Please contribute photos which match this theme:
50+ years old and still in regular service on a commercial non-tourist railroad (photos taken this year)
photos by Ace 2013
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Ahhh Ace, excellent topic!
I shot these back in 2007 but I still see most of them running around.
West Virginia owned and operated South Branch Valley RR. Coming out of a thunderstorm and heavy down-pour SBVR SD18 #182 leads this "Chicken Feed" train with SD9 #180, (Chessie Painted) GP9 #6240 and GP9 #92 on the head end. Pushing are 2 other GP9s and SD9 #181.
Local short-line railroad Grafton & Upton's #1501 is an F7-A built in 1952. It has been used in daily freight service since being acquired...and has been recently re-painted into G&U corporate colors...
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Clinton Terminal RR (Clinton, NC) 2480, ex-ATSF CF-7
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The Carolina Southern RR runs vintage engines. GP18's. I visit the area each year and finally tried to see some of the engines. They run out of Conway, SC. Long story short, they are on hold.
I was only able to get the maintenance person on the phone. They have bridges out in the lowlands and can't afford repairs. They haven't run in a year or so. Trains are stored in Dillon, SC and one other location, southwest of Conway. Not dead yet, but the industries they served are gone and Sandy debridged them.
#943 (GP-18) is painted in Waccamaw Coast Line colors, which looks like the Clinton above, as most were ACL back in the day.
Originally Posted by J Daddy:
Is the YVT still running these little guys?
Not in regular freight service since 1985, but it survives in a museum with some operating trackage?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y...ansportation_Company
Union Pacific filed for abandonment of the YVT on April 26, 1984, and this was approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission on June 5, 1985. Operation ceased on November 18, 1985.[5][6] However, at the request of city officials, Union Pacific donated the entire railroad to the City of Yakima,[5] to allow continued operation of the heritage streetcar service by the Yakima Valley Trolleys, a 501(c)(3) volunteer-run non-profit organization. The donation included two of the railway's three locomotives, 1909 "Line car" A (for overhead line maintenance) and 1922 GE "steeple-cab" locomotive No. 298.
this one still operates in SoCal, ive run it
Originally Posted by BadHorse:
this one still operates in SoCal, ive run it
No kidding, that's fabulous! The one that got away from Yakima ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y...ansportation_Company
The third YVT electric locomotive, 1923 boxcab-type No. 297, was donated by UP to the Orange Empire Railway Museum, and left Yakima for that museum (on a railroad flatcar) the day after the YVT closed... The YVT was one of the last freight railroads in North America to use trolley poles on its locomotives, never having changed to pantographs.
It's surprising that the electric operation lasted as long as it did in Yakima.
Union Pacific had an electric operation in the Los Angeles area. When that operation was discontinued the only locomotive went to the YVT. When the UP abandon the YVT they sent the Glendale and Montrose locomotive back to the Los Angeles area.
Originally Posted by David Johnston:
Union Pacific had an electric operation in the Los Angeles area. When that operation was discontinued the only locomotive went to the YVT. When the UP abandon the YVT they sent the Glendale and Montrose locomotive back to the Los Angeles area.
I'm a "street-running" nut and when a street-running photo showed up on Wikipedia, I went to http://maps.google.com and looked at Pine Street in Yakima. The street view shows the tracks and wire in place (Google doesn't give you the dates of the street view photos.) Have they pulled the wires and paved over the tracks yet?
The city has cut the railroad back so the only thing left is the line to Selah. The copper trolley wire keeps getting stolen so I think it has been a while since they have been over there. The GE locomotive has had a bad traction motor for many years. There was some effort to get it repaired but I do not know if it has been fixed. The line car and a master unit were running and there is a little bit of track in front of the car house and down to the high school that they may be operating on.
Sometime in the early 80's I was on a driving trip through Yakima Valley. I lived in the area as a kid and would see the electrics run in apple season. The line was still running so I pulled in and talked to the guys. They offered me a ride. I loved it. They even gave me some of the original tools. Don
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1904 vintage J.G. Brill open trolleys operate during the summer between Sintra, Portugal and the beach at the Atlantic Ocean.
The line is single track with passing sidings. The photos were taken September 21, 2012 during lunch hour which accounts for the light load. The trips I rode were full.
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Iowa Traction Railway uses five electric locomotives on its 11 mile line. The steeple cabs date from 1917, 1921 and 1923. More info here.
The videos of the Iowa Traction Railway were a lot of fun to watch.
sent that pic of the YVT Electric to all my DuPont(Safety 1st!) colleagues!
A highly entertaining blog and thank you...Ace for getting it started.
I think half the locos I've been on lately.....well rebuilt ones.Older Southern and N&W SD-40's and a few GP's.
