Foreign power on the Southern

[Robert Peak]

I have been looking thru a lot of Southern diesel photos and see none that have any foreign units in the consist, did Southern ever use diesels from other roads? Did they never have a shortage of units?
Robert

[Justin May]

Robert,
To the best of my knowledge SOU never had a shortage of power due to the absorbed roads and their units. Roads such as the NS,CoG, GS&F, GSW, AGS, and many others. These units were enough persay to stave off shortages, and when the SOU required new power they bought in large numbers. Take for instance the GP38 and its variants, which were numbered 2717-2886, nearly 170 units. I have some links and photos of SOU units on roads such as BN, AWW, SLSF, SSW, DT&I, GTW, CRI&P, CR, PC, UP, and MP. This is in part due to the St. Louis line and it's many interchanges. However, I have not seen any foriegn units on the homerails of the SOU- Interesting thought though. Have a look at some of the shots found around the web and note leading units or others in the photos.
http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/sd40-2/sou3233.html
http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/gp38-2/sou5172.html
http://southern.railfan.net/images/archive/southern/sd/sou6336a.html

http://gelwood.railfan.net/other/sout/sou2547.jpg

http://gelwood.railfan.net/other/sout/sou2539.jpg

http://gelwood.railfan.net/other/sout/sout5042s.jpg

http://gelwood.railfan.net/other/sout/sou3201k.jpg

http://gelwood.railfan.net/other/sout/sout205m.jpg

Have a good one, Justin



[This message has been edited by Justin May (edited 11 December 2000).]

[Robert Peak]

Justin, thank you for the help,
Robert

[Justin May]

Anytime Robert,
What era and division do you railfan or perhaps model? http://www.trainboard.com/biggrin.gif Have a good one and anytime you need info ask away, Justin May

[chessie]

Robert,
Justin pretty much hit the nail on the head. I remember it being a very rare treat to see any "foreign power" on the Southern RR in Raleigh, N.C. Every once in a while we did get some unusual finds (once we got SP tunnel motors), but for the most part it was unusal to see anything else.

Chessie

------------------
Harold Hodnett
Fan of NS, CSX, and their predecessors!
Coming soon: The North Carolina Railfan Web Site
http://www.trainweb.org/ncrail/

[Robert Peak]

Well, I just recently got back into HO, went on a model car frenzy, and I think I will be modeling the Southern in a freelanced/prototype manner. The era will be about 1969. The reason for that time period is because I grew up next to the Southern in Brunswick, GA. Although I didn't come into railroading until the early 80's, its what I somewhat remember. So thanks to all for the info, will try to post here as often as possible.
Robert