Always in back, tagging along #3

Southern Pacific 9502. Taylor Yard, Los Angeles, California, August 6, 1967. Consider the ubiquitous “B” unit. Never quite achieving the status of an "A" unit, always in back, tagging along. But when the tonnage rating gets iffy, and we need a boost, who better to fill the bill? So here's a toast to the utilitarian "B" unit! In this case - a BIG B unit!

Drove down to LA to visit friends. They said they had a treat for me and took me to Taylor Yard. I was thrilled, having heard how impressive a yard it was. When we got there, the first thing I saw was this big ugly box – DD35. But things went down hill fast.

Moments after I shot this big ugly box, a station wagon comes roaring up, and this fellow announces he’s an SP special agent, we are on private property and we are to get back in our car and leave.

Now!

Definitely a first for me. Even in the Bay Area, I never had a problem wandering around with my camera at either South San Francisco, East Oakland, or even at the Western Pacific facilities.

Only two roads ordered this unit. Union Pacific had 27 of these big boxes; the Southern Pacific had but three of these monsters, so I felt lucky to have at least seen it at 1/250th of a second! Pretty tough finding out info on these three units.

Original number Renumber 1 Renumber 2:
8400 9500 9900
8401 9501 9901
8402 9502 9902

Railroad Stuff: SP 9502, DD35B, 2 x 2,500 hp 567D3A, built 4/64, scrapped 1978.