Another one, same location, different direction, and different time of year (obviously... 
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Post your locomotive shots
- Thread starter Snagglefoot
- Start date
This one was waiting for a signal to start moving.
Thank you!
I'm mostly an ALCo guy when it comes to first gen road switchers. I knew that GP9 could be ordered low hood but hadn't ever paid that close of attention to them and didn't realize the slanted nose on factory low hoods.
It was quite a pleasant surprise about 15 years ago when I saw an RJ Corman high hood GP9 working the Lexington yard. It's about the only one I've seen in revenue service, and I'm pretty sure that loco is in some far flung corner of Corman's operation now getting beat up on some minor locals.
As I mentioned, the railroads I mostly pay attention not only liked tall hoods(heck, I think Southern, which is probably a tertiary interest of mine, but still enough of one to know a bit about it) even ordered some late diesels high hood. I know there are ex-SRY SD40-2s that were delivered that way, and even some SD45s.
The eastern coal/mountain roads, the N&W in particular, kept their long hoods forward for a long time too, which looks backwards to a lot of folks now.
My only real exceptions to the roads I pay attention to is L&N, which is hard to even make a sweeping statement about because, despite their fairly early dieselization, ended up with a lot of road switchers either second hand or through mergers, and mostly had low short hoods. Their GP9s and RS-11s are the only exception I can think of.
BTW, a tourist railroad I use to frequent in Central KY ran an ex-IC GP20 as their main excursion power for a while after their ex-Army H12-44 blew a generator and their running ALCo MRS-1s was pretty well at duct tape and bailing wire. They now have a super nice restored and refurbed ex-N&W GP9 that they mostly run, but the GP20 still gets a lot of use.
I'm going to guess it's the one in Versailles (pronounced Ver-sails because it's in Kentucky, not France)? Nice place. I took their Lexington-Chattanooga overnight trip several times.
Yep, up until the late 50s the high short hood was the norm for EMD and most of it's competition.
Here's a GP7 in a pic from 2001. You can see the engineer's face peering out that small window.
Correct, Versailles, although I think you might be thinking of a different operation?(unless they arranged something before my time).
They are a nice little operation, and at their main station/terminal I think they still have an interchange with NS/former SRY although that may be out of service now(or maybe a different shortline is operating it? I forget the little nuances).
The branch that the BGRM occupies once crossed the Kentucky River at the little town of Tyrone by way of Young's High Bridge(which overlooks the US 62 bridge, a nice terra-cotta S-shaped bridge). It primarily serviced the Tyrone power plant, but the other end of Young's High Bridge skirts by the edge of Wild Turkey distillery.
Young's High Bridge was last used in the 80s, and even then it was unsafe enough that it would only handle a small switcher(GE 44 tonner or the like) and a few cars. Now the bridge is a bungee jumping platform.
I've only known BGRM to, at most, run from Versailles to Tyrone. For a while in the early 2000s, they weren't even able to access Tyrone...
Yup, same place. In the late 80's they ran special steam trips one weekend in the fall, from Lexington, KY, to Chattanooga, TN, on NS. One year they ran 611 and another they ran 1218. We'd overnight at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo hotel and go back to Lexington the next day. I don't remember exactly why they quit, but one year they wound up having to cancel the trip and refunding my money and I think NS cancelled the steam program soon after that.
It was fun while it lasted.
Here is an ex Norfolk Southern GP38-2 that was originally a Norfolk & Western Unit.
It still was setup for long hood forward operations and retains its high short hood.
This unit was on the Napa Wine Train while I worked there. It was a good running reliable engine even though it had one bad traction motor that was cut out.
The train is tied down in the siding at Yountville while the passengers have been shuttled to the Chandon Winery for a tour.
I think I was babysitting a new engineer this day as I never wore the day glow orange that's in the Engineer's seat.
It still was setup for long hood forward operations and retains its high short hood.
This unit was on the Napa Wine Train while I worked there. It was a good running reliable engine even though it had one bad traction motor that was cut out.
The train is tied down in the siding at Yountville while the passengers have been shuttled to the Chandon Winery for a tour.