Nearly everyday, Monday - Friday, I see Amtrak #737 switching at Washington's Union Station. #737 is the oldest operating locomotive on Amtrak's roster, a ex Pennsylvania Railroad SW-1 built in 1942.
Thread opened per Ace's request....
Alan
I don't have pics, but I believe BNSF is still running 1950's high-nose SD-9s in yard service. I think there's a few in the Twin Cities and in Duluth/Superior.
I don't have any photos, but I know there are still SW8s on the North Shore and the Reading, Blue Mountain, and Northern.
Does the VIA Rail Canadian qualify?
Seen yesterday, Portland & Western 1201 switching the Millersburg yard near Albany Oregon. Amtrak Cascades on next track.
Still wearing a Bicentennial scheme !
1201 SW1200m (10/1953) EMD Ex-Rail Link 1201 < Willamette & Pacific SW1200m 1201 < nee Pittsburg & Shawmut SW9 232 (1886)
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From york last week
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Ace posted:Seen yesterday, Portland & Western 1201 switching the Millersburg yard near Albany Oregon. Amtrak Cascades on next track.
Still wearing a Bicentennial scheme !
1201 SW1200m (10/1953) EMD Ex-Rail Link 1201 < Willamette & Pacific SW1200m 1201 < nee Pittsburg & Shawmut SW9 232 (1886)
I saw that engine in a movie, but I can't remember the name of it!
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*RRRR switcher #4 is humping coal cars at a power plant in Eddystone, PA. This is an image of how it would look today. However according to my resources the Conrail crews did a number on the inside of the loco after the Raritan River was absorbed. It should also be noted that although these pictures weren't taken this year, these diesels still run today.
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METRA, Chicago's commuter rail agency, employs ex CB&Q stainless steel gallery cars built in traunches from 1950-1965, by Budd. The cars are beauties; despite an occaisional dent they are as bright and shiny as when delivered. The oldest cars have probably been sold off, but the newest cars would be 50+ years old. They are as close as one will get to seeing the California Zephyr today ! They were all rebuilt in 1973.
1936 Porter fireless 0-6-0 was running at the North American Rayon mill in Elizabethton TN into the 1990s:
She is now preserved in a park on the East side of town near the state highway. Sadly, the plant is gone, as are the old ET&WNC rails, as far as the approaches to Johnson City.
And when the ET&WNC still had their 2-8-0s, it was probably the last place in the US where steam interchanged with other steam from a different owner, as late as 1967:
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C'mon guys. Work with me here. Think CF7. These are working the line right next to the York Fairgrounds.
These are working the tourist railroad up in Santa Cruz, California.
These are/were working in other places. I've barely scratched the surface. Amazing how many of the 233 originals are still working after forty years.
Here's where it all started:
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Paul Moore posted:Ace posted:Seen yesterday, Portland & Western 1201 switching the Millersburg yard near Albany Oregon. Amtrak Cascades on next track.
1201 SW1200m (10/1953) EMD Ex-Rail Link 1201 < Willamette & Pacific SW1200m 1201 < nee Pittsburg & Shawmut SW9 232 (1886)
I saw that engine in a movie, but I can't remember the name of it!
Paul,
The movie that you are thinking of is "Trainmaster", which was filmed in the Portland, OR. area. The movie "Trainmaster" while NOT a Disney production, is very similar to many Disney movies, being a Kid's Adventure type movie. That locomotive got quite a bit of screen time in the movie.
The scenes of the Grandfather's HO layout, were filmed at the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad Club, in Portland. I am a not very active anymore member of the Columbia Gorge, and a couple of my HO trains made brief appearances in the movie. If you watch the movie in the future, look for a Lionel HO challenger (cab#3980
) in two tone Grey with Silver lettering and striping, pulling about a dozen Athearn heavy weight passenger cars, also in two tone grey and silver, that is mine. I forget which other train of mine made it into the movie, but it may have been another of my Lionel HO challengers, probably in Black.
Doug
mark s posted:METRA, Chicago's commuter rail agency, employs ex CB&Q stainless steel gallery cars built in traunches from 1950-1965, by Budd. The cars are beauties; despite an occaisional dent they are as bright and shiny as when delivered. The oldest cars have probably been sold off, but the newest cars would be 50+ years old. They are as close as one will get to seeing the California Zephyr today ! They were all rebuilt in 1973.
I think The Via Rail Canadian is a whole lot closer to the Zephyr
Clem
How about the IC painted cars used on the Chicago-Indy train used under state contract!
I see 50+ year old engines every work day...
Pardon the older picture (from several years ago), but we can no longer use our personal electronic devices.
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