These guys were content with only one rifle to keep the sticky fingers off a wagon load of silver bars on the Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe.
KCSM 4567 leads 5 CP SD9043’s (ex UP)to the scrapper, passing CTC Washington South. Washington, IA April 3, 2024 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Prepared for a riot, it appears.... Both men standing are holding tear gas grenade launchers. The one at left also has tear gas grenade canisters in his belt.
and don't be standing a bit to the cameraman's right side. At least the guy in the middle is ready for duck season ! .......
Taken exactly 35 years ago today on 04/05/1989 at Cresson, PA, a train is crossing over under the watchful eye of an operator at MO Tower. MO (MOuntain) is gone today, demolished December 1998. MO also controlled the mainline connection to the Black Lick Secondary, heavy with coal tonnage in PRR days.
Well I learned that a drive by of the CPKC in Pearl MS would have been better in the afternoon instead of the morning. Still, the 2800 was a neat catch - 4/05/2024
Two photos from the foot of the Saluda Grade at Melrose, NC that illustrate the sad outcome of 35 years of decline in western North Carolina railroading. I shot the first on 12/22/1984 and the other at nearly the same spot on 08/14/2019. That's the escape track to the left. Things are so overgrown today that you'd hardly know there are rails amongst the tall grass and trees. The line has suffered significant washouts and is completely inaccessible in locations. The route is slated to become a hiking trail.
A westbound CPKC train 147, a Chicago to Calgary priority manifest, rattles Soo Tower. Like 149 that also originates at Chicago, 147 has a block of autoracks on the headpin:
That's an interesting signal, neither a dwarf or high signal. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it.
Website for the trail: https://www.saludagradetrail.org (Note that there is a different website, with a similar URL, set up by a law firm seeking to provide advice to and help seek compensation for those with property adjacent to the trail who might be "adversely affected" by the trail's creation.)
An interesting website. I like how the supporters and the region's media have worked to build a bucolic image of happy families in a "linear park" without mention of what it will be like hiking or pedaling up or down a 4-1/4%+ grade that runs for miles. Even the grade south of Melrose to Tryon and beyond to Landrum will be a challenge. An example of public misunderstanding was expressed by someone in a city office who said to me about the grade, "I don't know why they don't just use cable cars like in San Francisco." This is Slaughter Pen Cut south of Melrose, the scene of several horrid wrecks. The runaway track at Melrose was added in 1903 to curtail the mayhem here. [12/22/1984]
