Sorry guys. Moving and the internet has been down for a few days. Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk
Back when I last visited the Texas State Railroad in Rusk, Texas, I found the former ATSF 1316 all in pieces in the yard. They have since received a grant to cosmetically restore the locomotive to put on display at their facility in Palestine. They plan to eventually restore it to running as money becomes available. This photo was recently posted by the Texas State Railroad.
This old hopper has been around! Looking well used and uncared for, but that gives a bit of interesting history to see! Here in Montana all the way from ole Virginny via Illinois!
Back down in Patterson, Ca this morning. We don't see CNFR's gensets down this way, but they've been making more frequent appearances. CNFR #500 an NRE 3SG21B-DE leads GP15 #1570 through town southbound toward Los Banos.
Looks great, cosmetically. At least she can now better withstand the elements. How is this operation doing, these days? Seems like I used to hear a lot more about it, than during the past several years.
I think they have finally turned things around. I talked to Greg Udolph the new mechanical guy there and he is very positive. Lots of grant money coming in allowing them to catch up on deferred maintenance, new programs bringing folks in like the successful Polar Express trains each Fall. They are also hauling freight again for some good customers and are storing a lot of cars between peak times for the railroads. They are in the process of repainting their equipment to reflect actual prototype paint schemes that are historic to the piece instead of the old Texas State Railroad scheme that is getting dated. They have a batch of new employees who are young, enthusiastic and very skilled in the mechanical area as well as the rest of the organization.
