R-40-3

STEAM RECORDING PROJECT

From time to time the Report has carried news of this very interesting recording project by Ted Grove. It is to feature recordings of several steam operations which still operate in the U.S.

About $600 is needed to continue with this project. About $330 of the amount needed has been made available by Grove and a few other members. Now as this project will be a great fund raiser for the museum, we wish to call upon some more of you members to helpout with some of that green stuff to get the ball rolling on this fasinating project.

If you have any ideas about how the necessary help can be obtained or are otherwise interested in this project, please contact Ted Grove whose address is is 7635 Brookhaven Rd., San Diego, California 92114.

SD&AE DISCONTINUES USE OF TRAIN INDICATORS

Effective June 1, 1967, the SD&AE discontinued the long practice of displaying the train numbers on their locomotives. The engine number alone will be displayed in the future. Who can tell us if the same practice is system wide on the Southern Pacific, where the practice began about 1913.

FOUR UNITS RUN WILD ON SP

An engineer and fireman stopped for coffee recently at Gabazon California, leaving their engines on a siding there. When they returned the engines were gone. They had ran wild for 22 miles down the hill towards Indio, at speeds of up to 120 m.p.h. A dispatcher in Los Angeles noted the fashing lights on her control panel and turned the runaways into a siding where they proceeded to tear up track. One of the units overturned with damage estimated at $55,000. Oh, yes. The crew recalled setting the brakes on the units.

SP CUT OFF OPENS JULY 11

The last rail was put into place on Friday, June 30, at 2:00 p.m. The 78 mile cut-off, which by-passes the congested Los Angeles area, was begun on April 1,1966.

Service on the freight only line began on July 11. Top speed on the new line is 50 m.p.h., mainly because the trackage is not protected by automatic block signals. Built with easy curves, the line is helper territory with its 2.2 percent grades through the rugged Cajon Pass.

The Los Angeles-San Joaquin Division Timetable No. 1, effective June 4, 1967. shows three regular freights in each direction. The trains are Nos. 803, 806, 807, 810, 811 and 814. The schedules run through from Colton to Palmdale with about three hours being the average running time.

Stations and their milepost location are as follows:

Palmdale No. 1413.8
Palmdale No. 2417.3
Wash435.1
Phelan451.1
Hiland463.0
Canyon470.0
Dike481.0
Slover491.1
West Colton492.7 and 538.3
Colton Tower494.2 and 538.7
Colton494.5 and 539.0

All trains are scheduled to meet at Slover, three miles out of Colton. The C.T.C. limits of Colton extend out to include the station of Slover.

As a matter of history, the first plans of building this cutoff were advanced in the late 1920's, but the depression of the 1930's ended the idea.

The plan was revitalized in the early I960's as a way to cut one day from traffic to and from the Pacific Northwest.

Looks like the Southern California railfan will be able to see trains of all three major railroads serving the southwest at one time in the Cajon. Just think, the SP, UP, and Santa Fe all in one birds eye view. Things are looking up for us trainwatchers in the future.... don't believe it - try Cajon Pass.

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