Down at Legoland. Lots Amtrak and commuters. No pictures. Alas. Not sure why Tapatalk isn't letting me set a prefix
Taken a few weeks ago, NS 337 gets underway at Columbia, SC to advance east to Charleston, SC. 337's route takes it over some of the oldest lines in the U.S., opened in 1830 and extended into Columbia in 1840, as chartered by the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company.
A blast from the past--Amtrak 8 streaks east just east of Cut Bank, MT in 2008. Check out the old school signal heads! Amtrak 8 gets a drink from the local Farmer's Union Oil Company a few weeks ago. The operator shines a light on his pump counter to keep track of fuel delivery:
Hemmi, that's a great photo. It also reminds of a time 15+/- years ago when Amtrak shot themselves in the foot over exactly the same thing. A year or so after Amtrak took delivery of the GE Genesis series, they cancelled the interim oil service in Pensacola, FL needed for the EMD F40s pulling the Jacksonville-New Orleans section of the Sunset Limited. Genesis hold 2800 gallons, whereas the F40s hold 1800 gallons. One July day there were no Genasis available at the Florida terminal so two F40s were yanked from storage. No Pensacola refuelling, the Sunset ran out of fuel behind my house in Gulfport, MS. No fuel, No HEP, No opening windows in mid-July south Mississippi, Nobody allowed off train due to ballast and dense woods. Four hours later they were dragged into New Orleans behind borrowed CSX GP-40. The GP-40 had to be called from 40 miles away, then pull the Sunset back to a passing siding so it could run around to the nose. Like I said, your oil truck brought back quite a memory, one that Amtrak would love no one to remember.
Last summer, when my daughter and I made a trip to the upper peninsula, I got these photos of the LS&I ore dock at Marquette. The next day, there was a freighter in to load. I caught this photo from a hill outside of town.
Nice! Cool to see such ancient creatures still roaming the rails. As the OP noted, the 40 is definitely looking tired, but that GP30 does look good. The ones I see on CSX down by work have all been slugged. Absolutely nice catch.
Finally got the number boards mounted on the sides of the New Braunfels on Friday. Amtrak had removed them when it was in their fleet and removed all the mounting strips from the car body and covered all the holes with new stainless fluting strips. Had to undo everything Amtrak did to mount the replacement number boards. Also worked on the diesel generator underneath repairing the exhaust and servicing the air filter. The generator cabinet under the "New Braunfels" name board rolls out on some "Waukesha" style extension rails so you can get to it better.
A Beautiful vehicle, though if I interpret your text correctly, merely cosmetic at the moment. I have great hope for your organization with your organization and this car.
The car is armed and fully operational at this point. Right now the Gulf Coast Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society owns the car and is leasing it to the Austin Steam Train Association to use on their weekend excursion trains. They provide major mechanical maintenance and we service everything else. The money they pay us goes to our end of maintenance and to restoring another car, the former Kansas City Southern Good Cheer. As soon as we get the Good Cheer back in service the ASTA will lease it also to use on their excursion trains.
Russell, that is a wonderful relationship to have. You guys are very lucky to have developed such cooperation.
Here is the New Braunfels in early Amtrak service before they removed the number boards. After the MKT got out of the passenger business they sold a lot of their equipment to the Northern Pacific who then sold it to Amtrak in 1972. The dent in the roof above the "P" in Pacific was already there. Here it is above the "S" in Special.
The answer to that is probably lost to history. However, I am not above weaving a tall tail to explain it. Back when the car was in Katy passenger service in about 1963 the blade and head off of a semaphore fell from its mast during a tornado and crashing down on the roof of the car.
Well, if we are going to weave a tall tale, how about this: During War of the Worlds, a Martian space craft collided with the car, and....
