Random Railfan Prototype Photos For All

Hardcoaler Mar 26, 2015

  1. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    More EJ&E from the mid-1970s, with caboose and freight house on the Western Sub at Barrington, IL.

    1970s Mid 021 EJE Barrington IL - for upload.jpg
     
  2. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    More EJ&E from the mid-1970s at Barrington, IL. SD-38-2 664 is crossing the C&NW and taking No. 6 fifty miles further south to Joliet. The tower was EJ&E owned and staffed, gone today.

    1970s Mid 012 EJE Barrington IL - for upload.jpg

    1970s Mid 034 EJE Barrington IL - for upload.jpg
     
  3. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    That stuff from the J is mint, Hardcoaler!

    I made a trip to Bismarck, ND a couple weeks ago, and caught some DMVW action. Here's the northbound wayfreight picking up a tank car in Washburn.
    With a facing-point switch, the northbound train had to make some fancy maneuvers to pull the tanker, and add it to its train.

    The wayfreight stops short of a crossing at Washburn, ND.
    _MG_2360.jpg

    The power is cut off and run down a water treatment vendor spur; an empty ballast car will be a buffer after the pickup:

    _MG_2370.jpg

    After they couple onto the tank car, it is pulled back to the main:

    _MG_2383.jpg

    This unit is dedicated to a fondly-remembered railroader:

    _MG_2386.jpg

    The power backs up to clear the switch, then pulls forward, pushing the tank car north of the spur switch, and sets it out on the main.

    _MG_2388.jpg

    The power then reverses past the switch, throws the switch for the spur and ducks the power in the spur, then throws the switch back for the main.

    _MG_2398.jpg

    A crewman climbs aboard the tank car, releases the handbrakes to get it moving and controls the speed of the car as it rolls south back to the train:

    _MG_2407.jpg

    _MG_2417.jpg

    That's all for now.
     
  4. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    I was expecting to have the four units perform a flying switch. But apparently there was a grade on the main permitting the tank to drift down to the train. I know many companies outlaw flying switches. Though I've seen them performed flawlessly on many occasions. There was once on the B&M around 1950 where the car stalled on the switch. The head end brakeman had to retrieve the pushpole from the tender and push the car back on the main so they could try it again. This time successfully.

    For those not familiar with using a pole to move cars, here's a photo of one in action. I'm surprised to see this pole pushing the truck. Back in the 1950's every car I saw had pole pockets at the four corners of the frame specifically designed for poling. Also the locomotive and the tender had poling pockets.

    [​IMG]

    Here's a photo of a pushpole stowed on a diesel. The poles I saw were hanging under tenders between the trucks. Never saw a diesel with a pole.

    [​IMG]
     
  5. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Poling is dangerous and was outlawed decades ago. Still cool to see it in action!
     
  6. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    Great set of photos! Quite a treat to see the ex-CN SD cowls running. By curiosity, I checked out their roster and they have a lot of ex-CN power, including ex-CN 9300, exx-4000, their first of just two GP35s bought in 1964!
     
  7. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Do you have a date for this regulation? I cannot remember it. We were putting roping staples on cars well into the middle 1970's, a feature many don't even know existed that late.
     
  8. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    This has me wondering if there is either someone on their staff ex-CN, or even deeper, maybe CN has some influence....,
     
  9. Point353

    Point353 TrainBoard Member

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    Since that photo was taken, the EJ&E was acquired by CN and the 664 was given a new look:

    [​IMG]
     
  10. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks Point, I'd have never guessed. I remember when the six SD-38s (650-655) were new in 1970. As a kid, I remember my mother phoning Barrington Tower to see what the story was with them and the Op was well informed. I didn't realize that they would soon spell the end for the Baldwin centercabs.
     
  11. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    A little bit of extra water laying about in New Braunfels, Texas sometime in the 1930s.
    flood.jpg
     
  12. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I don't, but a Trains Magazine article says the 1960s is when it fell out of favor on the railroads. https://www.trains.com/trn/train-basics/ask-trains/poling-on-railroads/ Here's some more info.
    http://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2015/07/poling-railroad-cars.html

    I don't know if CN has any influence, but perhaps the extreme winters in ND make ex-Canadian units best fitted for the climate? The line is ex-Soo, and they interchange with CP and BNSF. Not that those means anything.
     
  13. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Could be better for that climate.

    I have a friend who is quite into freight cars and have asked if he'd check on the poling pockets question.
     
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  14. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    A DFT class Co-Co locomotive. Built by General Motors Diesel of Canada as a narrow gauge version of the G8 model. It was rebuilt in New Zealand in the early 1980s and given the DFT designation. Here shown in the defunct Tranz Rail bumble bee livery. Tranz Rail ceased operations on the north island in 2003 but this locomotive somehow made its way down to Dunedin on the south island in 2015. I guess Kiwi Rail inherited it. Edit: This is a DBR class A1A-A1A locomotive.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2021
  15. Kurt Moose

    Kurt Moose TrainBoard Member

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    Those are pretty cool lookin' locos, but interesting how the center axles are lower. Smaller diameter or maybe just an idler axle/no power?
     
  16. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    I am still working on this. I believe it is really a DBR class A1A-A1A that have an identical body but different trucks. The rail system on the south island may have required the different wheel arrangement. Here is the DFT for comparison. It may be a little larger as well.
    [​IMG]
     
  17. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    Indeed, they were A1A-A1A. They're not quite the same trucks used on the G8s in Newfoundland's 3'6" gauge network. They look somewhat heavier and have two brake cylinders instead of the single centered one on the Newfie G8s.

    The driven axles have 40" wheels, while the center idler axles had 33" wheels (likely regular freight car wheelsets) to lighten the load further (Newfie tracks had lightish rail).

    And not quite the same cab!

    Here's the one at Exporail, a few years ago, a bit worse for wear:

    IMGP4164_GMD_G8_CNR_805.JPG
     
  18. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Black River & Western's Alco RS-1 No. 57, former Washington Terminal. Ringoes, NJ, 08/14/1975.

    1975-08-14 002 Ringoes NJ - for upload.jpg
     
  19. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Horn location on these is interesting. Cab occupants must be a bit deaf from it. I wonder about a clearance issue somewhere along their lines.
     
  20. Kurt Moose

    Kurt Moose TrainBoard Member

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    Shut the window when horn is in use!!:confused:
     
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