Wearing Contrail blue, NS ES44AC 8098, is the first of Norfolk Southern 30th anniversary heritage paint schemes to be released. Painted at the NS Juniata Shop and released March 14th, the ES44AC is a General Electric built 4400-horsepower, EPA Tier-3 compliant Evolution Series locomotive, equipped with (DPU) distributed power capability. All heritage units will receive small NS sub-lettering below the number on each side of the cab. Conrail 8098, Norfolk Southern's first heritage locomotive, poses at the shop in Altoona, PA on March 15th. (Casey Thomason photo), copyright Norfolk Southern Corporation. For more information, visit www.nscorp.com. As well, in-mid-March Norfolk Southern announced they would add Penn Central railroad to the 18 heritage schemes previously announced. This will be an SD70Ace to be painted at Progress Rail Services’ facility in Muncie, Ind. The Penn Central Transportation Company was created in 1968 from the merger of the New York Central and the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the New York, New Haven and Hartford was added shortly afterward. Penn Central formed the core of Conrail when Conrail was created in 1976. A photo of the first unit and a rendering of the Penn Central paint scheme, as well as the original heritage scheme announcement and graphics are available at Norfolk Southern’s website. Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the nation’s premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates approximately 20,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a major transporter of coal and industrial products. On March 20th NS 8099 has been painted into the Southern Railway Heritage livery with Norfolk &Western and the Central of Georgia to follow. As NS ES44AC 8099 is now released in Southern Railway Heritage paint, it is expected that NS 8101, the Central of Georgia RR unit could be next. NS 8101 arrived March 14th in primer in DeButts Yard in Chattanooga, TN. The rest of the NS Heritage units are expected to be released each month and all before July 1st, 2012. Rumor suggests Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 may join in Norfolk Southern’s 30th anniversary celebration this summer as well. in late March there was a change made on NS's Heritage Locomotives: NS 8100 which was to have been the N&W unit, is now to be the NKP Unit. NS 8104 will be the LV Unit and NS 8114 will be painted to the historic Norfolk & Southern Railroad colors. Due to a last minute change of plans the Penn Central heritage unit has been repainted as the CR heritage unit. According to a NS press release, the unit will be kept in this state as an accurate rendition of the early Conrail paint, in several years the unit will be painted in CR blue. Nikos Kavoori photo shopped NS ES44AC 8088. APRIL FOOL! At Shenandoah Junction West Virginia, on March 7th, James Hopkins snapped CN C40-8W 2460, and CN SD70I 5627 leading CSX Q217 Westbound. Having a CN Bluebird up front is somewhat rare. CSX Q217 is a Philadelphia, PA to Connellsville, PA Daily with empty auto racks. Dennis Weber shot these photos at “Santa Fe Junction” In Kansas City, Kansas, February 23rd. The top bridge is called “The Flyover”, and the middle one is called the “High Line”, a very Hot spot, where Dennis caught 12 Trains in his first hour. At Bangor WI on CP’s Tomah Sub March 14th. Dennis snapped CP Train 810, BNSF SD70MAC 9670, 9997 and on the tail end BNSF 9680. Fresh out of NRE Silvis IL, Tom Farence caught (SAVAGE - CANAC) SVGX GP9RM 8627 (ex-CN 7074) waiting on the west side of the BNSF Galesburg Yard, (West of Chicago) on February 29th. The geep is destined to Trenton, ND, for lease to an oil loading facility. Tom also shot 8627 in transit at Barstow, IL on February 27 with three Comoloc SD40-3’s moving as NREX 3001-3003. These three units are destined to the Port of Houston for furtherance by ship to Gabon, Africa for Comoloc. George Redmond snapped CEFX SD60 6004 (ex-Soo Line) as the 3rd unit on eastbound NS train 167 at Centralia, Il. March 9th. Joe Ferguson visited the old Captain Mine, east of Willisville, IL on February 29th, and found Midwest Transload's newest arrival, former UPY 1183. The same day, Joe shot these former Milwaukee GP40’s at Du Quoin, IL, EMD leasers LLPX 9908 and 9909. On March 6th, George Redmond clicked Indiana Railroad (INRD) 3002 in the CN yards Du Quoin, IL. On March 10th Joe Ferguson caught Indiana