Walthers Mainline SP-T&NO GP9

Diesels of Southern Pacific subsidiary Texas & New Orleans, although they were lettered for SP in SP-style paint, had two key differences. One was that they had three-digit road numbers. Another was that they didn't necessarily have the full packages of warning lights of the parent units. However, T&NO units routinely got to California mixed with SP units. Walthers Mainline has produced GP9s with T&NO headlight style and numbers. I ordered 408:

You can see SP-T&NO 408 in the photo above with 5607, a full SP GP9 from an earlier Walthers Proto run, behind it. 5607 has the full light package plus Proto factory details not present on 408. However, I think 408 is a satisfactory layout-qualiry model. Below is a Roger Lalonde photo of siaster loco 434:

The SP placed train numbers in loco numberboards until 1967. Before that, unless the loco was a lead unit on a train, the number boards were empty, as shown in the prototype photo. The Proto model of 5607 has empty numberboards, but the model of 408 has the unit number, which is incorrect. I may change this.

T&NO 408 was built in May 1954. In the 1965 SP renumbering, T&NO units were renumbered into SP number series, and 408 became 3408. In the 1970s, it was renumbered 3301.