On my recent travels I saw this good looking SD-9 chop-nose, used by the Royal Gorge excursion line. Which led me to thinking - who has pictures of interesting excursion locomotives? C'mon, let's see 'em!
Here's a couple of shots, (color slides) I took of the American Freedom Train (SP4449) westbound just entering the Hollister Ranch area at the Gaviota trestle, Santa Barbara County in May 1977. The Gaviota trestle was badly damaged last month by a wildfire and stopped rail traffic for several days for repairs.
Here are two that they use up in Duluth, MN. This is an EMD NW5. This is an old Duluth Missabe & Iron Range SD-18 that was bought when the Yellowstone 2-8-8-4s were retired.
Two questions- What is the heritage of that Royal Gorge diesel? And what is it I see sticking out from the front of the NW5 cab? Is it the speaker of an electronic bell? Boxcab E50
Royal Gorge 5305 is ex North West Pacific same #, DRGW same #. Duane Image by John Barnhill, who btw has numerous pages dedicated to DRGW/SP/SSW/UP and northern Ca foothills railways. Start here at http://ncespee.railfan.net/UP/upmain.html [ 06. July 2004, 22:06: Message edited by: esprrfan ]
I just happened to stumble across these two excursion engines in Red Wing, MN on July 2nd. This isn't a railfan photo, it's a comment on the crowds that the Grand Excursion drew. It appeared to be quite a success. On this day, the CP train with 2816 on point was at Red Wing all day. The 261 arrived after a run down the BNSF on the WI side of the Mississippi to Trempealeau, then up the MN side on CP. Tied up in the river was the Delta Queen and two other riverboats were running on the river. Once 261 arrived there was a whistle contest among the locomotives and river boats. 261 is sporting an ATSF 2900 whistle, awesome, but man, the Delta Queen won hands down. All in all, it was an awesome experience!!
I have to include the queen of the OC's steam fleet to this thread! Ex-GTW 4-8-4 #6325.....a real beauty!
Nice shots all! The Royal Gorge 5305 is the ex NWP 5305, and the nee D&RGW 5305. It is the only SD9 to receive a chopped nose while still owned by the D&RGW. It used to work the hump at Grand Juction, Co. I wonder how many mile that unit has racked up in its service life! Later on...Long live the Rio Grande!!!