Southern Railroad (ISRR) GP40-2LW 9514 in Canadian National patch paint at Petersburg, IN, along with Recently delivered CEFX SD38 6053 seen with CEFX sisters running light after delivering a train to Yankeetown, IN. He noted CEFX 6051 and 6054 in new Indiana Southern Railroad paint, but it was not in a position for a decent photo. Joe also snapped NS ES44AC 8077 at Yankeetown, IN and CSX Roadmate 2320 at Evansville, IN on March 10th. On March 9th at Bushnell, IL Joe clicked BNSF caboose “750”. which is actually ATSF 199750, and at Havana, IL, Illinois and Midland Railroad caboose 274. The same day, Joe bagged gorgeous Illinois Terminal (ITS) GP9 1604 at Litchfield, IL The following SD40-3’s are moving to the Buffalo and Pittsburgh
On March 16th Quebec-Gatineau (QGRY) SD40-3 3347 was in transit southbound on CN M336 dead in tow at Du Quoin, IL. It is destined to Metro East Industries where it will be fixed up, before sending it up to Quebec. The following BPRR SD45’s have been sold to Larry’s Truck Electric (LTEX) 451, 453, 454, 455, 459, 461, and 463. They will be cannibalized for parts and the EMD hulks scrapped. The parts will be shipped to Altoona, PA, for use in gensets. 14 BNSF SD60M’s are destined to Paducah, KY for refurbishing. As of March 17th two were in transit BNSF 8124 and 8148, The other 12 are 8119, 8122, 8123, 8134, 8136, 8139, 8140, 8141, 8142, 8144, 8147, and 8149. These are part of a group of 100 BN 9200-9299, later BNSF 8100-8199 many of which are stored. Contrary to rumor, CN are not buying any of these. On January 31st, at Fairview Rd./376 West on the Union Pacific (Former Cotton Belt) Pine Bluff Sub in Camden, AR, Meaghan Mack caught UP 1996 (The SP Heritage unit). The UP freight is seen heading Westward destined to Fort Worth, TX and even has a CN GE in the consist! Vermont Railway (VTR) has been named 2012 Short Line Railroad of the Year by Railway Age magazine. The Indiana Railroad (INRD) won its 2012 Regional Railroad of the Year award. The awards will be presented this month at the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association's annual meeting in Indianapolis, IN. CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE ASLRRA WEBSITE Gary Schermerhorn snapped CSXT Q433 March 11th with MBTA GP40WH-2’s 61 and 67, and MBTA GP40PH-2 1118 (ex-CN GP40-2W) dead in tow. The train departed Selkirk Yard, NY eastbound for the River Sub, with the EMD’s overhauled at MPI in Boise, Idaho.
In November 1974 James Gillin captured D&H RS11 5008 wearing “Extra” white flags at Windsor Station in Montreal, QC. A steam generator equipped RS3 provides the heat for the short “Adirondack”. The dome car at the left is a CP Rail “Park” car and is likely on No. 41 “the Atlantic Limited” arriving from Saint John, NB. In the background is the 40 storey CP hotel the “Chateau Champlain”. The train ran as an extra for a short period because the CP timetable had not yet been updated. The Adirondack would depart westbound towards Glen Yard and at Montreal West, will turn southward across the St. Lawrence River on the Adirondack Sub. After passing Delson, the train will veer onto the (Napierville Junction - D&H) Lacolle Sub, to the border stop at Rouses Point, NY. Once arriving at destination in Albany, NY, the D&H power would be replaced with Penn Central locomotives to bring the train to Penn Station in New York City. (Thanks to Wayne Koch and Ray Kennedy-Old Time Trains) John Eull recorded famed Delaware & Hudson Alco PA's #18 and #19 leading a mix of equipment including a leased AMTRAK Dome down the grade through South Junction at Montreal West on December 30, 1975. During Winter months, D&H paired the their four PA’s back to back to create more steam heat for the cars. As this arrangement also tied up their Passenger power, D&H short term leased a quartet of Erie-Lackawanna steam generator equipped E8’s, paired up for the D&H (Montreal-Albany) trains as well. In John’s photo, you can clearly see the rotating Mars Light in the nose, with one white and small red lens. The Mars Signal Light Company developed this safety Technology in the 1940’s and were implemented in the brand new Santa Fe Alco PA’s. Southbound from Montreal to Albany and throttling up on a super elevated curve the “Laurentian” Alco RS3 blows its horn at Port Kent, New York, on September 22,1965. The passenger equipment wears the older D&H two tone grey paint scheme.
© CRO April 2012 |
