That is a large building for what I assume was a relatively small town. What was it about Slaton that required such a large multi-purpose building?
Slaton looks like it was partially a RR hotel/beanery. Or, was once a headquarters/dispatchers offices.
Could it have been a Harvey House? The large second floor might have been a dormitory for the employees, especially the female servers.
I did a little reading and the town was named after a Lubbock rancher/banker named O L Slaton Sr., who did a lot of legwork and promotion to get the Santa Fe through there. ATSF needed a division point in the area and Mr Slaton persuaded them to set up there. And a Harvey House was indeed included, and Slaton became the center of the largest division of the Santa Fe system of the time. That would explain the rather imposing building for a town that had about 7200 population at its peak in the 70s (about 6000 now). Even today the town is proud of its railroad heritage. Gotta love the cars parked there.
That's a lot of bent metal. Interesting how everyone gets all gussied up to have their picture taken with a train wreck. But then it wasn't quite as common as now, when any Tom, Dick, Harry or their girlfriends can snap a (much less good quality) photo with their cell phone... At the time, it was worth getting fixed up for a train wreck photo shoot. Here's one that more old metal than bent metal: S3272B_VisCab_Beardmore_Engine_Exporail_SE75 by Mike VE2TRV posted Oct 26, 2016 at 10:00 PM I found the photo at left in my Dad's slides from September 1975's visit to Exporail (then just called Canadian Railway Museum). My curiosity was piqued as to what kind of engine that was. It didn't look like an Alco, EMD, F-M or Baldwin engine. But I did recognize its silhouette outlined in Model Railroader's Cyclopedia volume 2. A bit more research confirmed my suspicions. That is the ORIGINAL 400 hp, Beardmore (built under licence by Westinghouse) inline 6 cylinder engine from the loco shown at right, CN 77 (nee 7700), a CLC/Westinghouse Visibility Cab diesel switcher built in 1929 (delivered in 1930), the first of its kind and the origin of the end-cab concept for diesel switchers. In 1953 it was repowered with a 500 hp Caterpillar D397 V12, derated to 380 hp. Somehow, maybe even miraculously, the original motor was preserved, and it was delivered to the museum along with CN 77 in 1968. When I visited in 1975, 77 was being used as their switcher. Boy, was that thing loud. Now it sits quietly behind CNR FPA4 6765 inside the main building.
Probably not, but if I remember correctly what a museum volunteer said to another visitor back in August, a lot of their locos are in running condition, but they don't run them just in case something breaks - some of those things are so old or so rare that parts for them are very difficult or not impossible to find. Steam locos and early or short production run diesels fall into that category. It's better that a loco be not operating than be inoperable.
I can understand that. It would be nice if someone captured video of the unit in action. Just when I think I have seen it all, I see something new. Thanks for researching and sharing.
I agree. I would believe it best to fire it up now and then. Letting it sit for extended periods might be just as bad, or worse.
Roberval & Saguenay RS-2 #22 sat for 20 years or so inside building 5, and the museum people managed to revive the old beast pretty quickly for last fall's Diesel Weekend. As long as the unit is sitting in a dry, reasonably warm building, it shouldn't pose a problem, even for the long term.
Signal fans will enjoy this vintage SOU signal bridge which stands unadulterated in Lowell, NC on the former SOU mainline. In an era of Darth Vader signals and highway style signal bridges, this brought a huge smile to my face. I waited for a train, but without luck. The horizontal members of these bridges were old flatcar spines. Like most roads, the Southern threw nothing away that could be of value.
