Tech Info: DJI Mavic Mini Drone, JPG, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/1000, ISO 200.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Mini Drone, JPG, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/1000, ISO 200.
Author: Jim Pearson
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Mini Drone, JPG, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/1000, ISO 200.
A great show tune written by American composer Jerome Kern and lyricist Otto Harback for their 1933 musical Roberta. The popular song has been performed by numerous performers, but the most famous version was recorded in 1958 by The Platters.
Smoke in the eyes of engine crews racing across America’s landscape, however, not so wonderful. The configuration of steam motive power dictated that the smoke stack be up front, ahead of the boiler. That fierce exhaust is what creates the draft, keeping the firebox ablaze. Also, the fireman watched the stack, as a useful gauge on his proficiency.
Most railroad management was oblivious to the problem, but the Union Pacific and a few others solved the problem, to a degree, with “elephant ears,” as they were nick-named. The ears extended in front of the smokebox, curved inward along the top, and with fast forward movement, created an updraft. At slow speeds, tough luck, you best hope for a good side wind. The Southern Pacific solved the smoke problem particularly in their many tunnels by buying Cab-forward steam locomotives.
I can remember vividly parked along the Chilkat River in Alaska back in 1958, drinking terrible home brew, watching the Northern Lights, and listening to the Platters then new hit; “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” radio static and all. (It does get better than that…)
Credits: Classic Trains – Winter 2010 – Photos top Stan Kistler collection, bottom Allen W. Madison and Wikipedia
Various HO scale freight and passenger cars. Most with Kadee or compatible couplers. Contact Bill Thomas, 270-339-9482, for a detailed list. Examples below.
September 17, 2020 – CSXT 3439 and 275 lead loaded coal train CSX N040 south on the Henderson Subdivision as it approaches the John Rivers Rd. crossing at south Casky in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Mini Drone, JPG, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/320, ISO 100.
Jim will present a program on Railfanning with a Drone at our November 16th, 2020 meeting. Be sure to attend!
CP GP20C-ECO 2204, rebuilt from GP 7/9 parts, is still laboring on during the morning of September 7, 2020 (Labor Day). Tucked in as the second unit on St. Paul, MN-Chicago Manifest 286, she awaits a clear signal across the CN diamond at Duplainville, WI. – Photo by Chris Dees
Congratulations to Wally Watts on his 90th birthday!
Sadly, these days we rarely see a caboose at the end of a train. Yesterday’s train crew of five or six is now an engineer and conductor, and they ride in comfort up front in their diesel locomotive. But in days past, the caboose was not only an observation platform, it served as the “Home on the Road” for the crew.
Until laws were passed limiting a workday to 16 hours (more recently reduced to 14 and now 12) the train crew relied on the caboose for food and housing. Trains were dispatched with orders stating essentially: “get it there – no matter how long it takes” Train crews cooked and slept aboard.
Trains would also stop where restaurants were close by, and many depots had a beanery. This cartoon by Joe Easley depicts the conductor instructing the hustling brakeman to “make mine Ham on Rye.” As you can imagine, train crews weren’t going to go hungry for long, as they knew where the food was good, pies fresh and coffee hot (and a cute waitress thrown in for good measure.) And more than just occasionally a track-side farmer lost a chicken or two.
In Trains Magazine’s special “Railroads and World War II” a story is told that President Roosevelt and Mexican President Manual Avila Camacho and their entourage were travelling in Mexico to Laredo at night. The train stopped out in the middle of nowhere, and as you can imagine the Secret Service went nuts. The Mexican Trainmaster calmly told them the crew was enjoying their usual late-night snack. “They can’t do that. There’s a couple of presidents on board.” At some point the agents were pointed toward a barely visible light. They ended up walking nearly a half mile to a small shack, where they found the crew enjoying sandwiches washed down with tequila. As presidential secretary Grace Tully later wrote, “Conversation in neither English nor Spanish could prevail upon them to return to the train until they had finished their meal.”
Gary O. Ostlund, gary.ostlund2@gmail.com, Pinehurst – USA
It’s Friday August 7, 2020 along the Canadian National (ex-Wisconsin Central) in Waukesha, WI.
Some 30-plus years after being rebuilt at Paducah, KY two Illinois Central GP40u locomotives, 3115 and 3138, await the crew of the Waukesha-based Sussex local to come on duty. Photo by Chris Dees.
