As you might have heard already UP 844 developed flat spots on her drivers this week while traveling through Texas. The big engine was taken to the Georgetown RR shop in Georgetown, TX, for repairs. While at the shop facility, UP boxcar UPP 9336 (which carries the stairs so people can look in the cab, plus other support equipment) somehow collided with a gondola, causing extensive damage to 9336. The incident occurred Friday. A photo of the damaged car is below. Details of the incident are sketchy but apparently 844 was NOT involved in this incident, just the support car. Makes you wonder what impact this might have on UP’s steam program. Back in the summer of 1994 the passenger cars for NS’s excursion consist were in a low speed collision in a freight yard, and a few months later the program was cancelled. – Photo by Cliff Downey
In the Spring of 1961, PRR hotshot NF-6 (“Non-Feed”), a livestock schedule from Chicago to Harsimus Cove, NJ, passes under the signal bridge at MP 127.7, just west of Orrville, OH on the Pittsburgh-Chicago main line. With cuts and consolidations in the railroad’s still massive passenger network, the PRR has taken advantage of surplus passenger power to assign E-units to the train on this day, suiting the high-speed nature of the schedule. In the distance, a westbound loaded coal train (“mineral train” in PRR terms) heads for the Lake Erie docks at Sandusky, OH. Submitted by Fred Ripley – photos on his Pennsylvania Layout.
This Low-Boy 8-axle flat also caught the eye of Bill Heaton’s camera at Paducah. Reminds us much of the old Lionel flat with transformer load. – Photo by Bill Heaton
Bill Heaton also photographed this NS D-9 40CW paired up with a BNSF unit at Paducah. – Photo by Bill Heaton
Bill Heaton found CN 2113 in Paducah, KY, still in its “15-Year As a Publicly Traded Company” paint scheme. The C40-8 was built in 1991 for Chicago & North Western. One on-line source referred to it being specially equipped for mid-train helper service. – Photo by Bill Heaton
Friday the 13th, 8:30 AM, North bound stack train overtakes empty coal train with only one locomotive. Shot at North Nortonville Siding. Photo by Rick Bivins.
