While wandering through Wikimedia, I chanced upon two Bill Larkins photos of SN 405 tied up at the Oroville freight station. They were too good not to share, as the SN Oroville operations were not often photographed. (Photos 1 & 2)
The Oroville Branch was originally connected to the mainline at Tres Vias near Chico. On 10 December 10 1937 as the Feather River rose in flood. The SN bridge west of Oroville was partly washed away. The bridge was deemed too expensive to replace, so track on the river's west side was cut back to Thermalito. The section between the river and Oroville was abandoned. The industries in Oroville were reached via the WP interchange, and an SN freight motor (or two) was stationed in the city. The work probably fell to flat motor 403, later aided by 402 (see the attached 1940 Jenkins Photo from my collection).
During the Depression years, most of the?flat motors had been stored out-of-service at Chico. When WWII began, these machines were returned to service mainly as switchers to free more powerful motors for heavier trains. Motors 404 and 405 were sent to Oakland in 1942 and 1943 respectively where they worked for the allied Oakland Terminal Railway under lease. They were equipped with monsterous?Key System pantographs mounted directly on their roofs instead of the SN's little towers. Now they could reach the Key Route's wire, but squeeze under the infamous SP bridge near Emeryville. Eventually the flat motors were replaced by Baldwin steeple cabs 440 and 442, which explains why all these 600-volt machines were so often photographed in Oakland.
Upon return north, 405 became the regular Oroville motor, retaining its Key pantograph for some reason. It was the last of the flat motors in service, and the only one to receive orange "scare stripes" (photo 4, from my collection). Electric service at Oroville ended on 14 April 1954. Motor 405 was then scrapped, though I was told the body survived as a farm shed near?Chico for many years.
