the long hood extended to the end of the deck, just above the pilot with a lovered vent on each side of the hood. Can't remember right off hand who they were built for originally but they saw a lengthy service on the line. Lets hope that at least one can yet be saved, but a variance may be possible since the engine would go into a historical society or museum. That is something that ought to be looked at further.
Here she is, ready to be shipped out of town. The M&ET shop forces loaded her onto the flatbed at night, and here we see it being shoved down 9th Street, past another Modesto institution, the Old Mill Cafe...home of the best breakfast in town .
That is tragic but what a good thing you did hear to remember the last days. Awesome job.:thumbs_up::thumbs_up:
The trace says the routing will be up to Roseville via a special 'Museum move' - the caboose is a restoration being moved from the Jamestown RR Museum to the Sacramento State RR Museum, and the 'friendly' SP felt like the two were worth their own special train. At Roseville, the 608 is to be added to an eastbound manifest for the trip over Donner and points east. Here's the special crossing the Tuolomne River bridge And accelerating out of town, past the SP depot Bon Voyage, M&ET 608 !
So its a beautiful day in CA, and Dave calls to tell me there is a special move heading to Roseville Yard. I get loaded up for a railfan trip. Camera, lunch box, some ice tea, and my scanner. I am just about to head for Sacramento when I hear on the scanner that there has been a derailment on the line out of Roseville over Donner Pass, and the special flat load has been re-routed out of Roseville headed for the Bay Area. So I head for Pinole to get a shot. Just as I get there and open an ice tea, I hear the rumble of SP Power getting closer. I set up for the shot and got it just as it enters the S curve.
SP Snoot nose 8300 leads the freight. It's making track speed next to the ocean on this beautiful day.
Lucky timing as she speeds away! Amtrak heading for Sacramento has slowed due to the derailment, hoping the route will be cleared before it gets there.
I was able to get one last shot as it heads for the Bay Area. I also learned it will be interchanged to the ATSF and re-routed down the valley and head out of the state that way, so the derailment on Donner Pass has been a railfans dream!
The next day I headed back to Pinole with a full tank of gas, another lunch box, more iced tea, and high hopes of catching the special load on the ATSF. Chico didn't disappoint! Caught this local heading out of Richmond with the load behind the Geeps as the sun started to come up.
