AC-12 Passenger consist

I bought this out of print book " The Last of the Great Train Station: 50 Years of the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal" by Bill Bradley. On page 40 there is a photo of an AC-8 pulling a passenger consist in LA. It's was SP Train 60, an AC-8 #4194, "The West Coast" an all-heavyweight coach, tourist and standard sleeper train coming in from Portland via the San Joaquin Valley. I have read that the AC-12 also pulled a passenger consist as well as freight. I can't seem to goggle anything about the AC-12 passenger consist. Does anyone have any information about an AC-12 passenger consist and where it ran. Did any run into LA?[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica][/FONT]

 

The Espee AC12's while freight locomotives were regularly used on secondary passenger trains. The West Coast, Owl, Klamath, Tehachapi, and others were pulled by any of the later AC class locomotives.
The AC class locomotives didn't operate north of Eugene account the turntable at Brooklyn was not long enough. The AC's were also restricted on the Siskiyou line account the steep grades and tunnels between Medford and Black Butte.

 

Great! Thank you for that information. That means I can use an AC-12 for my LAUPT station. Now, do you know of any N Scale manufactures that makes prototype passengers cars for these trains such as the West Coast and The Owl? I wonder if IM will come out with any? From the photo in my book, all the cars look like an olive drab color. It is really hard to tell because it is an old b&w photo.

 

If IM doesn't come out with the Heavyweight cars your interested in then check with CC they have come out with a line to replace the Rivarossi's from years ago. Just call them they can fill you in on what roads are available.

 

Thanks, I will do that.

 

Jerry,
The only photo that is shown in the book of an cab forward is an AC-8 #4194 pulling "The West Coast". I did do a google search for the AC-12 and found that it was used for freight as well as passenger trains. If SP used AC-8s & Ac-12s, surely there must be a chance AC-9s were used but I do not know that for a fact.

 

Here ia a photo of an AC-12 taken in 1947 in Los Angeles http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/sp4275.jpg
I see that IM is only offering #4275 with the tender lettered.

 

Jerry, I looked on the SP Roster of Cab Forwards and I could not found any AC-9 listed. Are they that rare?

 

I don't know SP that well, but I do know that the AC-9 was not a Cab Forward. Same wheel arrangement as the Cab Forwards, but the AC-9 was a Standard Cab engine.

Buzz Lenander

 

That explains why it was not listed under cab forwards. I didn't bother to check their regular steam listings.

 

AC9 (lionel)

some info on a lionel ad (hopefully historically accurate)http://leetrain.com/lionelspeciallocomotive3.html

 

Espee AC-9's

There were a dozen AC-9's on the Espee. They weren't cab forwards but were 2-8-8-4's. They were coal fired until converted to oil in 1947-48.
The AC-9's were bought for the El Paso & Southwestern for service between El Paso and Tucumcari N.M. They ran out their miles on the Modoc out of Klamath Falls and Alturas. All were vacated from the Espee from May through October 1955.

 

Cool video Jerry and thanks for showing me what an AC-9 looks like. It really is a nice looking steamer. BTW, I rechecked my book and didn't see any AC-9s in it.

 

The cabforward malleys regularly pulled passenger trains over the hill between LA and bakersfield. The AC9s were coal burners so they stayed back east somewhere. I don't know if the AC9s pulled passenger trains back there or not but the normal malleys pulled them routinely for years here in cali.....dave