On Vacation in the southland. No opportunity for train related pictures yet though we heard the San Joaquin rr horn in the fog during a stop and we've seen plenty of coasters and surfliners without cameras.
The area has recovered somewhat. https://www.google.com/maps/@35.044515,-84.3650178,3688m/data=!3m1!1e3
SD50-2 #2489, SD40-2 #8161, ES44AH #977, AC44CW #499 and SD40-3 #4082 sit in the yard of CSX Hanover Subdivision before the days work started. 20160120_081844 by Adam Henry, on Flickr
Cold rain with chance of ice here, so here's a photo from a few weeks ago of CSX at Lugoff, SC. Former SAL depot is still open, as there's a very large synthetic fibers plant nearby and a local train originates here. Neat that portions of the old pole line are still intact which can be seen to the right. That darn picture-spoiling radio antenna has to go however.
Caught an actual SD40-2 leading a mixed freight west out of Glendive yesterday. Still in BN colors and I was surprised to see this!
I went out to my pickup at a jobsite to get a tool I needed and heard the train coming. Quick! Grab the camera, film, get all excited about a pair of Big Green Machine locos and then forget to hit the 'stop' button before putting the camera away.........duh! But it was worth it!
This is a bit old but still one of my favorites. A UP pulling out from the siding at Sullivan's Curve Downdgrade in Cajon Pass CA.
Agreed! I recall that SPSF also stood for Shouldn't Paint So Fast and that Santa Fe's Chairman & CEO John Schmidt resigned from his post after the ICC denied the merger. Years before, I worked briefly for the AT&SF at their Chicago HQ. It was a very conservative road and had carloads of cash on hand. My memory has grown a bit hazy in the last 35+ years, but when the Rock Island began to crumble in the late '70s , the Santa Fe declined to purchase highly advantageous line segments that would have gained it much-needed southeastern gateways at Memphis and St. Louis where the Santa Fe had none. (I later worked for a large southeastern shipper and we never routed Santa Fe to the west, preferring one interchange with the SP in New Orleans. Santa Fe tried to work with Frisco (via Avard, OK) to gain southeastern traffic with mixed success). Santa Fe didn't want to spend the millions to acquire and rebuild the RI lines, although it had money in spades. As events unfolded, corporate raiders sought Santa Fe's cash hoard and in 1988 the Santa Fe issued a special $4.7 Billion dividend payment to shareholders to divest the road of it's cash and non-rail assets. It also took on debt. Santa Fe ran a very fine railroad, but its senior management lacked somewhat in financial judgment in its latter days.
Rather interesting to see the AT&SF described in this fashion. I don't recall ever reading of it quite from this perspective.
I second that! Great angle and beautiful countryside and weather to frame the whole lot. Very nice! I can't wait for the weather to improve here (despite El Nino, it's been cold and windy up here - ick). I witnessed a pair of Quebec-Gatineau SD40-3s (basically old CN SD40s rebuilt and having wandered around KCS and lease companies a lot) going through here. I was about 15 feet from the tracks when those buggers went by. The rumble of those 645s was music to my ears! But it was bleeping cold - too cold to take off the gloves and take pictures.
