p51 posted:
This plate is off a N&W SD-35... Scored it off eBay to trade to a local guy for a newer EMD plate which he has, That plate happens to have the exact same month and year I was born.
Well, I got the plate I traded the above plate for. That plate is from November, 1969, the same month I was born (it's one of the rectangle plates with the blue square at the right end). It's in much better shape than the above plate but does show some wear (the guy I traded with just wanted an EMD plate and didn't care about condition, he liked the earlier style). I'm just fine with that, though.
The problem is that the locomotive still exists in freight service. I have no idea when the plate was yanked off but looking through photos I found online of the locomotive, it apparently hasn't had plates for a very long time. Two owners before the current one ran that loco with no plates.
I really wish I could post a photos of it but I have a feeling someone would look up the number, realize it's still running out there and then I'm dealing with a whole different situation as well all know there are a lot of people online who exist to make like difficult for others...
