765 in 1985

P.S. Let me know if you want to see more and if so I can scan some this weekend.

Great pictures, Bill! The train was pulling an interesting collection of passenger cars. I'd certainly like to see more of those cars. I do miss the semaphores just north of the station. 

Great photos.  Absolutely, I would love to see more.  Thanks for posting them.

Chris

Memories...ah, what memories. Unfortunately my memories of those trips involve a T-bone collision with another car at 60 mph while driving to Bellevue to meet the crew for these trips. The other guy coming the other way turned left right in front of me - never saw me.

I was laid up for a while after that and was not on the crew for these trips.

Please and Thank You!

Rich, I'm sorry to hear, even years later, of that incident. glad all is OK. Sorry to unwittingly bring back those memories.

Jay jay, since you expressed interest in the consist, let's start with some of the cars today. The train was put together both by the C&NW Station Switcher (pictures later) and by 765 acting as a 'switcher" in putting strings together.  I took these as 765 brought the first class section in to couple up to the coaches.

Here the section comes around the curve. Dome Lounge Silver Garden was the last car in the first class section.

Coming on back, That's Dome Lounge Silver Lounge, sleeper-lounge Palm Beach, Super Dome Lounge 552, and Baggage-combine #100. That open-window car was labeled Marquette& Huron Mountain. M&HM was the scenic line that ran on former LS&I trackage between Marquette and Big Bay, MI for a time in the late 1970's, perhaps early 80's.  I rode in it 1979.

Dining Car "Supper Chief" was between the two Budd short domes.

Walking it back.

C'mon back.

Sorry for the duplicate, can't figure out how to remove it...well, just take another look......

Steady up.........

Interesting signals, are they gone now?

More to follow later as the weekend progresses  We'll have some more of the locomotive, departure shots, the switcher at work, and some aboard the train on the Saturday, September 7, 1985 trip.  Rich, I hope you'll add any comments on car history, etc. I know the Super Dome (Big dome) is former Santa Fe, but I don't know the origin of the other cars in the consist.

Thanks for looking!

Excellent photos, Bill.

Your reference to the Marquette and Huron Mountain running to Big Bay, MI brings to mind the fact that no rails run to Big Bay anymore, although you can now stay in the depot, if you want a "rustic experience" : http://www.exploringthenorth.com/depot/lodge.html. Big Bay is one of the towns in which "Anatomy of a Murder" was filmed back in the "50's.

Both the semaphore signals and the ground signals have been "upgraded" to two- or three-position lights, unfortunately. I will be passing through C&NW Station (Olgilvie Center) today if I go to Train Day at Union Station, so I'll try to get a current photo.

I look forward to the pictures of the coaches. The second-to-last coach appears to be a 2500-series Rock Island "Al Capone" car . Perhaps you have a close-up of it.

Thanks for posting these photos!

Now for some of the coaches. After the Silver Garden Dome Lounge, there were 5 open window coaches. One of these was in the Chessie Safety Express color scheme. Then a coach lounge, Souvenir and snack car, 2 air-conditioned coaches, another coach lounge, 4 more AC coaches, and an open window coach just before the business car observation. It may have indeed been a Rock Island coach, but i do not remember the markings.

What follows are a variety of coach photos, staring with me in the open window M&HM car. No rule G here for passengers!

A string of coaches being moved back into the depot.

The Chessie Steam Special coach.

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Station switcher C&NW #1218 with one of the red open window coaches.

Baggage car that was the souvenir and snack car.

AC coach Buckeye Lake.

Red open-window coaches following the first-class section.

A red A-C coach.

AC coaches belonging to the Fort Wayne Group. Looks they may have been New Haven/Penn Central at one time?

And, best close up I have of that last open-window coach, possibly Rock Island.

Lessons learned too late department: That Seattle Film Works film that seemed such a great deal in 1985, because you could make both prints and slides at the same time, has not aged well. Colors worse, grain awful, I should have stuck with Kodachrome!

I got to the station early both on Saturday and Sunday  so I was able to watch some of the pre-trip switching activities. This set includes some of those actions, and views around the platform area.

First, 765 backs in from the yard with its tool car.

Station switcher activities.

This E unit was in the station, I guess as protect power.  I wondered if it was a former C&NW unit.

The rods appeared to have oil on them in the station. Certainly not rust (?). Must have been oil, because the were seen to be gleaming during the run by. (See photo over in "Weekend Photo Section")

Bill, that blue RTA E8A #510 was built as UP #942 in 1953. It was then C&NW #510 before it became RTA / Metra #510. It's now at the Orange Empire Museum: http://www.oerm.org/collection/union-pacific/942

 . 

Here's a photo I took this morning of the northerly approach to the old C&NW Terminal, now known as the Ogilvie Transportation Center. The disc ground signals and the semaphores are gone.

I've enjoyed all your photos!

Here's a close-up of the Big Dome lounge, the interior, and a few shots from it.

Here's the last shots. A couple views at Sterling, I have no idea if those people thought they were going to board after the freight passed. Actually, I don't remember where we boarded. A view in the open car, and a few more of 765 in Chicago.

Thanks for looking. Hopefully I can take you up on that offer of an IRM visit some time, jay-jay.