my ESPEE MODELERS ARCHIVE

California's Railroad to the U.S. 1861 - 1996

Southern Pacific DD35

3 units delivered

The DD35's are basically two GP35's on a common platform or chassis with no cabs. SP wanted high horsepower locos and in 1964 the only way to get it was to put two engines on the one chassis. I guess the thinking behind these, was the success of the booster F units; F3B's and F7B's of which SP had many hundred. The DD35's were I suppose an evolution, a 5000hp locomotive built with reasonably reliable equipment and no expensive cab equipment to maintain. In reality they were not a success, if one piece broke down, then you lost the equivalent of two locomotives as the whole unit had to go off line to be repaired. Also their 4 axle trucks were less than forgiving of less than good track and interchange railroads were reluctant to run them on their lines, so they were often the first units to be stored when business went slack and the last to be recalled.

They were renumbered three times during their careers to make way for newer models and were vacated and scrapped when their leases ran out in 1978.

References:

• Model Railroader Cyclopedia Vol.2 Page 153 - Photo of SP 8401.
• Diesel Era Mar/Apr 2001 Vol.12 No.2 page 25-27. - Short history with b/w and color photos.
• Southern Pacific Historic Diesels Vol.13 by Joe Strapac