A few snaps from a fiesta parade in the 1940s. Who knows the story? Note the Alhambra mascot was still the Panther. (fb)

This is an interesting Santa Fe locomotive which would have come through Martinez in the late 1960s up until Amtrak took over passenger service in 1971. These had the classic "War Bonnet" paint scheme which Santa Fe had been using for passenger trains since the 1930s The EMD FP45 is a cowl unit type locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division (EMD), beginning in 1967 at the request of the the Santa Fe Railway They didn't want their prestigious San Francisco Chief and other premium passenger trains pulled by bulky-looking freight style engines, with high front hoods and external walkways. Rather than a scratch design, these were essentially a new shell over a popular series of freight engines. After the transition to Amtrak, most of these ended up in freight service. (fb)