In the distant past, doing this was a definite no-no. Are today's traction motors immune to being soaked? Cringing.... Today's units have AC motors, therefore no brushes. The older DC motors had brushes on a commutator, which is easily shorted out by excess moisture. The AC motors can get almighty wet before they short out. As for being careful and wondering about the subroadbed? Yeah, I would definitely be puckerd up tight in my seat as an engineer or conductor! And, as noted, the units are all 'foreign' to the running road! Ooops, we sank a couple of our competitions units!
From a different perspective, there have been a couple of cases in recent memory (ie. Katrina and other storms) where the railroads knew their trains were going to be flooded, so moving them through water to higher ground was a calculated risk. You lose if you do nothing and you *might* lose if you do something, so throwing the dice is still a better bet than standing pat. Or, at least you hope so. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
All such fine trains. There were three "Silver" trains, the Silver Meteor - New York <=> Miami, Silver Star - New York <=> Miami and Silver Comet - New York <=> Birmingham. Both Miami trains also served Florida's west coast too. Other Seaboard trains included the Orange Blossom Special, Sun Queen, Sunland, Palmland, Gulf Wind, Cotton Blossom and Tidewater, plus nameless others serving short segments of the railroad. The single track mainline between Hamlet, NC and Savannah, GA via Columbia, SC was rife with short passing sidings to keep the many passenger trains on the move. Many of these sidings have since been removed. The Dispatcher must have been a busy man in the golden age.
From exactly 44 years ago to the day on 05/05/1979 at Knoxville, TN is forty foot boxcar ITC 8428. I can't make out the builder's date. The IT was absorbed into the N&W in 1982.
Was in Minneapolis this week for work, and the flooding on the Mississippi River had several roads closed. While I wanted to see Pig's Eye Yard up close, this was as good as I could do. The Indian Mounds Park overlook was a great vantage point for this cell phone grab.
The lead unit wears the so-called Alpert or trustee paint scheme. However, on the trailing unit, it appears as though there might be a stripe of white paint across the windows and grilles, so that would be the McGinnis scheme. (There was also a reversed version of the McGinnis scheme, which had the white stripe on the bottom and the red-orange stripe on the top.)
I'm starting to develop a love interest in Seaboard Airline. It was before my time, but what a fine railroad it was. I'm sure it was a sad day for many when it ended. Major fallen flag. I downloaded that Silver Meteor photo and just stared at it for a few minutes last night. I showed it to my wife today and we've decided to get it printed large and frame it for the living room wall. I think the resolution should be fine for large printing. She loves classy things and I must agree, this is class on an otherworldly scale.
J. Parker Lamb is amongst the finest photographers in the south and has authored several books, including The Railroad Photography of J. Parker Lamb by Kevin P. Keefe, J. Parker Lamb and Fred W. Frailey (c. 2019). It's great stuff. You may wish to add it and his others to your library.
More good news from NS on the heritage fleet. They recently restored the RDG in fresh paint and yesterday NS posted this picture of the SOU, repainted and ready for service. After taking a tumble upon hitting a mudslide, she's been out of service at Altoona for quite some time. Looking her best once again!
In October of 2002, the Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society held their annual convention in Austin, Texas. One of the extra excursions was a photo safari with J. Parker Lamb. It was a day trip in a chartered bus that covered a lot of central Texas south of Austin. We stopped all along the Interstate 35 corridor down to San Antonio taking in a lot of cool "hot spots" and then went east on Interstate 10 to Flatonia where the DALSA cutoff coming down from Hearne crosses the Sunset Route. The tracks continue on to Victoria. A viewing platform/pavilion had been constructed by a local rail fan on private property just to the north west of the diamond. Only problem with the pavilion is that the sun angle is not ideal. On the scanners we hear that a west bound was approaching. Our host decides he needs better light so strikes off across the Sunset tracks to set up on the other side. Well, if a "world renowned" railroad photographer is going to bend the rules a little, a few of us armatures were not about to let him brave it alone. We formed a regulation photo line and watched the train approach. It was a Department of Defense special loaded with tanks and other ARMY vehicles. I guess the train crew reported us, as not too long after the train had passed, the UP Railroad Police showed up and questioned us. Another problem that day was that I was using film from Seattle Film Works which was not the best. Oh well, it was still a fun excursion.
Appreciate the info. That'll be a necessary addition to my collection. I have some great photo books on WW2 aircraft, machinery of war and my latest addition is a book on ghost towns of the U.S. which was a Christmas present from my daughter. Thx
Nice catch on the SOU heritage unit reborn! This looks like a former CN GMD-1 rebuild. Northern Plains Railroad in Lansford, ND has a pair of these units. GMD-1s were built originally with A1A-A1A trucks, but converted to B-B trucks in the late 80s. They were built to be light and exert minimal gross rail loads for use on light branch lines across the Canadian prairies.
Yea the RR's got, and some remain kinda hyper sensitive about imaging military movements, not sure how I stand on it honestly, having been in the military and a career on the RR. But I mean its not like its a stealth movement right?