SP C415 2405 – Before & After

SP 2405 and 2406 working a switch job at City of Industry, CA on Nov. 29, 1967

The SP, long a faithful Alco customer, acquired 10 C415 switchers in 1966. Numbered 2400-2409, they operated from SP’s yard at City of Industry in pairs throughout the LA Basin. The 10 units were prone to mechanical problems and were retired by the SP in 1977.

Ex-SP C415's en route to Mexico shown at the SP team track in Brownsville, TX on July 28, 1977

I had driven from McAllen to see if the SP had anything going on in Brownsville. Nothing was running, but as I explored I came across an amazing sight.

Four ex-SP C415’s were on the Brownsville team track. I’d never seen engines like these, so I got busy with my brand-new Minolta SRT-202. Unfortunately, I had been persuaded by a railfan magazine that B&W was the only proper way to document locomotives, so I did not take a single slide of this scene. At least I had the sense to use a red filter on some of the shots so the B&W film could capture the contrast between red and gray colors.

Note the Southern Pacific Motor Freight truck in the background-when the SP did it all!

I later learned that the 2405, 2400, 2408, and 2401 had been sold to Fundidora Monterrey, a steel mill in Monterrey, Mexico. They were in parked in Brownsville awaiting clearance from Mexican Customs.

Ex-SP C415 2400 at Brownsville, TX on July 28, 1977 awaiting clearance to travel into Mexico

Note the old-school SP light package: headlight, oscillating headlight, oscillating red emergency light, and 2 class markers.  I don’t need no stinking ditch lights!

Note the vent work directing engine exhaust across the top of the hood to above the cab roof

This photo was taken without a red filter. Notice how red and gray register as one shade of gray.

Fundidora Monterrey closed down in the early 1990’s, and the site was re-developed into Fundidora Park. It includes an amusement park, water park and other attractions including a museum where one of the ex-SP C415’s has been preserved.

Fundidora 25, an ex-SP C415, has been preserved and is displayed in Monterrey, Mexico