With only 15 of these still active, what are the odds???
Other entries – Click picture for full view
July 24, 2020 – A Trio of CSX locomotives on the lift bridge at Decatur, Alabama. CSX engine # 5112 on the lead of a mixed freight over the Tennessee River. – Photo by William Farrell 
July 21, 2020 – CP 7021 roars around the MP 211 curve as it approaches Adams, TN on the CSX Henderson Subdivision. – Photo by Cooper Smith 
July 28, 2020 – Q026 heads northbound with CSXT 777 leading on the Henderson Subdivision at Mortons Gap KY. – Photo by Ricky Bivins 
July 28, 2020 – Jim Pearson tells me “Shhhh” as he starts to record a video of a southbound CSX train on the Henderson Subdivision at Mortons Gap KY. – Photo by Ricky Bivins
August 17, 2020 – West Kentucky Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society Meeting.
Program: “Stories from the Caboose”
by Neville Crawford, Retired L&N Conductor
A pair of Little Joes and two EMD diesels with a mile of freight tied to their tail reach to top of Pipestone Pass. The train is about to enter the tunnel under U.S. Highway 10 and the Continental Divide at Donald, Montana. Then it is all downhill, rather steeply to Butte, and river level down the Clarks Fork through Missoula to St. Regis. There the train will once again strain to attain the top of the Bitterroots.
Railroads in assembling long freights normally lash up multiple units to provide the power necessary to make the haul. But the Milwaukee Road was not normal. They lashed up multiple electrics along with multiple diesels, all operated by a single engineer. A special throttle device was used connecting the two differing systems, called the Wylie Controller, named for the inventor.
The Milwaukee Road crossed five major mountain ranges in their route to the coast, the Belts and Tobacco Roots (part of the Rockies) in Montana, the Bitterroots entering Idaho, and the Saddles and Cascades in Washington. Those tough grades were the justification for electrification. Unlike steam and diesel, electrics were impervious to high altitude and extremely cold temperatures. Under such harsh conditions, reciprocating engines loose horsepower.
On relatively level ground the electrics do all the work, while the diesel units were allowed to idle. At the foot of the next grade the diesels were powered up, adding to the mix.
This is one of my all-time favorite pictures, from the lens of noted photographer Steve Patterson. Nicely framed, it graces the wall in my office, I see it as I type this. Long-time readers, saw this picture and story over ten years ago. Gary O. Ostlund
Wisconsin & Southern Train T006 (Madison, WI to Janesville, WI manifest) arrives at Milton, Wisconsin on the morning of 01-Jul-2020. WSOR number 4223 is second in command and a long way from her original home on the Denver & Rio Grande Western. 4223 is an SD45 which has been rebuilt to SD40-2 standards, while still retaining the classic “flared” radiator section of the locomotive’s long hood.
Below: Standing as a silent sentinel to a bygone era, the former Illinois Central depot in Belleville, Wisconsin is a little worn, but is being taking care of by a local group of volunteers. The depot is an important landmark on the Badger State Trail that follows the former IC Madison, WI to Freeport, IL route.
In wandering around the Antonito yard before departure, I was taken by this sampling of dual gauge track. This picture clearly shows three rails leading to a string of boxcars in the distance. The cars are narrow gauge.
In the heyday of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad there were several stretches of dual gauge. Why dual gauge? The D&RGW served all of Colorado from West of the I-25 corridor and on to Salt Lake City. The severity of the mountain grades and curves in the Southwest quarter of the state made narrow gauge construction a necessity.
So, from Denver, Pueblo and Walsenburg west, to many points there was dual gauge track. In the LaVeta Pass area narrow gauge track was laid. Years later standard gauge was built on a nearby alignment. This allowed standard gauge ladings to move directly to distribution centers at the base of the mountains in places such as Antonito, Leadville, Montrose, and Salida. This also let the narrow-gauge cars to haul minerals, coal, limestone and other products directly to markets.
Standard gauge to this day reaches Antonito, however, there is no exchange of traffic. The narrow gauge Cumbres & Toltec Scenic is strictly for the tourists. And what a ride it was. Gary O. Ostlund
“Red-n-Ready”. Northbound oversized load going through Mortons Gap KY, 9:06AM, June 3, 2020. – Photography by Rick Bivins