"Chain Smoking in Lonetree" This thrashed ALCO-wannabe GE was smoking profusely as it shoved a grain empty towards Minot, ND.
Hugo, CO. Nov 23. Decided to make the 2 1/2 - 3 hour drive to catch the BigBoy at Hugo, CO today! A few photos, and a couple of questionable videos. Too many people in the way, to get decent shots! Being on crutches yet, didn't help my situation either! Arriving Hugo, about 1PM. Departing Hugo, about 1:30ish. Best view I was able to get! Consisted of both aux water cars, power car, a couple baggage cars, maintenance supplies I'm guessing! and a dome. The rest was 8-10? 4 bay covered hoppers and a diesel.
And IF I’m dumb enough to try, I may STILL try for a La Salle tomorrow. Even though weather forecast is calling for anywhere between 8” - 16” of snow by tomorrow!! May still make the run, if not too bad in the early morning. Can chain up my truck, if necessary. May try photos only, or video only. Not both! Don’t want to carry that much, on crutches! Edit: Another 90 minutes left of dialysis. Someone just said that snow totals have been updated. And it’s gotten WORSE!! Now supposedly, Longmont is now expected to get hit with about 18 INCHES of snow!! Even Platteville, about 15 miles East, is expected to get almost a foot of snow! Yuck!! Edit 2: Storm has been downgraded. Now saying we’re gonna get 18” of snow now! Guess I’m not gonna chase the BigBoy tomorrow! Don’t think chaining up my truck is gonna help either! Oh well.......
Glad you were able to make it to see 4014 in action, Keith. I saw 'er in July in Albert Lea, MN. It was only about a 20 minute trip for me. Doug
Was hoping to catch Ed and the BigBoy on Tuesday, at La Salle. But, with almost a foot of snow on the ground, and not knowing what conditions were farther east and north, I stayed home! Was the safer choice. I'll have opportunities at later dates, so I'm not gonna worry! At least I was able to make Hugo stop on Saturday!
I think one's own safety ranks higher than seeing a locomotive. Sounds like that was the smart choice!
Wow, that is a great unit lashup. I only got to run GP 60's for a while, actually worked on them about as much as ran them. The power desk always told us they were as good as an SD40/45T-2 in a hard pull (well, they weren't, especially with flange lubers). But you haven't had a good time railroading till you have had 4 of these Hi-Tech Geeps on a 50 car auto rack train. Boy would they go.. I mean if you stayed on top of them, they were goin Jessies, what race horses they were/are. So sad they are now switch engines, regulated to locals, work trains and such sometimes. I am so grateful, that I had the chance to be on locos from GP30's to AC6000's. This pic just kind of reminded me of that with that SD45 in the mix. Some of those SD45's were ruff riding old outfits, like a 390,000 lb Pogo stick.
"Dashing Through the Snow" A CP westbound manifest chugs past the Amtrak station at Soo Tower in a light snow during blue hour on Black Friday.