In the Nineties, the Southern Pacific was beginning to change – Rio Grande-style "Speed Lettering" was showing up on repaints and new power thanks to new ownership, wide-nosed safety cabs would appear soon, the distinctive SP light packages on locomotives were being removed and new power rebuilt by outside shops was arriving without the lights or even the recesses where they were located. On January 26, 1993, Southern Pacific GP40R 7111 crept into the engine facility at the railroad’s Dolores Yard in Carson, California. This train had just arrived with a majority of CSX diesels in the consist thanks to pooling arrangements, and now the power was placed for servicing. SP 7111 was rebuilt by Morrison-Knudsen just two years earlier from GATX GP40 3734, which was originally Baltimore & Ohio GP40 3734. But some things have yet to change, as the conductor gives a friendly wave to the photographer who has entered the yard in the days before beefed up security on America’s railroads.
