1977 was an important year in the life of our
Geep as it graduated from S.P.'s GRIP program. During this overhaul, it
was torn down to the bare frame and every part either replaced or rebuilt.
It was at this time that the air cooled Westinghouse air compressor was
replaced with an equivalent water cooled model. Most importantly, her number
was changed from 3005 to 3189.
The following 3 photos were taken by Rod Ciganovich
on 4/22/1977 at the Bayshore Roundhouse. They are remarkable because the
3189 had just emerged from GRIP a few days earlier. Of particular interest
is the lack of the Gyrolight package on the rear end. S.P. deleted these
lights during the GRIP rebuild but, oddly enough, installed the wiring
for the lights to the mounting area and included the direction switch in
the cab. I conclude from this that the lights were deleted after the wiring
looms were designed and hand made. Rear number boards have also been deleted
and plates welded over the openings. Luckily, the guts were left in place
for the future owners. At this time, she still had the custom pilots on
both ends but the cover plates were long gone. The pilot steps were plated
over in deference to the FRA and, the end sheets and cut levers modified
to allow a switchperson to "pull the pin" while standing in the step area,
another FRA requirement.
I am looking for more photos of the 3189 in service
during this period of time. If you have any you would consider sharing,
please contact me. I want to thank Phil Shea for his recent contribution.
These two views captured by Dan Furtado
present the 3189 in her very last days of commute service. The second photo
was obviously taken after Caltrains had taken delivery of at least a few
of their own locomotives. There must have been some requirement for steam
at this time as the 905 is not so equipped and the 3189 cannot supply head
end power for the new cars.
A day railfanning on the Penninsula
in the early 1980's yielded this photo of the 3189 at Millbrae. Phil
Shea notes that the 3189 was the power for his ride back to San Francisco
at the end of the day.
Jim
Bartolota captured this nice shot of a pure bi-level consist near
College Park on July 18, 1981. #173, a weekend train, was
at the site of the recently removed signal bridge just north of the San
Jose roundhouse. They kept the commute power pretty clean.
Just outside the Sacramento Locomotive
Works paint shop (the building with the roll-up door), Rod Ciganovich caught
the 3189 in March of 1986. We have never been able to find out why the
3189 was chosen for this apparently one-off paint job but there she was,
looking for all the world like a "O" scale model in her coat of non-standard
gray and scarlet. Close examination of the photo reveals that the filler
cap for the boiler water tank is missing and the cab is stenciled "Bay
Area" in deference to her assignment.
In this view, it is easy to see that the rear
classification lights have been painted over as by this time, the San Francisco
peninsula passengers were in the hands of Caltrains and the 3189 was relegated
to freight service. The fact is that she would not again be used in passenger
service until June of 1995 on the Sacramento Southern, the California State
Railroad Museum's tourist railroad. Photo by Rod Ciganovich.
On January 19, 1987, S.P. enthusiast Kevin Stephens
was on his way to Grass Valley when the Sacramento Locomotive Works beckoned
and luckily, he found the 3189 near the main shop complex. I can offer
no reason for the color difference between this shot and the previous photos
by Rod Ciganovich but, it is for sure that she was not painted twice in
less than a year.
Craig Walker found the 3189 just west of the Roseville shop building on February 13, 1987.
Three years after its commute service
days ended, Drew Jacksich caught the 3189 and sister 3190 lead two
other geeps on the Permanente on Sunday
afternoon in April of 1988 at Quito Rd. The area in the background is
now Highway 85. This area is between Saratoga and Los Gatos. The
second photo was taken in Campbell along Railway Avenue.
On October 1, 1989 Rod found the 3189 in Woodland,
California hard at work on the Ozol turn. My partner Errol was working
the job this time and remembers that in 1991, the 3189 kept tripping the
ground relay. Little did he know how completely this locomotive would come
back to haunt him.
On a summer day in 1991, Tony Madieros caught
the 3189 resting at the San Jose roundhouse. In the background is one of
the Caltrains F40's that replaced her. Of particular interest in this photo
is the front pilot on the 3189. The custom pilot is long removed but the
sheet pilot has extensions on either side of the steam line. These extensions
and most of the steam line were not on the locomotive when we bought it
in 1992.
This photo is presented to show what happened
to other passenger GP9's when their days of passenger service were over.
Note the rotating yellow beacon atop the pad covering the steam generator
exhaust and the missing front gyrolights. Somehow, the 3189 escaped this
indiginity. 05/16/1993 by Rod Ciganovich.
This is what most of us remember S.P. locomotives
looking like. John Barnhill captured this sorry sight on film and, even
with crud covering every square inch of surface, there still beats within
the heart of the Del Monte.
The deadline in Roseville, 1992. Tony Madieros
captured the 3189 at the head of a line of old timers. This is the last
time they would be together on the S.P. roster.
This is the death certificate of a locomotive.
The
3189 arrived in Roseville on March 30, 1991 with a constant ground relay
fault and its retirement on account of a bad order main generator was recorded
in the system computer at 1600 hours on April 29. Thanks to S.P. Roundhouse
foreman Boyd Rose for printing this out for me.
