Southern Pacific Daylight 4449
When one thinks of the classic era of train travel, the Daylight trains of the fallen flag Southern Pacific has to be included. The Luxury Cars, the on time record and of course, the Locomotives. From the Steamers to the latter Diesels they all had one thing in common, they were Daylight Trains. As such, they received the Daylight colors of the Southern Pacific. One last operating example of the streamlined steam locomotives that pulled theses trains is the SP #4449 operated by the Friends of the 4449, located in Portland, Oregon. The following pictures capture parts of three days that we were able to follow the 4449 in all her glory as she made a rare excursion run east to a Rail Fair held in Owosso, Michigan in July of 2009.
Living in the Wenatchee, WA area, we figured we would set up to catch the first pictures on the morning of July 3rd, 2009 along the North bank of the Columbia River (4449 was using BNSF tracks most of the way) somewhere near Stevenson, WA. After spending the night in Cascade Locks, OR, we quickly packed up the tent, headed back over to the Washington side (north) of the Columbia River, found a photo location we liked and waited. Having signed up for train location text messages via Twitter and using the Rail scanner we had a pretty good idea when 4449 was coming.
I think we were able to get some great shots of the 4449 Daylight in the element she was meant to be in, not a stuffy old museum but out in the real world for all to see. She made a kid out of all of us!
On to the Pictures! Just click on the thumbnail for a much larger view and a brief description. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