I think I was babysitting a new engineer this day as I never wore the day glow orange that's in the Engineer's seat.
I dragged the family out of town to see the UP 4014 Big Boy when it came to Denver a few years back. I wanted to see it running, which we did, along with getting up close at one of the stops. I don't have those pics available at the moment, but there are others already in this thread.
Below are some pics of the Georgetown Loop RR.
While at work every once in a while we see some interesting loads on rail cars. Wind turbine blades and fuselages from Spirit Airlines, but once in a blue moon we get something like the other pic.
Below are some pics of the Georgetown Loop RR.
While at work every once in a while we see some interesting loads on rail cars. Wind turbine blades and fuselages from Spirit Airlines, but once in a blue moon we get something like the other pic.
Oh wow, I guess that's a SERIOUS gap in my knowledge, and I'm going to have to go hunting for photos now.
Unfortunately 1218 has only barely run in my lifetime and I'm guessing I won't get to see it run again. I'm hoping to get to ride behind 611 in the next few years.
I'm assuming the whole trip was on Southern/NS track? Seeing 1218 come down L&N's Old Road subdivision would be a sight to behold, but there are some tight curves without a lot of lineside clearance and the tunnel in Frankfort in particular might be a challenge.
Speaking of which, here's live steam running on L&N's old road, May 2009
Tom NJ
$100 Site Donor 2026
No idea. It was on tour so I took my 3 year old nephew while visiting. I know nothing about trains, but my grandfather was a conductor between NJ and NYC, so we got some of his caps and punchers and would line up chairs in the hall to play train. That's me punching the ticket back in the mid 50s. Didn't have cell phones back then so we had to use something that is largely missing today - imagination.
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These shots are pretty poor compared to a lot of the ones earlier in this thread, but here they are anyway, taken last week while we were driving SE on the Yellowhead (Hwy 16) between Neepawa and the #16/#1 junction.
Great catch!
To me it’s a treat anymore to see a Class I SD40-2 out on the road. I know most of them still have at least a few around, but at least around here(and I can see quite literally all the NA Class Is around St. Louis) it’s rare I see anything but GE for road power.
Heck, even some of the bigger shortlines are starting to get newer power. Corman runs ex-NS SD70ACe s on the aluminum trains-it use to be a treat to see their SD40T-2s
Still though I suspect the GP/SD-38/40 are going to be around for a while to come-pretty impressive considering that the newest is over 40 years old now, and the oldest pushing 60.
The SD-60s are a great catch too, especially with how uncommon any standard cab is now on class I road engines.
I remember doing the same thing with the kitchen chairs....
JHZR2
Staff member
That would be awesome to see in use!
JHZR2
Staff member
Does this count? My favorite 60's F Units that I grew up watching. My favorite road name. My favorite paint scheme is the older Maroon and Gold. Over $300 sitting here with Digital Command Control (DCC) and sound. Yikes, the hobby is out of hand.
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I recall the #16/#1 junction. It’s like the Golden Triangle of Manitoba!
I wish O scale could be that inexpensive...as I sit here remembering that I need to pay an invoice for a pair of Atlas O L&N U30cs I preordered(and I should convince myself I don't need to order EVERY road number offered...). The pair of them came out to north of 4 figures. These are from the MTH factory in Korea, but I still got hit with a $30/each tariff. They made a 3rd L&N one in this batch with the GE "XR" paint scheme that I'm really loving, but can't swing the extra cash for it.
Atlas O "Premier" now all comes with MTH Protosound 3.0(in fact the whole Premier line is essentially all ex-MTH tooling). PS3 can run on either MTH's DCS system or on DCC, although I only run it on DCS. I really would prefer Atlas products with Lionel's control system(TMCC), which Atlas use to use, although the generic sounds that Lionel lets the licensees use are getting pretty stale. Lionel's own current offerings have top notch sound, especially for steam-I don't think MTH's sounds are quite as good(and they tend to just slap a single commodity speaker in rather than putting a lot of thought and effort into quality speakers and enclosures like Lionel) but at least Atlas diesels now have correct horns for the railroads they're marked for, at least most of the time.
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BNSF crossing the Clark Fork River in western Montana.
