Random Railfan Prototype Photos For All

Hardcoaler Mar 26, 2015

  1. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Looks like a tool box on the walkway. Seems as though an odd place for it. No obvious maintenance work it the picture, so could it have fallen off an m-o-w car?
     
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  2. PAPPY1

    PAPPY1 TrainBoard Member

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    Looks to me with it being chained to the railing and on a type of bridge with a building that appears to be a railroad structure in the background that it houses some type of tools or equipment that is needed occasionally for operations or repair.
     
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  3. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I'm not sure what it was there for. I was standing on what was a portion of the passenger platform, so maybe they kept rock salt in it?

    Back in August of 1983 when I took this photo, historic Harpers Ferry was a quiet little place. Even found a nice little hobby shop in town where I bought a book on the B&O. Thirty years later when I again visited, the place was packed with tourists, there was no place to park and the hobby shop was long gone.
     
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  4. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Came across these random slides, all shot in April 1988.

    B&O piggyback trailer in maintenance service in Quinnimont, WV:
    1988-04-10 006 Quinnimont WV - for upload.jpg

    MD Cabin at Meadow Creek, WV, controlling the junction where the branch to Rainelle, WV meets the mainline. I'm thinking those fine looking semaphore signals were for train orders?
    1988-04-10 002 MD Cabin [Tower] Meadow Creek WV - for upload.jpg

    CR GE B23-7 at Dickinson, WV. An extremity of the mighty NYC probed deep into the coalfields, gathering tonnage and interchanging with the C&O and VGN.
    1988-04-11 002 CR 1977 Dickinson WV - for upload.jpg
     
  5. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Three shots at Martinsburg, WV on the former B&O main.

    The station also served as a hotel when built sometime in the 1850s. This is how it looked in 1994.
    1994-10-16 001 Martinsburg WV - for upload.jpg

    After renovation and an addition, in 2003 it looked like this:
    2003-04 001 Martinsburg WV - for upload.jpg

    A Virginia Railway Express train is seen at the expanded station in 2008 behind ATK power.
    2008-07-17 002 Martinsburg WV - for upload.jpg
     
  6. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Wow. From ramshackle to respectable. What a change!
     
  7. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Was there also a depot at Meadow Creek? I am thinking those are indeed train order signals. If MD was the only site in that vicinity, no depot, then yes. I have at least one C&O order copied as "Meadow Creek".

    Also, do you know anything about a jointly owned/leased by NYC and C&O operation in that same place, Nicholas, Fayette & Greenbrier RR?
     
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  8. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    There was no depot at Meadow Creek when I visited; MD Cabin was the only structure evident in my image below. Cool that you have a train order from MD! I've heard of the NF&G, but don't know much about it, other than I think it settled some sort of access dispute between the C&O and NYC.

    1988-04-10 001 Meadow Creek WV - for upload.jpg
     
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  9. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    Always expect a train.
    [​IMG]
    However, there hasn't been a train on this line since August 23, 1997.
     
  10. f2shooter

    f2shooter TrainBoard Member

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    Evening everyone,

    Last fall my wife and I and my parents took a tour in Europe of rail lines dating back to the late 1800's through about WW2. It was set up by an outfit called LGB Tours and was aimed primarily at model railroaders which we are. It included a lengthy tour of some rail yards, the Marklin factory, cog railroads and several restoration projects dealing mostly with steam power and we traveled in eastern Europe, Germany, Austria and Hungary. In addition to rail travel there were excellent if somewhat fast paced tours of a number of cities and two dinner cruises on rivers. If something like this is of interest look into it, well worth the cost. Among other things, I discovered that all the cities we visited had more than a few model train shops and the worst of the bunch was very good. I actually found a pantograph for my HO layout and I've been looking for one in the states for years. Anyway, this is not meant to be an ad for the tour company but we had such good access to everything that I got a ton of photographs including a lot of detail shots for future model projects. I'll post several here as I get them edited. Let me know what you think.

    Rick H.
     

    Attached Files:

  11. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    In October 1994 my wife and I went on the hunt for B&O interlocking towers that stood at the time. We found quite a few. Here are four of them.

    W Tower at West Cumbo [Hedgesville], WV. Moving west from Martinsburg, this tower was at the east end of an alternate Low Grade line. Torn down in 2000.
    1994-10-16 W Tower West Cumbo Hedgesville WV - for upload.jpg

    R Tower (also known as Miller Tower) was located at the west end of the Low Grade line at Cherry Run, WV. It also controlled the WM's connection nearby at Big Pool. Happily, Miller was saved and moved to the museum site at Martinsburg.
    1994-10-16 001 R Tower [Miller Tower] Cherry Run WV - for upload.jpg

    HO Tower at Hancock, WV controlled the junction with the Berkeley Springs branch. It was closed in 2007 and demolished.
    1994-10-16 001 HO Tower Hancock WV - for upload.jpg

    FN Tower at Patterson Creek, WV controlled the Patterson Creek Cutoff which routed trains around busy Cumberland, MD. It was built tall to enhance visibility. Built in the late 1950s, it was closed in 1974. Not sure if it still stands.
    1994-10-16 FN Tower Patterson Creek WV - for upload.jpg
     
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2020
  12. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Red Cliff Tunnel, on Tennessee Pass, facing RR-east...

     
  13. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    That lighting shows the shotcrete work very nicely.
     
  14. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Cool. I have orders from all but FN.

    Just curious here- Some years ago, a friend who is a big B&O fan was trying to help me locate these places. He told me that West Cumbo meant "West Columbia". Is this in any way different from Hedgesville? He also gave me HO as being Hobbs, WV. Are these two then just railroad names which do not attach otherwise, locally?
     
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  15. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I'm not sure, but it sure does get confusing. The backstories you were told are likely true, but as you wrote, these are unrecognized place names. I like to use location names as commonly found on highway maps, so that locations can be more easily found. As an example, if someone looks up West Columbia, WV, they'll find that it's 300 miles from W Tower's location in Hedgesville and Hobbs, WV doesn't appear on any map.
     
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  16. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Further west on the B&O main is Cumberland, MD, site of a large yard and of Viaduct Jct. where the mainline splits to Chicago and St. Louis.

    The junction was controlled by ND Tower and its armstrong plant, closed 01/22/1997 and demolished 07/24/1997 [Photo from October 1993]
    1993-10-19 010 ND Tower Viaduct Jct  Cumberland MD - for upload.jpg

    Friends and I first visited Viaduct Junction in November 1981 and caught some nice action under overcast skies.
    1981-11 001 Viaduct Jct Cumberland MD - for upload.jpg
    1981-11 002 Viaduct Jct Cumberland MD - for upload.jpg
    1981-11 003 Viaduct Jct Cumberland MD - for upload.jpg
     
  17. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    That is real history for an Armstrong Tower. The Leverman was controlling NINE (9) turnouts and signals on his left hand pipe run alone. Can't see his right hand pipe run. :eek:
     
  18. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    When it's overcast out, sometimes you can process in b/w.

    "Dreary Day Grainer"
    A westbound grain train chugs through the plant at Soo Tower interlocking enroute to the west coast.

    [​IMG]
     
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  19. Kurt Moose

    Kurt Moose TrainBoard Member

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    I like that Western Maryland SD40!(y)(y)(y)
     
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  20. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I was happy to catch another WM SD-40 leading at Sand Patch that same weekend. You can almost hear the magnificent sound of this lashup.

    1981-11-28 009 Sand Patch PA - for upload.jpg
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2020
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