A Southern Pacific freight heads north (railroad east) through Traver, California, on September 14, 1979. Cotton Belt SD45T-2 9374 is on the point this day. There is a lot of detail to see here, valuable for model railroaders: The "RV" stencil (indicating that, even though this is a Cotton Belt engine, it's home maintenance base is Roseville, CA), the unusually oversized model designation stencil (not usual on the SP), the cast "F" on the sill near the stepwell, the EMD builder's plate, the distinctive SP-style "four hole" jacking pads, the weld beads bonding the blower duct to the side sill, the various stenciling on the truck sideframe, the speed recorder mounted on the front axle and such typical SP adornments such as the off-white Scotchlite roadnumber, large roof-mounted vent, the roof-mounted bell and the Sinclair radio antenna atop a ground-plane mount. And the weathering, which at this date was so common on the SP.
