Somerset Jct. Maine.. it was REALLY cold !! I drove 5 miles on the abandoned Somerset railbed on a sheet of ice to get this shot.
I like the new Bags. Now if Amtrak would add coaches, diners, and lounges of the same design, trains would again look like the streamliners of 60+ years ago.
I've always thought of this as being a short line, with the usual smaller power. Obviously a mistaken notion. So, what did they haul for tonnage?
The "Russian Decs" were likely the largest power on the road. Judging by the freight cars they owned in the era when they bought those locomotives, the railroad hauled mostly general freight. Probably hauling in coal, shipping out cotton and lumber. Typically they would have interchanged roughly a like number of similar cars from other railroads. They were eventually absorbed into the Seaboard System. http://railga.com/gm17equip.html
From my Dad's files - On a sunny August afternoon in 1979, grimy CPR MLW RS18s 8791 and 8787 doing some spotting moves at the Ste-Therese station: I loved listening to the sound of Alcos.
ALCos were perfect for the transition era. Not as interesting to watch as a steamer, but nicely different in appearance- And they frequently smoked like a steamer.
Those semi-streamlined steam locos built for CPR are among the most elegantly styled I've seen. They used that style with 4-4-4s., 4-6-4s (Royal Hudsons) and even massive 2-10-4s. At the Exporail museum here, we have 4-6-4 2850, and 2-10-4 5935 which was the last new-build steam locomotive delivered to the CPR in 1949. Somewhere secreted away is 4-4-4 2928, not in the public viewing area, but I did see it back in 1975 when it was parked outside. Gorgeous engines.
I still love the that CP Rail scheme so much. Thanks for posting these. Sometime in the early '70s my Dad had bought tickets on CP Rail to ride the Canadian from Vancouver to Montreal, but on the day we arrived, the rail unions struck and we never rode. :-(
