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Thirty nine years ago today, I took the day off from work to go explore the Los Angeles area railroad yards and photograph some trains on my birthday. When I arrived at the UP Los Angeles yard, I was very surprised to see the brand new EMD SD60 units #1 and #4! The units were buried inside the diesel facility, so I sat and ate my lunch waiting for an opportunity to photograph them. A shop mechanic saw me with my camera, walked over to the units, uncoupled them from the consist and back them out into full sunlight. He had a big smile on his face and said, "Have Fun!" I quickly put on my hardhat and started taking photos. The mechanic even revved up the engines and I got a great cassette recording of them. What a great birthday gift.

SP SD45T-2 9305 and UP GP30 713 sit side by side at the SP Los Angeles Taylor yard. The SP 9305 is about to depart up the coast to San Francisco and the UP 713 is on a transfer job.

UP 3718 leads a colorful consist with UP 3537, Frisco (BN) 3047 and Frisco (BN) 6679 while on another track are two Conrail 6482 and 6410 at the Los Angeles diesel facility.

Western Pacific 3523, Norfolk & Western 1355 is part of a UP consist at the Los Angeles yard in September 1983.

Western Pacific 3532 was the only WP unit post merger that was painted in UP paint with Western Pacific lettering and number. Here 3532 is at UP Los Angeles yard in July 1983.

UP DDA40X Centennial 6909 is the lead unit for an eastbound TOFC train at the Los Angeles yard in 1980.

SP SD45 9032 sits among many units stored at the Los Angeles "J" yard waiting to be scrapped from a previous wreck.

SP 8613 sits in the Los Angeles "J" yard with many other units during the recession of 1981 waiting for its fate to be determined.

SP GP35 6533 is one of many locomotives stored at the SP Los Angeles Taylor yard.