GP7 545 at St. Louis, Missouri (date unknown) (Jim Ozment).
GP7 545
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GP7 545 at St. Louis, Missouri (date unknown) (Jim Ozment).
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What a Frisco diesel should look like!
Date is October 31, 1957.
The photograph is from the Western Rail Images collection of railroad photographs by Jim and Doug Ozment. This view is from their group of photos titled “Frisco – St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad 1950s”. It is listed as their image number SLSF 102.
The image is nicely framed. In the distance is a 100,000 gallon steel water tank, a holdover from the steam era. Its base color is silver. Near its top the tank is adorned with a black Frisco Lines coonskin on a yellow background. Casting its shadow in the foreground is the Flyer Avenue roadway through truss bridge. There are a number of additional interesting details in this image.
Prominent is the tan, brown, orange and black glazed tile roundhouse wall with wall caps on short concrete stem walls. This wall is accentuated with large, tall windows with smaller matching block or bricks at the corners. On the building roofs are at least 3 different types of exhaust ventilators. There are at least 2 rooftop access ladders, one with a crossover hoop. A horizontal insulated steam line for cleaning and heating connects from the roundhouse to the diesel shop. It is supported by a post, the lower portion painted safety yellow for visibility.
In front of the locomotive, leaning against the wall is an “A” frame wood ladder. Near the rear of the unit is a blue flag with “STOP” in white letters. On the tracks to the south are switch stands with lamps and metal targets connected to derails in front of each engine house door. The interior of the shop is painted in two colors, reddish brown for the first approximately 5’ and white above. On the tracks outside are piles of sand from repeated brake system tests.
The view also provides a nice overhead view of the GP7L. The relatively simple rooftop details show nicely. This also provides a good example of the weathering of the horizontal surfaces of the roof and walkways and heavy grime of the pilots and trucks. This contrasts nicely with the car body sides and ends.
Hope this helps.
Thanks!
Mark