Portable wheel lathe brought in to reshape the wheel treads on some wheelsets at the Austin Steam Train Association in Cedar Park, Texas.
SD's, Geeps, and GE's. The power line up at SP Mojave Yard. Used for the Lone Pine local, Blitz local, etc. Mojave CA.
Portable?!?! I guess it's a relative term... Just the pile of metal shavings is impressive all by itself. One could probably build a couple of Toyotas with that!
I was a brake repair guy that used a car rotor lathe everyday for 20+ years, I can appreciate AND respect the guy using THAT one!!
As a teenager, I couldn't afford color film during the Bi-Centennial. In celebration of today, CR U34-CH at Hoboken, NJ. Borrowing my mother's Kodak Instamatic 126, I did get the 4449 in color at Crystal Lake, IL.
What a big, beautiful, massive beast! No diesel behind her either. 1218 probably pulled that train like it was a sack of feathers. Note the photographer sitting with the signals pretending to be a semaphore.
Big Blue in April 1989 at Harrisburg, PA. The 6498 is an SD-40-2, built for CR in August 1979 and later becoming CSX 8856. CR equipped their SD-40-2s with Flexicoil trucks which lacked the damper on the center axle.
... because of Amtrak and their fixation with the HT-C trucks being the cause of the SDP40F's high-speed derailments when the real cause was tons of water sloshing around in the unpartitioned tanks used by the steam generators. EMD even devised a working fix for it (partitions...) after lengthy testing with the FRA and others participating (earning the SDP40Fs the dubious distinction of being the most tested diesel locomotives in history). So fraidy-cat Conrail wanted Flexicoils, Even though Santa Fe ran traded SDP40Fs converted to freight units without incident with the HT-C trucks. They were like SD40-2s with full cowls. Sheesh...
That's interesting Mike -- I never knew why CR made that choice. I found this shot from May 1981 on Horseshoe Curve with SD-45 6208 leading three SD-40-2s, nary a one with a snubber in sight.
