Hi all, was a crazy night last night totally spaced on starting this. Furloughs and PSR have made Roseville yard pretty dead. ALas.
Korn and koal. Well, maybe a little coal dust stuck to the bottoms of the cars. Empties heading back to Wyoming.
"Glinty Oil Cans" An eastbound Bakken Bomb drifts downgrade at MP 3 on BNSF Glasgow Sub at last light.
While moving some stuff around in my train room, I came across a slide my Dad shot from his hotel window in San Diego, CA in 1975. He wasn't a fan, but thought I'd be interested and he was right!
"Empty Fertilizer over Gassman" A CSX-led empty fertilizer train drifts across Gassman Coulee Trestle in the evening. The variety of all CSX-predecessor hoppers behind matched CSX power was a treat. And lookiee what we caught on a westbound grain load?
Back in the 70s-80s, that was a GP38-2W. There were 60 conventional cab 38-2s in the 5500- 5559 block, and another gaggle of wide cabs from 5560 upwards. SD70Is came to CN in 1995! The 38-2s were renumbered into the 4700s before then (some even into the 7500s for hump service). Other piece of trivia: the SD70I was the last locomotive model ordered and delivered to CN before they were privatized in 1995. The GP38-2W was almost the first locomotive model get the new comfort cab. The first were the MLW M420s.
And then there were the GP40-2LWs. Some of them making it into the Rocky Mountaineer roster. This one was CN 9621.
The GP40-2LWs were identifiable by their slightly higher frame height because of how their lightweight frame was fabricated. They had a few problems in accidents (collisions or derailments) when the impact was hard enough to bend the frame right behind the cab. That warped the body and blocked the rear exits, effectively trapping the crew. From that point, the orders for these units specified a standard frame. These locos have also found their way just about everywhere. That's not just cool but a great testimony to their reliability and durability.
