On a smoggy day in Los Angeles, California, on April 29, 1976, a three-unit set of SDP40Fs is combined with Amtrak E9A 417. This lashup was most likely off train 3, the Southwest Limited, which arrived in Los Angeles at 9:05. The three Amtrak SDP40Fs were purchased new by the carrier, but the E-unit is the former Union Pacific 912, which has had its portholes removed, an Oscitrol signal light added to the nose and the sheet metal pilot replaced with a snowplow. One of the last E-units built, Amtrak 417 is only a decade older than the SDP40Fs! The E-unit was most likely coming back from Barstow, where it had some heavier maintenance done that could be performed at Los Angeles' Redondo Junction facility.
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.
