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72-82: Western Pacificʼs Final Decade by Ted Benson, Dick Dorn, Dale Sanders and Dave Stanley. White River Productions, P.O. Box 48, Bucklin, MO 64631; 877/787-2467;
info@whiteriverproductions.com; $79.95, 240 pages, hardcover
“If I had all the money you guys have tied up in cam- eras, I‘d give you this old engine!” — ED HALE, WP ENGI- NEER In its final
decade, the Western Pacific left a legacy in western railroading that refuses to fade 32 years after the 1982 “Mop-Up merger” that absorbed WP into Union Pacific. Just when you think there’s nothing left to say about the Feather River Route, along comes a book that delivers a Western Pacific experience on a scale like never before. WP 72-82: Western Pacific’s Final Decade
is the latest hardcover from White River Productions, who has been on a roll in recent years working with talented producer Dale Sanders on color volumes about BC Rail, Rio Grande, Southern Pacific and other roads. In 2012 Sanders oversaw the release of the all-color Western Pacific by the late Ken Meeker. WP 72-82 is an entirely black and white production and it delivers the goods in a way that recalls the great Westrail pub- lishing era of the 1970s and ’80s. This 240-page, 400-image volume has
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been long in the making, but like any great epic it’s worth the wait. WP 72-82 is a four- way collaboration between four of the west’s greatest photographers —Ted Benson, Dick Dorn, Sanders and Dave Stanley — who each bring diverse yet complimentary port- folios that combine for a unique vision of the WP in its final decade of independence. Be- ginning a year after the devastating loss of WP’s California Zephyr, the four artists cov- er the railroad’s life-or-death struggle in a changing economy guided by the great rail leader Al Perlman. Beginning with personal remembrances
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from each of the authors, WP 72-82 takes a sweeping journey across the three-state WP system, from the desolate majesty of Utah and Nevada to the Feather River Canyon and the northern Inside Gateway route. The book then races across the Sacramento Val- ley, tracing former interurban subsidiaries Sacramento Northern and Tidewater South- ern before continuing to Stockton, the rolling beauty of Altamont Pass and the shores of San Francisco Bay. The authors’ vast knowledge of the rail-
road, their visual talents and storytelling abilities are incomparable. No stone is left unturned. Readers experience the “Wobbly” through all four seasons — from searing heat and fog to blinding snowstorms — and in all hours of day and night. Every iconic WP locale is here, from panoramic deserts to iconic Keddie Wye to depots, junctions, yards and branch lines. You’ll see locomo- tives transition from Zephyr colors to “Perl- man Green,” then marvel as F7 913 is paint- ed into an updated orange-and-silver
livery —the first true heritage unit. Motive power fans will devour dramatic action views and timeless shop scenes of Geeps, F- units, U-boats and Alcos in all variations of WP colors; the cast of characters expands with SP and Amtrak detours, Union Pacific streamliners and the Burlington Northern power pool that brought a parade of exotic motive power to California. But the real star of WP 72-82 is the rail-
road’s “Willing People,” and you’ll see em- ployees battling blizzards and derailments, piloting hi-rail escorts, copying train orders, and looking at the world through the wind- shields of GP40s and F7s. Special praise goes to Benson’s portraits of engineers like Jim Boynton and Ed Hale, plus shop forces, clerks, track workers and others. When com- bined with WP (now UP) engineer Stanley’s engaging stories and his exceptional views of railroad offices both rolling and trackside, the book becomes a personal chronicle of the people that made WP beloved. With a railroad so well-documented, I was
struck by the volume of never-before seen images. Many favorite photos are surprises: Dick Dorn’s “dueling hook” series, capturing the steam-powered Elko and Oroville der- ricks cleaning up a derailment in Wolf Creek Canyon, is fascinating. Dorn also de- livers a six-page series of thrilling “Sierra Cement” snowstorm images, then shifts gears to document Sacramento Northern over ex-Northern Electric branch lines in the Sacramento Valley. Benson’s full-page view of Nevada Northern SD7 401 at a wind- swept diamond in Nevada is exquisite, as are his fogbound image of the Hearst Turn on Altamont and a detail view of F7 918’s ravaged flank (“a paint scheme archeolo- gist’s paradise”). Sanders’ photographic tal- ents and his decades of subject layering are equally in evidence, balancing scenic views with in-your-face action. Two favorite Sanders pictures involve cab units: the final four F7s before their 1977 rebuild, idling at Oroville Yard under a waning gibbous moon, and a spectacular sunrise meet on Altamont between a UP inspection special led by A-B- B-A E9s and the Auto Parts Forwarder be- hind three F’s and an old Geep. Yes, some of WP 72-82’s photos have ap-
peared in previous books, but they’re neces- sary to telling a complete story and make up a small handful of the 400 images on dis- play. Even if you’ve seen them before (and younger fans most likely haven’t), they ap- pear in fresh settings and presentations that give them new life. Case in point: Sanders’ Altamont meet mentioned above. Upon seeing it I pulled out a copy of the March 1980 issue of CTC Board magazine, which at the time was setting new stan- dards for black & white reproduction and design. I remembered gasping over the shot then, and was stunned to discover that the original ran no bigger than a half page. By today’s standards, its quality was merely passable —no comparison to the book’s rich, full-page image. Speaking of photo reproduction, it’s excel-
lent throughout. Sanders is a master crafts- man at book production and those talents are on display in every page. Images are
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