Page 27 - November December 2013

Last Train to Woodridge Lawson Little
The Santa Fe embargoed its Woodridge Branch with effect from 1 September, citing low traffic levels and the need for wholesale track replacement. Removal of the latter commenced within a few days of closure.
In a separate announcement, the Mayor of Woodridge stated that the Santa Fe had very generously donated the proceeds from the salvage operation to the town, to be reinvested in the narrow­gauge Woodridge & Western short­line, so that rail service could be maintained to the various local industries in this area of inadequate roads.
The photos show:
a) the last revenue movement on the branch, a shipment of
forklift trucks from Oaktree Powerlifts Inc., which hopes to
relocate alongside the W&W, and
b) the final “clean­up” train approaching Woodridge with all
remaining empties on the line. It is headed by Santa Fe’s last pair of F­units, F7s 347C+B.
Book Review by Lindsay Beare:
Southern Pacific Painting and Lettering Guide 1913–1996
Authors: J.A. Cauthen and John R. Signor
Publisher: Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society, 2013 ISBN 978­098462477­5 Price $49.95
All those who are not SP fans please turn away now! Well, this is a book that has been a very long time in coming. The dust cover gives a brief hint as to what is inside and shows how varied their paint schemes were. There are 144 pages to chomp your way through, and there are also draughtsman diagrams printed inside both the back and front hardcover.
The book is divided into two sections – 1: Locomotive painting and lettering on pages 11 to 86 and 2: Passenger car painting and lettering on pages 87 to 142.
There are no sections for any freight cars. (Could this mean a new book in the making?)
As this is a ‘painting’ guide, most of the photographs, I would estimate 90% plus, are in colour. The remaining black and white ones are more to show the style and lettering differences over the 83 years.
A couple of photographs used are not what I would call 100% sharp (see page 26 lower photo/p76 top right photo of #2575/ p98 lower photo (indistinct)/p135 both right­hand photos not sharp enough). Am I being picky? Probably. But this book was not cheap (especially when shipping has been added).
The author J.A. Cauthen also noted that there were four errors (found after publication) and added a small printed ‘flyer’, detailing the mistakes along with an apology: nice thought/ gesture.
This is a very exacting book and will please the ‘rivet counter of paint colours’ no end. Also, as it covers 83 years there are many historic paint schemes, and locomotives to which the colours were applied. If you think the SP was all red and lark dark grey, think again. A paint chart near the end of the book
shows that the SP used 23 different colours varying from cherry to silver scotchlite, via daylight exterior orange!
To sum up: lots of historical colour photos should you wish to pinpoint an exact year. There are lots of details as to exact placement of lettering and company logos, and a wealth of other information.
As a by­the­way, should you wish to paint your models exactly as SP, your job is now that much harder due to Pollyscale exiting from the railroad paint colour market.
A superb book for all SP fans, I give it 10/10.
Many thanks to Karen’s books of Vista California for supplying this book to me.
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