We currently have 664 photos online representing 6.3% of the 10,474 railcars involved in the GWS rebuild program1
This website is not affiated with Gunderson, Greenbrier, Southern Pacific or any other railroad corporate entity. It is strictly a website dedicated to the photography and modelling of freight cars that were rebuilt and painted into Golden West Service color schemes. I hope that this website will grow with the help of other railfans who have also photographed these rail cars. It will take a few more months before I will be able to build the upload function so in the mean time, enjoy the photos.
History
During the early 1990s, the Southern Pacific Railroad's railcars were in need of repair and the railroad had little cash to revitalize the fleet. A deal was struck that entailed selling the cars to Greenbrier and then having Gunderson rebuild the cars to later be leased back to the SP. Due to a legal reasons, Greenbrier needed to use an actual railroad reporting marks so they worked out deals with Galveston Railroad (GVSR), Coe Rail(CRLE), Ventura County Railway (VCY) and even Kansas City Southern (KCS). The cars lost their original SP, SSW and DRGW reporting marks in the process of receiving a bright blue2 coat of paint along with the yellow and red Golden West Service logo.
I've organized this website so you can find photos by reporting mark, railcar type and class. Each photo you view will provide you with a link to other related photos if they exist.
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Recently, Eric Neubauer released a great book that really could be called the definitive Golden West Service resource. It contains over 300+ color photos in the 500+ pages. A sample of the book is available on his website along with any easy checkout process at www.EricsRailroadCarHistory.com
1 Source: Golden West Service by Eric Neubauer
2 Some cars wore a white base coat.
