Amtrak E B The present day Amtrak Empire Builder Portland connection has a Mud Missile for power and four cars. Sightseer Lounge, coach baggage, coach, & Pullman. Everything is "Superliner" equipment.
Thought I'd update this a bit. I picked up SP&S #750 a few weeks ago. It pulled the Portland section of the EB (and some other trains) I think right up to the merger or Amtrak. I forget which came first. At any rate it should look interesting since it's in the broad stripe scheme. I also got a few Big Sky chair cars to go along with it.
As in the days of steam the SP&S did handle a Portland connection of the Empire Builder. If I'm rememberin righ there was about four GN cars in the Portland connection along with Portland section of the North coast Limited west of Pasco. Sp&s 700 nodoubt hauled this train along with sisters 701 & 702. In the diesel age the Empire Builder had a Portland connection. Usually three cars a coach and two pullmans. After 1955 the coach was replaced with a dome coach. The North Coast Limited connection usually had four cars Two coaches and two pullmans. As on the GN NP used a dome coach in place of the flat top coach and also replaced one of the bullmans with a dome pullman. In the diesel era on the SP&S it was EMD F3 F7 & E7 and some passenger equipped GP9's for power.
I finally got a diesel book to read and use as reference (my SP&S GP9 #150 is done). It's great for what the roster was made up of, why they bought what they had, and to a lesser extent, what trains they pulled. However a book about SP&S diesels doesn't say much about what the consists were. I'm still learning a lot, but this is what I've learned so far. #750 was a E7A (the E7A for SP&S) and was bought for the EB section before the it was decided that the NCL was to be added at Pasco. SP&S did a study and found that a single E unit could pull the entire consist for trains #1 and #2 so they bought it, and it was delivered in GN's EB livery-that didn't last long. I think the 750 pulled trains 1,2,3,and 4 right up until the end. The F sets and later units when the permanent latches were removed and they became true A and B units handled other local runs and fill in. The GP9s handled the rest/added more power when needed but they did have more power then the F units so it wasn't uncommon to see them solo a train or run with as added power. Lest we forget the switchers they also used for commuter trains and heated switching. 700 an 701 were assigned to passenger trains and 702 was fast freight-but would pull passenger trains when 700 and 701 were in the shops. The problem or cool factor of SP&S, depending on how you look at it, was what SP&S would link up for power and that would be almost anything. My favorite thing I might do at some point is hook up a C424 and a FA in front of a GP9 Torpedo pulling a passenger train. I don't have any switchers yet but when I get some they'll MU with some centuries and FAs just to upset someone who thinks that isn't right.
Sort of good news. I finally found 2 NP cars, but no chair cars. One is a 6-4-6 sleeper and the other is a grill parlor. Both are post war which should go well with the EB cars, but I doubt trains 1 & 2 had them in it. I'm still excited I even found NP cars however. Their NIB Rapidos which I like since they come pre lit by battery. So to go sum up how far I've gotten so far with SP&S and the EB (well, trains 1&2?), I have the full EB set, 2 NP cars, SP&S 700 (4-8-4 Steam) and 750 (E7 Diesel) , and a Atlas NP FP-7 I'm not sure what to do with. It'd be better if I could find the correct NP cars and some CHEAP correct SP&S cars (Like the sometimes used SP&S dinner or snack cars they added if a train was running late). Thanks again for all the help so far.
Having my January, 1959 Official Guide sitting here, thought it might be interesting to see what is shown. For the Portland section of the Empire Builder, via SP&S numbers 1 & 2: Standard sleeping car. #321 east, 311 west. Great Dome coach. #203 east, #103 west. Sleeper/club/lounge. #20 east, #10 west. Deluxe chair car. Dining car.
Thanks! That helps, plus I have all of those cars. Weird thing is that's a little under 1/2 of EB. I can see why SP&S bought the E unit since it should have been more then enough for 5 cars. I'm still trying to track down what NP cars they added to it and what SP&S dinner they used when one or the other was running late. The EB cars are really easy to find, its the NP and SP&S cars that are next to impossible to find now.
