Not that old a photo but the subject mater is getting rare these days. Argentine, Kansas. Keven Thomas photo.
Santa Fe's La Grande Station in Los Angles in 1924. Hollywood loved using it for a venue for filming movies in the 1920s and 1930s because the platform and adjoining areas were so open. The Southern Pacific station was a little less filming-friendly.
The Santa Fe Railroad ran the first train thru San Dimas in May of 1887. The station was completed in 1889. A freight car was used as a depot prior to this. Note the flat car is labeled for the Southern California Railway, not to be confused with the California Southern Railroad or the California Central Railway, all three which at one time operated in Southern California.
Don't be too sure they're not to be confused. If I remember right, the SC and the CS were the same railroad before and after the bankruptcy. If I remember right. No guarantees, I have slept many times since then.
Inspector's car at a Santa Fe Station, 1912. You can make out "Santa Fe" in the center of the emblem. The lettering around it says “Get the Safety Habit”.
I'm reading Diesels from Eddystone: The Story of Baldwin Diesel Locomotives by Gary and Stephen Dolzall (c. 1984) and learned something I thought was interesting -- the Santa Fe's first Baldwin DT-6-6-2000 #2600 began service as a helper at Ash Fork, AZ and later worked Cajon. I think of these as transfer units, not helpers. The Santa Fe soon determined that dynamic braking would be a good feature, so added it to three of the five DT-6-6-2000s delivered in 1949. However, it was a light duty dynamic brake, installed on only one end of the units. The road ended up owning six (2600–2605). They later migrated to Los Angeles and even a branchline in IL before being stored at Argentine Yard in Kansas City. The last was retired in 1963.
Reading on, I learned that the light duty dynamics were used to speed return trips downgrade running light. The DT-6-6-2000s found themselves out of a job when the Crookton Cutoff was completed in 1960. A little off topic, but the book also shows a DT-6-6-2000 demonstrating as a helper on the CNJ at White Haven, PA. While the CNJ declined a purchase, they were otherwise a good Baldwin diesel customer.
132 (BLW 1880) is retired to the Kansas Museum of History. Not such an old pic, but she's in a number of old pics, so it's nice to see what's become of her.
18th St. coachyard, Chicago, 1961. A couple of custom steam generator equipped Fairbanks Morse switchers and a couple of similarly-equipped RS-1s don't seem to be welcome at the party the more fashionably dressed road locomotives are having in the distance.
Great pic with alot of color in it! Look at the "other" GM product to the left of the station-a 1956 Chevy 4 door with a Continental kit on it, wow! Skirts are awesome on them old cars!
