The last SAL GP40 ?

[chessie]

It was reported in the Sept. issue of Trains magazine that CSX had struck a deal with EMD/LLPX for a large trade (more details are posted in the CSX forum). In the article, it stated that 1 of the 17 GP40's CSX traded to EMD was #9706, which was delivered to the Seaboard Air Line in 1966 as its # 624 and was the last active SAL GP40 in use on the CSX. If so, the Jolly Green Giant has passed http://www.trainboard.com/frown.gif

Chessie

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

[Richard Stallworth]

I hate to say "typical" but I have to. The
Seaboard is not only "no more" but it seems
to have been mostly erased. I've just completed several months of research to discover SAL had an old depot and a new depot
in my town. The new depot was built in 1948-1949. It was torn down several years ago to make way for a Walgreens. People told me that there had only been one depot in Gville, the old one south of town. All of SAL's tracks through my town were ripped up
in the early seventies. There are strip malls where steamers and ALCo RS units once
rode. A lot of people don't even know SAL
existed. They remember the ACL because it had tracks down the middle of Main St. But
when you say Seaboard they think of SCL. It's too bad. I call myself a "railroad
archaeologist." I'm digging up ancient remains.

[chessie]

Richard,
I agree with your sentiments exactly. I recently completed a trip along the remnants of the SAL "S" line from Raleigh,N.C. to Norlina,N.C. Around 1986-7, CSX decided to abandon the line that ran north of Norlina to Petersburg/Richmond Va. and pulled up the tracks between the towns. They also went back and pulled up one of the two tracks from Raleigh to Hamlet (where it had been double tracked). Anyway, since Norlina was kind of a big "dot" on the old maps, I expected to see a lot in the way of buildings, but to my suprise, it was just a bunch of abandoned right of way and remnants of an old freight depot. In fact, virtually all of the old stations along the tracks between Raleigh and Norlina were gone, witn little to no evidence of their existence! Very sad indeed http://www.trainboard.com/frown.gif

Chessie

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

[Denis F. Blake]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by chessie:
Richard,
I agree with your sentiments exactly. I recently completed a trip along the remnants of the SAL "S" line from Raleigh,N.C. to Norlina,N.C. Around 1986-7, CSX decided to abandon the line that ran north of Norlina to Petersburg/Richmond Va. and pulled up the tracks between the towns. They also went back and pulled up one of the two tracks from Raleigh to Hamlet (where it had been double tracked). Anyway, since Norlina was kind of a big "dot" on the old maps, I expected to see a lot in the way of buildings, but to my suprise, it was just a bunch of abandoned right of way and remnants of an old freight depot. In fact, virtually all of the old stations along the tracks between Raleigh and Norlina were gone, witn little to no evidence of their existence! Very sad indeed http://www.trainboard.com/frown.gif

Chessie

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[Denis F. Blake]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by chessie:
[B]Richard,
I agree with your sentiments exactly. I recently completed a trip along the remnants of the SAL "S" line from Raleigh,N.C. to Norlina,N.C. Around 1986-7, CSX decided to abandon the line that ran north of Norlina to Petersburg/Richmond Va. and pulled up the tracks between the towns. They also went back and pulled up one of the two tracks from Raleigh to Hamlet (where it had been double tracked). Anyway, since Norlina was kind of a big "dot" on the old maps, I expected to see a lot in the way of buildings, but to my suprise, it was just a bunch of abandoned right of way and remnants of an old freight depot. In fact, virtually all of the old stations along the tracks between Raleigh and Norlina were gone, witn little to no evidence of their existence! Very sad indeed http://www.trainboard.com/frown.gif

Chessie

To this day CSX regrets pulling up that track. As a matter of fact they are trying to find a way to get the taxpayers of NC to pay for the reinstalling of that rail for future passenger operations and also for intermodal use.

Now, on to the GP40's thing. Guys, while the Jolly Green Giants may well be gone from CSX it will be a good many years before they are gone from the scene of railroading in general. Many, many of those units have been rebuilt and are in use on other roads. Heck, UP has something like 6 or 8 of them in service right now. Also, I think that one or two of them may have been rebuilt in the latest bacth of slug conversions as well.

Also, remember this, while the last SAL unit has only recently been retired, it has been a good many years since an acl unit turned a wheel...The SAL did indeed outlive the acl. That is a good thing.

Denis

[chessie]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Denis F. Blake:
To this day CSX regrets pulling up that track. As a matter of fact they are trying to find a way to get the taxpayers of NC to pay for the reinstalling of that rail for future passenger operations and also for intermodal use.

Denis

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey, the taxpayers of our great state have already footed the bill for the "NCRR" fiasco, and its plans for high speed service, why not the "S" line too??? I guess this is why the state has "preserved" the R-O-W from Wallace to Wilmington too... http://www.trainboard.com/wink.gif

Chessie



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