Midweek Photos 5/2/2017 <Real Trains>

Nothing new this week, but here is a flashback from December, 2011, of a sad event in the former B&O yard at Brunswick,MD. This was the retirement of the last X-B&O CPL signals, just prior to the closure of WB tower, one of the last on CSX.
Brunswick is still busy, but just about everything of B&O heritage has been removed, making the scene much more sterile.

This is during my "beginner" years of shooting digital images - At this time, I was using an 8-year old HP point and shoot, I would not completely divorce myself from film for 5 more years.

All images by Warren W. Jenkins

Here's something you don't see every day - a peek at some Pakistani Power.  These new carbodies sans trucks/traction motors were waiting on flatcars in the NS Enola, Pa yard.  They were stored in a very out-of-the-way out-of-sight portion of the yard waiting to be shipped. This is the best I could do and, barring the use of a drone, it is probably the best anyone could have done.

...and a little pusher action at Alto Tower in Altoona, Pa.

Well, I might have a few from the previous week I never got around to posting.  Last Wednesday my lighting assistant (my wife) and I headed east across southern Minnesota and Northern Iowa to Chicago.  We went to the annual CRPA (Center for Railroad Photography & Art) convention.   Once again I got to see my foamer heroes--Steve & Frank Barry, Brian Schmidt, Kevin Keefe, Joel Jensen, Joe McMillan, Otto Vondrak,  Dave Styffe, Elrond Lawrence,  and many others!  It was one of their better programs in recent years.  Anyway, I have some shots I took before the trip up in northeastern South Dakota along the BNSF Appleton sub, former MILW Highline.  I did stop at Rochelle in Illinois one evening to see a few trains, but most of the photos I took on the trip are from Starved Rock State Park and its half dozen waterfalls.

1. An e/b grain shuttle pulls out of the siding at Andover, SD.  UP power is seldom seen on this line.

2.  A w/b grain train crosses a section road near Ortley, SD.  Grain prices have edged up again and trains are moving!  One of the things I like about the Northern Plains is there are few trees to screw up your shots.  You can see for miles!

3.  An e/b manifest bursts into the sun at Butler, SD.  I love hump bridges!

4.  One of the three engines of IATR (Iowa Traction Railroad) tied down for the night in Mason City, IA.  These are from the 1920s and are a hoot to watch in action!  They generally run on weekday mornings.

I will add that my wife & I had dinner with Steve Barry on Saturday night.  The result was a request for me to produce an article on some Dakota action to appear this summer. I'll see what I can come up with.

Kent in SD

Passing CSX Keyser Yard last week, spotted this, former Western Maryland GP9 39, now owned by the "George's Creek Railroad". She came to them from the Knox and Kane, damaged badly by fire. The exterior, as you can see has been cleaned and shot with primer, but little else has been done. I would suspect the interior has been ruined, and will cost a few dollars to repair. So no doubt as a project I'd think it will be on the "back burner" for a time.       Ed

Kent 

Thanks for posting a shot of the old electric IATR unit. I have to go back and look it up but one of the engines i believe is from my old Neighborhood The W&OD RR, in Vienna Va. The station is still there but the tracks are long gone. 

jamie

In more news out of Scranton, our new sheetmetal for the platforms on Scranton Transit #505 has been prepped and will soon be installed.  We are really picking up speed and will have some major news in the next few months as the body shell is completed and the paint goes on.  

Please consider making a donation to help save Scranton's last Electromobile.  This restoration is no less than a herculean effort and every dollar counts!  

https://www.facebook.com/ScrantonTrolley505/

https://www.gofundme.com/new-d...scranton-trolley-505

http://www.ectma.org

Thomas is staying with us for the next couple weeks. I think we have a conflict...

I took this yesterday during my lunch time:

Some oldies from the fall of 1981.   Bessemer & Lake Erie Kaylor Yard-some well used F7A units and a freshly shopped B unit along with repurposed rolling stock.   B&O Pittsburgh Grant St Station/freight terminal with PaTrain using Budd RDC's.  Chessie GP9 #6600(passenger equipped with steam boiler and torpedo tubes!),  and FP7A #6690.   Also in town was the Ringling Bros/Barnum & Bailey Circus performing at the old Civic Arena.   They would unload the elephants at the station and parade them up Grant St.,  make a right onto Sixth St.,  and then a left on to Center Ave then up to the Civic Arena.   Thought these pics might be appropriate due to the impending demise of the circus trains.   The last couple of photos with the 3 passenger cars in front of the freight terminal were privately owned and stored there for a short time and then were gone-I don't know where.

Nick

machinist posted:

 

Looks like 727 and 728 are now RBMN 250 and 251. (Not my Photo)

http://www.rrpicturearchives.n...ture.aspx?id=4691574

This  CSX caboose has been sitting in the Winchester, Va yard for over a year.

spwills posted:

Looks like 727 and 728 are now RBMN 250 and 251. (Not my Photo)

http://www.rrpicturearchives.n...ture.aspx?id=4691574

Thanks for the update and photo.  I checked their website and they have quite a number of engines in various conditions.  At least 727 and 728 still exist on the other side of the state from where they started their careers.

Nick

CSX FAN posted:

Kent 

Thanks for posting a shot of the old electric IATR unit. I have to go back and look it up but one of the engines i believe is from my old Neighborhood The W&OD RR, in Vienna Va. The station is still there but the tracks are long gone. 

jamie

Hi Jamie, Thought so too, but when I looked it up, it's their "sister" engine #50 which started life on the W&OD. 

Speaking of B&LE F units, 722 now lives at the Potomac Eagle RR. Hopefully, the engine will  run there for a long time. And, as you can see, she's kept her original number!

Ed

Here she is in her first Potomac Eagle scheme,

and as she is now, Baltimore and Ohio scheme.

Not a train, but that's because the rails are removed. Here's a sign I found in Chicago yesterday for the ex-ICG (and ex-SP!) IMX piggyback yard. This was a perishables yard for IC reefers before the TOFC. Now there's just warehouses with no rail service.