Well, for me, it's another week with something I shot along time ago. One dreary, bitterly cold morning in early 1994 (not sure why these things always happened in the freezing cold, but hey, it's Michigan, right?) my buddy Tim called and informed me that he'd heard over the scanner that Huron and Eastern was running a train out of Bad Axe down to Croswell. Bitter cold or not, we were on our way. A couple of the results are posted here. The first shot was taken in Applegate, MI, where we caught HESR GP38-2's 203 and 204 passing the old elevator. These engines were two of the four that came from P&LE in 1993. They were numbered 201 thru 204. 201, 202 and 203 were the last to be painted in the Pere Marquette heritage scheme. 204, for whatever reason, was painted in a red and white RailAmerica livery. The second photo was shot at Croswell. It didn't scan as well as I would have liked, but I still felt it was worth posting. Tim was apparently using a small enough aperature setting so he had to steady himself against a convenient pole to avoid blurring due to a slow shutter speed. The destination for the short string of tank cars was the source of the steam clouds drifting across the sky- Michigan Sugar Co's Croswell beet refining plant on the south side of town. Tim and I were both working afternoon shifts at the time. We reluctantly left the train crew to finish their work and headed back to Yale. I know I got home just in time to grab something hot to drink and head for work. It took me about half the night to thaw out. Things have changed quite a lot in the last 25+ years. I drove through Applegate one day and the elevator was gone. A piece of local history went with it. It appears in T.J. Gaffney's book Rails Around the Thumb with a Pere Marquette 4-4-0 on the point of a local passenger train sitting about where the diesels are. The caption says the elevator was torn down in 2009. The old wood crib elevator at center in the Croswell shot is gone, too. To the best of my knowledge, the two Geeps are still working on the HESR, but they've been in the red, blue and silver RailAmerica scheme for years and they're now numbered 3867 and 3868.
Kinda neat to get sequentially numbered SD40-2's in here at the same time! The numberboard boxes have been extended on both. I would guess to house electronics.
I dislike the "eyebrows", but if it means these old soldiers are still earning their keep, it's ok. Nice catches! We has freezing fog and hoarfrost in ND this weekend. A healthy day of traffic on the Glasgow Sub too! MINPAS manifest westbound, just past MP7, BNSF Glasgow Sub. Photos from private property, with permission. Westbound 1x2 grain load (DPUs), just past MP7, BNSF Glasgow Sub. Photos from private property, with permission. MINPAS had this interesting graffiti. I kinda wish they painted a Fidel Castro-esque beret atop a tater tot's head and an outstretched fist... Just past MP7, BNSF Glasgow Sub. Photos from private property, with permission. Last shot of the day was one of the finest. We wouldn't see the sun all day, and it would have been golden hour. Due to the fog, being on the wrong side of the sun wasn't a problem. On a sunny day, this would have been badly backlit. Eastbound cracker stacker just past MP7, BNSF Glasgow Sub. Photos from private property, with permission.
DSC06269 by Sepp K posted Dec 13, 2020 at 9:06 AM SD70ACU 7309, rebuilt from a 90MAC in Juniata, leads NS 38G eastward at Wyomossing JCT on 12/11/20. Although these were rebuilt in 2016-7, over half are inactive with the majority of those for disposal. I heard the train had over 200 cars, 175 of them empty NS gondolas.
Hemi - We had that hoarfrost and ice fog here, too. But either I had too much to do when trains were around, or there weren't any trains when I had time. It sure was a beautiful setting though, and your shots did it justice!
As Alan noted sequential numberings, I have captured a couple. I believe this was shared a few years ago. This one happened about five years ago, in Whitefish, Montana. Two fresh BNSF "GP39-3", #2562 and 2563, ready for some local service:
