There was a time when this would have been wall to wall road engines with the local power and yard power squeezing in. PSR unfortunately has made Roseville very much superfluous. The Cotton Belt GP60 still hasn't made it into the paint booth. It's been in use as local power somewhere in the sac area in for it's periodic inspection. In the back is one of the new Tier 4 yard units. And I'm not sure if the GE is a C44 or C45. The GEVOs are old enough now that they look just a road worn as the older units.
Incidentally I love this scene from a modelling perspective. The open air shed originally didn't have side walls. It was just a roof to keep the sun and winter rains off. Then one day a few years ago, sides were added. Roseville was so busy that they needed the extra space for the light work that didn't require being in the actual bays.
December 4, 2020 at Wyomissing JCT. I often don't go railfanning on cloudy days, but yesterday was calm and relatively warm for December around here. I felt rewarded when this NS 608 train showed up heading for the quarries outside of Birdsboro. It was all Conrail hoppers with the exception of the Amtrak dump car with a flag stuck in the coupler bringing up the rear. DSC06007 by Sepp K posted Dec 4, 2020 at 9:06 PM DSC06015 by Sepp K posted Dec 4, 2020 at 9:06 PM DSC06021 by Sepp K posted Dec 4, 2020 at 9:06 PM
OK, there's a little bit of a back story with this week's photos. I grew up in Yale, MI, a few miles east on the old PM/C&O/CSX Port Huron sub from where I live now. The new St. Clair river tunnel wasn't built yet, and GTW trains had to be broken up or reassembled at Tunnel yard in Port Huron so excees height cars could be sent across the river on the ferry barge. On Sunday afternoons in the 90s, trains would start flowing into and out of Tunnel yard, which made Emmett (17 miles west from Port Huron and a short haul from home) a great place to hang out if you were a railfan. On this particular Sunday afternoon, a day so cold it was apparent on the truck's temperature gauge whenever the thermostat opened, my buddy TIm and I were hanging out at Emmett. Nothing was happening, so we made a quick trip into Port Huron to check out Tunnel yard. There, we found this lashup ready to roll. Note the ex-C&NW lease unit behind the lead diesel. Also check out the Port Huron and Detroit boxcar on the CSX trackage behind the signals. We made a fast run back out to Emmett and set up an ambush. Shortly, the second shot resulted. Disappearing west into the snow.
Keeping with BNSF FAN's Bethlehem theme (which is timely for Christmas ), here's rebuilt "GP-8" CR 5462 (a former RDG GP-7) at the former CNJ engine terminal in Bethlehem, PA on 07/24/1982.
Just in from Calgary on the morning of September 21, 2014, the Rocky Mountaineer is loading more passengers in Banff before setting out across Kicking Horse Pass and its famous spiral tunnels in route to Kamloops for an overnight stop before continuing on to Vancouver.
A hazy day, with yet another afternoon thunderstorm brewing. BN local is switching a Darigold (milk and butter) plant in Issaquah, (ISS uh kwah), Washington. This line, once a bustling Northern Pacific branch, had served the largest Weyerhaeuser mill and plywood plant in North America, located in the Upper Snoqualmie Valley (snow KWALL mee). It was chopped back to a point about half a mile south (to the right) of this picture, about 15 years earlier, and is now altogether long gone. However, the plant still exists. In background is Tiger Mountain, behind the 2096, which I grew up on it's back side from this view:
Made a trip to Williston, ND yesterday, so when there it is a railfans obligation to go see the GN 3059 where she rests. And had a great catch as we headed home,
Nice ones, Alan! Nothing new from me this week, so I'll rerun an oldie. A clean BN SD60M basks in brilliant sunshine at the east end of the old GN yard on a frigid morning in Minot, ND on 11 Jan 2003:
Sad how some steamers are so fenced in, (obviously here intended for safe preservation), that we cannot view or photograph them freely.
I spent today (Sunday) at the Niles Canyon Railway. They were having a photo special to raise funds to restore Southern Pacific 2-6-0 #1477 which they recently acquired. I made a visit to see the Columbia River Belt 2-4-4-2 "Skookum" pull a period correct freight train followed by Southern Pacific SW9 #1195 pulling a train with photographers. It was a lot of fun spending time with a couple of fellow railfans:
Up here we put them up on pedestals: IMGP12829_Exporail_Landmark by Mike VE2TRV posted Sep 2, 2016 at 4:49 AM Cute little bugger.
Around here we like to get them out and play with them. And speaking of that- WPZephyrFan, Great shot of Skookum, the star of one of the most improbable stories in steam restoration.
I well remember all the years she sat, in "kit" form, rusting away. This is proof that virtually any steamer can come back to life.
The years in "kit" form were one thing, but the years in the creek were something else again. It wouldn't have been too surprising if she had lain there until some group of do-gooders had her cut up as a threat to the environment. We should all be thankful for the really crazy railfans among us.