I Am Now...(the Official 4449 Thread)

[AndrewFields]

P&W leased it for a few years but gave it back when the economy tanked and they no longer needed it. It's sitting at Brooklyn right now but from what Chris Fussell told me, it hasn't been started in about a year.

I was talking with Doyle today and it turns out we have until January 31, 2011 to get everything except the locomotives off the property. The thing that's even more frightening is the fact we don't have a place to put all the rolling stock.

[luke]

Are you referring to #644, the blue and silver former BNSF/Mærsk locomotive?

Yes.

[AndrewFields]

See post above yours.

[AndrewFields]

Here's a little something I found that everybody should enjoy...original footage from the Daylight service in what is probably the very early 1940s, definitely pre-war. Notice that all the cars in the consist match, something that was very rare after the war until the Daylight service was dieselized in 1947. Doyle told me that the first diesels were not very good and they would only pull the trains over the mountains from L.A. to Bakersfield at which point a GS steam would be put on the point because they were so much faster in a straight line on the valley floor.

The video quality is not the greatest and the trains are going too fast to read the numbers but I'd bet money one of them is 4449.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32KFWbSIRMA

[AndrewFields]

Due to some family troubles, I wasn't able to go in for a week or so but I got back in there today. Doyle is busy working on his Alco PA and they are currently fitting the cab ceiling tiles which is a royal PITA. I was assigned to sweep up the Alco's engine compartment and offered to sweep up the cab of the 4449 as well. In my travels about, I found this sticker on the engineer's door of the 4449. Doyle told me, "Those goofy 261 guys put it there." When I mentioned that it was a shame 261 was lost to static display he told me there is a lot more to the story than the media is saying. I'll see what else I can find out for you guys...

Here is the sticker. Sorry for the crappy cell phone camera picture.

[luke]

In my travels about, I found this sticker on the engineer's door of the 4449. Doyle told me, "Those goofy 261 guys put it there."

In spring 2007, when the 4449 traveled with UP 844 to the Seattle area, the 844's crew put a magnetic decal on the 4449's cab that said
'UPY 845.'

Then, one morning while the two units were up in Seattle, the crew of the 844 found that her tender read 'Southern Pacific.'

[AndrewFields]

Doyle has nothing but great things to say about the UP Steam crew and says that they're a great bunch a guys who know how to have a fun time. It doesn't surprise me...practical jokes are Doyle's specialty.

[AndrewFields]

Today I asked Doyle how fast he'd gotten the '49 up to. He got it up to 87 mph in 1977 and when I asked him what that was like, his response was, "Scarier than s**t."

[AndrewFields]

Does anybody read this anymore or am I just talking to myself?

Anyway...I went in today out of sheer boredom. As I stood alone in the roundhouse, staring up at the 4449, I was suddenly consumed by the sense that this machine had stolen my heart and would do everything in her power to keep me from getting it back. I guess I'm in it to win it now.

[cabman701]

Yes... your posts are being read.

Please keep them coming!