One of the SP&S books has a color photo of their train 2(?), if I recall direction of travel. It shows various SP&S, NP and GN cars. I can take a look at that Guide for what NP cars it lists?
Yeah that'd be nice. I have the SP&S Diesel book but it doesn't really go into detail on the consist. For some reason I really want to complete trains 1 and 2 for some reason. It's becoming some sort of sick obsession. Josh
For the NP NCL: (1) Observation-Lounge-Sleeper. Pullman Standard sleeping cars. (With an "s", which would seem to mean more than one.) Vista Dome Reclining Chair Coach #C-252. Dining Car Reclining chair coaches. (Again "s", seems to indicate multiple cars.) Not quite as detailed as what was shown for GN, but still might be helpful?
SP&S #1/2 I checked the SP&S Color Pictorial, which has a section on Trains 1 & 2. There is a 1958 photo of #2 on page 48 with the following consist: 1. SP&S bagage dorm 2. SP&S Coach 3. SP&S Diner 4. GN Coach 5. GN Dome-Coach 6. NP Dome-Coach 7. NP Coach 8. NP Sleeper 9. NP Dome Sleeper 10. GN Sleeper 11. GN Sleeper 12. SP&S Sleeper-Lounge "Mount St. Helens" (in GN Colors) The book describes this consist as typical until August 1961 when all the NP cars were moved to the end of the train to speed up switching at Pasco and to move the GN first class sleeping cars closer to the diner. The book has a lot of information on the SP&S, though most pictures were taken in the late 1960s. I hope this helps Dirk
Yeah that does help. I might have to sub some cars but I do have most of them now. NP cars are getting hard to come by it seems. I'll have to wait on adding the NP cars until Bowser releases the F7s next year. I've got 'The SP&S Diesels of the Northwest's Own Railway' so i know that "the" E unit #750 pulled trains 1 and/or 2 along with Fs pulling the other until the NP section was added at which point they added a F unit to the E. I'm sure the Geeps probably pulled them too.
The E-7 was delivered in all green not EB paint. (hobbysmith, portland), 750 was later painted for EB. Whistle stop (Portland) had a athearn special run of SP&S 800 A&B, as deliver green. Im tring to find that web site that had the paint info for each locomotive and years they were painted. Ok...found it ..SP&S historical society.....side bar has paint scemes of all the locomotives. I also have a Sunset 700,( hobby smith, Portland) on my layout for excursions (she had a few before retirement at Oaks Park). Its a great brass locomotive, with great sound. Although I had to modify acouple things to make it perform well. First....I found the brake shoes need inspection often, because the will move and short on the drivers ( check to make sure they are painted). I found painting the front truck and wheelsets is needed to reduce shorts to the body, cylinder (front and back as well as the tread). and the bottom of the cow catcher will need repaint often due to it low track clearance. Some good white paint and a narrow brush for the paint on the wheels, needs repaint pretty often. Do you know if anyone bought the Bowser c-636's. I was interested if they were worth what they were asking. I also saw an upcoming release of F-3's (803 & 805?).
Yeah, I have the special run 750. It's in broad stripe but isn't 100% correct since SP&S modified it by the time it was in broad stripe, but BLI had the tooling for the as delivered E7 so it's okay. It has the tank skirts that were removed and is missing the exhaust deflectors, just like how their SW9 SP&S switchers are missing all weather windows and full length rails. I have been using Ed Austin's diesel color book as a guide and template. So far I've managed to make #150 in broad stripe too. As for the C-636's, their delayed due to retooling so we're all waiting. I ordered 2 with their SP&S numbers, but you can also order the BN patched version too. I have a pair of SP C630's and a GN VO1000 by Bowser and all 3 are really sharp looking and run great. I'm also on the list for next year's F3 run by them. The C630's in particular are great at any speed and run great as a MU pair so I have high hopes for the C636's. As for my 700, that's probably going back to Hobbysmith for a DCC conversion. I got one of the last ones and the DCC Sound one I had ordered didn't work on the test run before they shipped it so I got one of the last DC ones. Count yourself lucky, mine had a miss aligned drive wheel. It's better now after they sent me replacement parts.
