All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray…
At the corner of 7th and Townsend in downtown San Francisco, California, was the Southern Pacific’s modest facility for servicing the locomotives in commute service and just a couple short city blocks from the SP’s 3rd and Townsend passenger station. (SP called their commuter trains "commutes."). On March 21, 1974, among the usual H24-66 "Trainmasters" were a pair of GP9s equipped for passenger use: "Torpedo Geep" 3004, ex-SP 5622, with no dynamic brakes but with air reservoirs on the roof, coupled to GP9 3002, the former SP 5601. Both of these Geeps were built with steam generators and dual control stands, which explain the "wings" on each end of these engines. SP purchased two GP9s without dynamic brakes to allow for larger fuel and water tanks for use on the Del Monte, as there was no fuel or water available in later days on the Monterey/Pacific Beach end of the run.
