A Little Bit O' Bend...
just after the merger, June 1970 ( note: this is one of Wx4's original pages from 2003, which accounts for its goofy layout) |
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Rob Jacox, this is for you! Rob is a San Jose native now living in Bend, Oregon, and his fine Web site, Western Rails is an absolute must-see. The following aren't exactly the pinnacle of the photographic art, but hopefully they're interesting nevertheless. They all were photographed in June, 1970, just after Spokane Portland & Seattle became a merger partner in Burlington Northern. |
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Somehow, the newly-ex SP&S enginehouse in Bend (above) reminds me of the B-52's song Love Shack: Funky little shack! Funky Little shack! This tarpaper-sided affair out-funked anything that Wx4 staff ever saw on the Milwaukee Road, which is saying allot. |
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I'd judge that SP&S didn't win any Good Housekeeping Seal of Approvals for "Apple Pie Order Landscaping". Here we see two Alco RS-3's, SP&S #75 and BN #4075 (ex SP&S #95) lazing away the afternoon amid the clutter. These two units were some of the earlier class members to depart the BN roster. The discovery that this photo contained a prominently displayed Willys Jeep Station Wagon caused quite a stir around Wx4 offices, and resulted in immediate display of a cropped version, along with appropriate commentary, in Wx4's interdimensional Harmonic Convergence of Geeps and Jeeps. You foamers probably haven't noticed that half of Wx4 is devoted to said Wagons. |
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New 10-21-03 | That's the #917, the last Alco RS-11 built for Northern Pacific, in the above two photos. To get a perspective of the first photo, note that the tank car also appears at extreme right on the photo at the top of the page. |
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new 10-21-03 | Here's the whole bunch together. The unusual-looking Northern Pacific outside-braced hopper car with the inward-tapered side sheets is a Hart Selctive Service ballast car. |
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After the merger, Burlington Northern immediately leased a quantity of Alco C628's and C630's from a very-happy-to-oblige Southern Pacific. If memory serves correct, SP C630 ownership was the result of a Federal "suggestion", born of EMD-related antitrust concerns, to the nation's large railroads that they buy Alcos. At any rate, the big Alco six motors never caught-on with The Friendly. The combination of electrical complexity and small numbers conspired to give them a ill-maintained, orphan status early-on.
Above, we see C630 #7808 and C628 #7116 pulling through the yard, trailed by a still-pristine SP&S caboose, at left. |
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SP&S snowplow #X-28, a modeler's dream - check out the archbar trucks. |
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Bend's depot was a cut stone beauty, the terminous of SP&S/BN mixed trains that worked down the old Oregon Trunk from Wishram. Combine #273, depicted in these photos, was one of two bay window combines used in this service, which lasted until Amtrak. Afterward, the combines were used as cabooses for a short time.
The Alco C-415 seen below, already re-numbered as BN 4070, was a rare bird, which only sold to three class one railroads. SP&S's pair, like Rock Island's units, featured a low cab height, which made them slightly more gainly looking than Southern Pacific's high cab examples. |
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