News And Photos From Our American CRO Contributors. 

 

 

George Manley photographed these BNSF/UP/Amtrak trains at locations in California in late February: BNSFEB led by brand new GE C-4 4252-7996-7488 are grinding up the hill a Christie, CA, and making good time until they reach the tunnel where they must slow down to about 15 MPH track speed.  This keeps the auto racks from rocking and possibly scraping the tunnel walls...The tunnel receives a lot of moisture from the hill above and despite having a concrete floor, the road bed at times can get a little shifty.  Brand new BNSF 4252 only arrived in the west on February 20th.

UPEB 6573-6329-5284 on the point of a long stack train, rolling through Rodeo, CA. Further back and cut in 25 platforms from the rear were paired up DPU's UP 4369-7396.

  

BNSFWB 7810-5455-7067-4625-6586 are coming down the hill at West Collier, CA with the day's Z-8. Note how nice and green the hills are.  They look great and the poppies and mustard are blooming full tilt, but we still need more rain out west!

Led by BNSF 3879 we included a shot of trailing CSX C4 3369.  Bringing up the rear BNSF 6553 as the DPU.  CSX 3369 was delivered to CSX only one month ago from the GE plant in Erie. (George Manely photos)

 

AMTRAK Train #6 has  Amtk 138-Amtk 202 and only eight cars but is  right on time. You can see the dark cloud behind #6, as a few minutes later it poured Rain!

Passing through Rodeo, CA in February was Amtrak Train #6, with AMTK 125 and AMTK 94 hauling nine cars, and is right on time. AMTK 125 has just completed about two months of service, working the Capitol and San Joaquin trains and I had photos of it posted in the last few issues of CR. 

 On February 23rd, 2016 the EB Amtrak Fun train had Heritage painted Amtk 184 and Amtk 200 on the head end of 14 cars, she is running about 30 minutes late getting out of Emeryville. George shot the interesting car consist as well as swiftly rolled through Rodeo, CA. Every year for the last 25 years, SP and then UP and operated by Amtrak would run a passenger train from the Oakland Pier and later from Emeryville to Reno on Tuesdays and return on Thursday's in Jan and early Feb. then on Friday there was a Snow train to Reno and returning on Sunday.  Using the same power and equipment and this ran also in Jan. and in early Feb. This amounted to a gamblers special, a lot of eating and drinking, but never any problems as a result of drinking.....These photo's were taken on February 23rd, 2016 the  morning of the EB run of the Snow Train.

  

Northbound BNSF grain train is led by BNSF ES44AC 6368 and BNSF AC44C4M 610 on February 23rd, 2016.  Citirail 1434 is shown pushing on the rear end of the BNSF grain train where George shot her crossing over McCarver Street In Rodeo, CA.  

David Kelch passed along shots of the Wheeling & Lake Erie's ex-BC Rail SD40-2 6358.  It was on the point of westbound coke train 389 taken on January 30, 2016.  The train's loads are from, the Arcelor Mittal Monessen, PA Coke plant, and run to Cleveland on the W&LE.  The fans always come out to see this ex-BC RAIL engine as it is one of the liveliest paint schemes on the Wheeling's engine roster.  

On the Ohio Central Pan Subdivision, the former PRR Panhandle Mainline, 6358 passes below the old eastbound signal bridge for Custer Tower.  This is just west of Jewett on Ohio Route 151.

W&LE 6358 is on the point just east of Scio, Ohio.  The engine came to the Wheeling from the MM&A as a bankruptcy settlement for the Wheeling's 1 million dollar investment in the company.   The engine was formerly MM&A #758.   Fortunately the engine wears the colors of its previous own, BC Rail. 

These two diesels may appear dissimilar on the surface, but just as you can take a relatively new Ford 302 and put it in an old Ford, you can take the 251 Alco prime mover out of a late-model, Bombadier/MLW-produced HR412 like A&M 76, and put it into a 1940s classic like the wrecked remains of the former ATSF 59L, shown where it resides now, Frisco Texas. Restoration of the Santa Fe Chief - Alco PA #59. And today the Museum of the American Railroad in Frisco announced that this improbable marriage will indeed take place, and that A&M 76 also has the generator, traction motors and other components needed to restore the drive train of one of the rarest diesel locomotives on Earth. Just five of the 1940's-built, streamlined Alco PA carbodies are known to exist, two in Mexico, one in Portland, Oregon, the 59L in Frisco, and one in condition similar to that of the 59L in Brazil. All four of the survivors in North America are part of a group of four ATSF PA-1s saved from the trade-in scrapline by the D&H Railroad in 1968. Those units ended up in commuter service in Boston before being sold to the N De M railroad in Mexico, where two of them overturned in a wreck. Those hulks finally returned to the US and one has been beautifully restored as Nickel Plate 190. I photographed the 59L at her rock bottom, in the most decayed state she will ever reach, because thanks to the efforts of my friend Robert Willis and his colleagues at the Museum of the American Railroad, she will soon be the most beautiful operating locomotive on Earth once again, as she was when built in 1948. I was thrilled to find this rare HR412 at the Morgan Run shops of the Ohio Central before that line was sold to the Genesee and Wyoming shortline chain. She was one of only 11 HR412s built, all in 1981 for the Canadian National. I was thrilled to find the engine a few years later on the A&M in Springdale, as seen here, her former OCRS identity clearly visible beneath the A&M markings. The rare HR412, the last four axle design in the Alco/MLW product line and one of only 11 built, will continue to exist as a static display, thanks to the wise heads at MAR, which rosters a remarkably superb collection already. That collection moves up to world class with the addition of an operating PA-1m. Congratulations and thanks to MAR, and to their partners in this venture at the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad, for this very welcome Christmas present to the world! God Bless the MAR, the A&M, and rail preservationists everywhere! And God Bless the ATSF 59L! Photos are via Eric Berger and the Museum of the American Railroad and the Alco Preservation Society

