They carefully waited until I moved away, THEN started the rebuild shortly thereafter. My apartment was adjacent to the tracks! In June 1982 I rode an NYS&W fantrip from tidewater to Butler, NJ, close to my apartment. This was the scene as they worked the runaround at Butler. It still boggles my mind to think this was transformed to a modern railroad, enjoying stack trains led by a myraid of classic diesels, including C-636s, C-430s, C-420s, SD-45s, F-45s and more.
I have seen this video on YT, and it came into mind with this discussion. There was another I had also seen, but cannot seem to locate it as yet.
Thanks for the wonderful video, Boxy. Your note at the bottom of your post just reminded me, this is my 60th year in nine mm trains. 5 years with OOO scale (Treble-O-Lectric) and 55 with N scale. Of course, I have had a Treble-O-Lectric layout again for several years. Doug
At Deval Interlocking in Des Plaines, IL around 1975, C&NW muscles north across the C&NW's Harvard Sub. I'm not sure why the C&NW's GP-35s were equipped with torpedo tubes. Note the square blade semaphore signals (signifying absolute "stop and stay") on the home signal protecting the crossing.
The CNW GP35's had torpedo tubes because they had high-capacity fuel tanks which displaced the air tanks to the roof. Note the fuel tank extensions in the space below the walkway where the air tanks normally go. As to why they specified this, I'm not sure. Frisco had some too. The SD40A for the IC was another weird locomotive with a stretched design to accommodate a larger fuel tank for extra range.
Frisco's were even better-ran on old Alco FA "AAR type" trucks! Most went into BN green after the merger too, cool looking!
There were also EL's SDP45s without the steam generator, with a beveled back end like any other EMD road switcher instead of the flat end on a "pure" SDP45. The SDP45 frame could accommodate a much larger fuel tank, since no water was needed to heat passenger cars. EL also had SD45-2s with extra large fuel tanks that went up to the frame, displacing the air tanks to the rear of the long hood, under the radiators (spotted by the louvered hood access doors on an otherwise sealed engine hood). All to get more mileage between stops.
Thank you. One sight that I wish I'd have captured on film was the C&NW's use of ancient B Units converted to slugs and used in road service. I recall these lashups moving at slow speeds with long manifests and it all looked so cool.
SDP45s without SGs were to get the bigger tank as you noted, and more range. Same reason IC ordered the one-off SD40A, an SDP45 frame and tank minus SG with SD40 carbody. More range.
Then too, some torpedo tube units were for passenger service, with a water tank at the frame for boiler water for train heat. C&NW 1556 was one. [Photo by J.H. Yanke] [I'm thinking that "shoe" on the axle under the cab is for ATS (Automatic Train Stop). The road had numerous lines protected by it, including the Harvard Sub through our town.]
I know in the Rochester. MN area, the CNW was using geeps to sub on passenger trains when the F or E units were aging or unavailable and that may explain the torpedo tubes on some of them. Nice picture of GP7 1556. Doug
CN (especially the CV and GTW subsidiaries) bought a handful of passenger GP9s for use on some trains. GTW used them a lot. Their road numbers were in the 4900s and their class designations were GRG-17 (GM, Road switcher, steam Generator, 1750 hp). They were painted in the same colors as the rest of the freight fleet. The FP9s, FPA2s, CPA16-5s etc. were mostly used in Canada or through service. Geeps were rarely at the head of passenger trains like the Super Continental because management thought that putting what looked like a freight engine in front looked bad. Eventually some freight engines were equipped with pass-through steam lines and could be used as boosters in the consist. For some lines, freight engines were used with smaller passenger trains along with a steam generator car. Then came CN's Tempo trains, pulled by modified RS-18s. These six units had their short hoods lengthened all the way to the end of the frame and had HEP generators installed. They had pretty long service lives and were used by VIA. Like their FPA-4 cousins, they were very durable. In later years, Tempo trains were pulled by LRCs. The Tempo cars were eventually sold to various railways, including the Denver Ski Train and Quebec Iron & Titanium (shuttling mine workers). CN later reacquired most of the Tempo cars and refurbished them for the Algoma Central (which came with the Wisconsin Central deal).
On our way to Livingston, MT for the Railfair weekend, this train was sitting on the mainline, crewless. The last fuzzy photo shows why.
Then in Laurel yard, the SD40-2's were active, With a lone GP, And the city still has the caboose for a welcome mat,
As seen yesterday, a real honest-to-gosh NS coal train (an empty), after having delivered to a utility in the lowcountry of SC. Sadly, these have become a rare sight, though there's been a recent uptick. It seemed to me that those four motors were all running and they sounded great passing by.
