Southern Pacific 4450

Southern Pacific 4450

April 1985 at SP's Lenzen St engine facility in San Jose. SD9's 4450 and 4451 (aka "Huff and Puff") and GP 9 #3187 in the proposed original Cal Train paint scheme.
Type and origin
Power type Diesel
Builder General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD)
Model SD9
Specifications
AAR wheel arr. C-C
Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Career
Operators Southern Pacific Railroad
Numbers 5363, 3822, 4450
Delivered 1954
Retired 1998
Current owner Feather River Rail Society
Disposition Scrapped, Portola, California

Southern Pacific Railroad's (SP) locomotive number 4450, nicknamed "Huff", was an EMD SD9 diesel locomotive. 4450 was part of SP's first order of 32 SD9s, and delivered in 1954, with its original number, 5363. This order was assigned SP class DF-120 and numbered 5340-5371.

History

The locomotive was assembled by EMD in April 1954 under EMD construction number 19452, and was initially assigned number 5363 after delivery. As delivered, SP 5363 featured the "black widow" paint scheme, large Mars Signal lights at both ends (in fact, SP 5340-5371 were the only class of SP SD9s equipped with this large and distinctive light), and had a steam generator so that it could be used for passenger service. The whole class appears to have initially been assigned to the service district in Oregon.

SP 3822 wearing the "bloody nose" scheme

In 1965, SP 5363 was painted into the grey and scarlet "bloody nose" paint scheme, and numbered SP 3822. During this time 3822 was used as a snow-fighting locomotive for the fierce winters on Donner Pass. It was rebuilt at the SP Sacramento General Shops as part of SP's General Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (GRIP), and received the number 4450 on 23 November 1973.[1][2] SP 4450 & 4451 were the only two SD9s to retain their steam generators after being rebuilt.[3] Being that they were now the only two passenger equipped SD9s, they were transferred to the San Francisco-San Jose, California, commute service until Caltrain equipment arrived in 1985.

After 1985, 4450 and its mate 4451 (nicknamed "Huff" and "Puff") were used all around the SP system for officers' specials and other passenger operations. They were favorites of railfans and usually worked together. After the Union Pacific Railroad took over SP operations in the mid-1990s, 4450 and 4451 were assigned to local freight service in the San Francisco Bay Area until 1998, when 4450 was purchased by the Golden Gate Railroad Museum at Hunters Point in San Francisco and arrived there on April 28, 1998.[3] SP 4451 was transferred to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad where it presently remains, in derelict condition in Schellville, California.

"Huff" in 2006, prior to being moved from Hunter's Point

In late 2005, the Golden Gate Railroad Museum was evicted from its home and Southern Pacific 4450 was sold to the Feather River Rail Society and was transferred to the Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, California. On December 30, 2006, SP 4450 left Hunters Point en route to Portola. It was eventually declared surplus to the WPRM's collection and they sought a new owner. The locomotive's poor condition and lack of alignment control couplers thwarted these efforts, and it was ultimately scrapped in August 2013.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Gautreaux, Lee A. "SP SD7/9 page: GRIP Program". Railfan Railgoat. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  2. ↑ Gautreaux, Lee A. "SP 5363". Railfan Railgoat. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  3. 1 2 "CADILLAC 4450 ARRIVES ...". Golden Gate Railroad Museum. 8 June 1998. Archived from the original on 1 September 1999. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  4. ↑ "RIP SP 4450 - O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum". Retrieved 2016-03-15.
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