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GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY

44 ton

28337

November 1946

B-B

380 hp

Caterpillar D17000-8 cyl (2)

88 000 lbs

22 000 lbs

33 ft 5 in

9 ft 6 in

18 ft 9 in

The Tidewater's first diesel is one of its last survivors.  This little 44 tonner was ordered as part of a large lot for several California railroads, including the Sacramento Northern (which received its 142-146), the Central California Traction Company (CCT 25-26) and the Quincy Railroad (QRR 3).  TS 135, renumbered 735 in March, 1952, occaisionally worked in multiple with its SN sisters, both on the TS and the SN.  Built in late 1946, it entered TS service in March, 1947.

Had a proposal by the Virgina and Truckee Railroad been accepted, the 135 would have had a very different career.  According to "The Silver Short Line" by Ted Wurm and Harre Demoro, Gordon Sampson, the V&T's General Manager, approached the Western Pacific in early 1948 about acquiring a used steam locomotive for service on the V&T.  As WP had none that suited their needs, the railroad directed Sampson to the Tidewater where he expressed interest in acquiring the nearly new 44 tonner.  This appears to have fallen through mainly due to price and probably the TS needing its motive power.  In a twist of fate, Quincy Railroad 3, acquired by the QRR from the same batch order that included TS 135, did see service on the revived portion of the V&T in Virginia City when it was leased by the Feather River Rail Society to the V&T in 2002.

Sacramento Northern On-Line webmaster Garth Groff passed along the information that 135/735 was the first WP family switcher to be repainted into the famous Zephyr scheme, likely at the same time it was renumbered.  (WP SW9s 601-606 were delivered in this scheme just prior to repaintings beginning.)  Remarkably, the 735 still wears Zephyr, having never been repainted since it left TS service.

The little steeplecab worked the length of the railroad, although switching and pulling the steam trains in Modesto were probably the most common uses it saw.  The coming of larger freight cars in the 1950's put a strain on its 380 horses and it was likely bumped from mainline trains by the heavier and more powerful 70 tonners.  Some photos do show it on the mainline with good sized trains in the 1950's, but typically in multiple with an SN 44 tonner.  I have yet to find photos of it multipled with any 70 tonner.

The general rebuilding of the line in the 1950's and 60's and increasing tonnage trains rendered the 735 obsolete on the Tidewater.  It was retired and sold to Pickering Lumber on April 8, 1967, ending a little over 20 years of service for the railroad, the longest of any diesel on the roster.  While working for Pickering in Standard, California, it switched cars coming off the Sierra Railroad (thus reversing the journey made by one-time rostermate TS 132, a former Sierra 2-6-2) and pulled at least one excursion train.  It was transferred to the ownership of Fiberboard Corp. when that company took over Pickering, then ended up in storage on the Modesto and Empire Traction in the mid-1970's.  Around 1977, it was sold to Pacific Railroad Contractors and reportedly worked on the construction of the SP's Alhambra subway in Los Angeles and rebuilding of parts of the San Diego and Arizona Eastern in the late 1970's.  Reports after this are sketchy, but unverified rumors include a stint with NASA in New Mexico before it was acquired by A&K Salvage.  The unit surfaced again in the late 1990's at a scrapyard in Kansas City.

TS 135 as it appeared soon after delivery.  While no color photos have come to light, it is likely that the lettering and striping were done in a white color, likely Imitation Aluminum, as used by Western Pacific on its black switchers.

SURVIVOR

Tidewater Southern Railway

General Electric 44 ton 135/735