Dennis Weber caught brand new NYSW SD30C-ECO 3012 on BNSF train H-PASBRC La Crosse, WI. On June 27th, 2016.

    

My favorite 1960's Boston and Maine paint scheme lives on in 2016!  Andrew McSwiggen clicked a Mass Central GP38-2 1750 pulls 2 cars from the yard in Palmer MA 1-29-16

Arnold Mooney caught the pair of locomotives that the Eastern Idaho RR (EIRR) had done up for the special 20 year commemorative paint (1993-2013) at the yard in Rupert, Idaho on Sept 24, 2015. EIRR owned by Watco, Inc., hence the WAMX reporting marks.  The shortline interchanges  about 35,000 carloads per  year with Union Pacific, from whom it had acquired the track it now operates on.

George Manley caught terrific looking leased GMTX GP15-1 424 painted up for the Richmond Pacific Railroad with a matching caboose.  The pair had just completed switching out Standard Oil's facility in Richmond, CA. The Richmond Pacific has the one caboose and one more GP15-1 #423. They also have four SW1200's in the same paint job that they rotate. Some time ago, BNSF/UP turned over the Richmond industrial area over to the Richmond Pacific and in return, both railroads receive cars according to routing. The area is in Richmond Calif. and is very busy. There is also a scrap yard working off the Richmond Pacific that has a side rod 45 ton GE. However in all the years, George has only been able to photograph it once!

 George also clicked BNSFWB 8011-8399-5033 with a long string of autoracks in tow and have two DPU's tacked on the rear, BNSF 5062-4938.  BNSF 4938 has the new paint job and H-3 lettering.

On Super Bowl Weekend (February 7th), on the Sunday morning at about 11:30 a.m. George bagged the BNSF Super Bowl Special rolling  through Jack London square, in Oakland, California with BNSF 3951 and 10 cars and BNSF 3920 as the pusher for back up moves on the way to Levi Stadium to see the Denver Bronco's and Carolina Panthers clash.  In this photo, the BNSF Super Bowl special is about to enter street running thru Jack London Square, brand new c-4 3951 is the lead power

A mug shot of C-4 3951 and the coaches of the super bowl Special which included a diner and dome car.

   

The BNSF special eases thru Jack London Square....for this time of the morning, it was surprising to see so little auto traffic and people wandering around the area. (George Manely photos).

Norfolk and Western Fairbanks-Morse H12-44 switcher at Fostoria, OH in March 1969 (Jim Parker) 

   

Norfolk and Western Baldwin/EMD "Hybrid" AS16m at Belleville, Ohio in 1971 (Kim Parker Photo).

   

In April 1968 Jim Parker clicked N&W GP9 502  and sibling  passing below the bridge in Petersburg, VA.

Hi-nosed N&W U30B 8501 makes a back move in Albia, Iowa in August 1973. The late day summer sun lights up the heavy road grime and dust on  trucks and fuel tank area. 

Built in 1970 by EMD, N&W SD45 1776 was photographed by Warren Mayhew at the Virginia Transport Museum in 2015. She wears the Bicentennial paint scheme from 1976 and looks great after Norfolk Southern employees restored her a few years ago. 

Warren Calloway submitted these great AMTRAK  shots:

Raleigh NC  April 1977

Raleigh NC March 3 1980

 Warren Calloway also shot gorgeous and beefy looking Conrail C32-8 6013 in Enola, PA in 1987.

Donny Albertson took this great roster shot of Conrail C30-7A 6575, parked on 91 Bay at Oak Island yard, Newark, NJ.  Conrail had a clean and simple  yet eye catching paint scheme and logo too! 

In WWII, a group of "U-Boat" submarines operating together was called a wolf pack.  Hence with half of the MEC's 10 U-18Bs, could this YR1 entering Rigby from the Rt1 overpass be called Maine Central's version of a wolf pack? This great shot of the train arriving in Portland Maine in 1976, was taken by Peter Coulombe.

Tommy Parker clicked CSXT 9992 at Savannah, GA on August 10th, 1999. Built as AMTRAK F40PH 360 in August 1981. It and two others were purchased by CSX for their business train in the late-1990's, and were upgraded to F40PH-2's. 

In and after 2002 they were repainted into the Dark Future blue paint scheme.  A fourth F40 was also purchased later by CSX.  At least one or more of the quartet has been repainted into the newer CSX box car logo.  On April 17th, 2009 Adam Finger took this fabulous shot in Jacksonville, Florida of all four of their F40PH-2's coupled together: CSX 9993, 9998, 9992, and 9999.

© CRO March 2016