Earlier this week, a friend and I were chatting about the days when the CSX line between Cartersville GA and Atlanta used to see 50+ trains a day and about how colorful those times were. There is still some variety but significantly fewer trains and many tend to run at night. Looking back, here are couple of good memories. Southbound at Elizabeth GA Feb. 2004 And a few minutes later, a northbound at the same spot.
Back at my bad habit of driving while distracted. A 15 car local heading out of Hearne, Texas on Wednesday.
Decades ago- Another one of those famous gray Pacific Northwest days. Train #12, the Coast Starlight, rolls through Auburn, Washington. An unknown person decided to sit on the loading platform and eat lunch, as I waited for the train to come. Oh well.
Following along with @BNSF FAN about better times on the CSX line between Atlanta and Chattanooga, a northbound piggybacker from 12/22/1987 at Cartersville, GA. Lead unit 5864 is a GE B36-7. In fact, all six units are GEs.
I used to do the same thing back in the day! Best spot for lunch. This is all the Sounder Station now.....looks alot different.
DRGW 5411 sits spankin new at La Grange. There was an EMD guy that worked at Burnham shops that passed these pics out to a few guys that wanted them. An EMD photo. I caught it sitting tied to a coal load at the est end of the east lead Grand Junction. A bit dirtier and worn but still a great EMD locomotive. A nose shot same location, ditch lights, Mars lights and head lights, cab roof beacon, really lit up things in front of you.
Since we're going back in time, I'll dive into my archives, long before I understood photography and cameras... June 29, 2004 UP 3985 made a break-in run on 29 Jun 2004 and ran east of Cheyenne. By the time the train made it back to East Cheyenne (MP 509?), the ubiquitous overcast killed the evening light, but a bit of Lightroom and it's quasi-presentable. If nothing else, 3985 doesn't run any longer, and the signal bridges here are probably long gone and replaced with modern vaders, so it's worth remembering. It may even be Lynn 'Nasty' Nystrom leaning out of the fireman's window. He too, has dispatched to great railyard in the sky. A side note is that UP 3985 and others dispatched on the hospital train to (Silvis, IL?) to be donated to a museum yesterday, so UP's days of running this magnificent beast are all but over.
But they sure were great times. 1992 at Valley Junction outside of Hearne, Texas. Didn't need no stinken diesels hanging behind it back then.
Let's go "way back" in time. Circa 1937, El Paso, Texas looking South down Copia street (not even a paved street at this time). A hard working switcher working on the "North Line". I used to live on the 1st street just South of this overpass. I saw many AC-9's and occasionally a cabforward, pulling hard up this hill (to the left in this photo) on their way to Alamogordo, Carrizozo, Tucumcari. Talk about a child's dream land. Those were the days. A Gordon Mott photo.
From November 1st, the NS Hershey shifter lays over in the north yard. The power once wore Conrail blue after being originally being purchased by PC. There's no doubt of the heritage of the shoving platform. Note the stack of wood, probably marking the fouling point.
Had us 8-10 inches of snow!! And I wonder just what this Mexi unit thinks of the cold stuff! And a lost NS still hanging out here tonite, on the point of a coal load parked here since yesterday.
It's thinking that its traction motors are getting cold and is wondering when it's going home to mas caliente rails... And I'd better get my shovels out of the shed.
Even Amtrak has that problem. A lot of trains are held up, sometimes for hours, until a rested crew is available. That, in turn messes up all the synchronization between train schedules are rest schedules, making more delays, etc. On Transitdocs, there are a lot of Amtrak trains in the red (really late), especially the longer distance ones.
Ships take days or weeks to get where they are going, and unless they got a power boat w/a lot of gas, a airplane, or helicopter on board there kinda captive to the boat. Not like you can walk off the ship in the middle of the Pacific to the nearest bus station. I may be wrong but just speculating.
Ships are equipped to carry enough people aboard, to rotate their crews in shifts. They have personal living quarters, a galley, and usually have at least a basic medical facility available for handling at minimum, emergencies. They also have some sort of lounge or facility where off-duty crew can relax and enjoy some minimal recreation. Railroad engines, of course, have no such features.
