Today in Fostoria:
Today in Fostoria:
Ooooh, Conrail heritage unit. Nice!
Another cool bonus. Just before we left, the conductor jumped off a passing NS local and gave my son a hat
In reply to kazoospec :
I'm a bit jealous...
Happy 4th Of July!
I guess N&W #611 was out of service at Strasburg again this weekend after it broke a leaf spring in the trailing truck. A little bit concerning, since it's only two week until I am supposed to operate it. Hopefully they get it fixed and I won't have to reschedule again. Someone just happened to be filming when it happened and you can hear the pop when it breaks and then the back of the engine settles a little.
A Conrail GP7 that has dodged the paint shop switches ore jennies at Whiskey Island in '81. An ex-PRR GP7, it was optioned with "torpedo tubes" for branch line passenger service.
An ex-Lehigh Valley GP38-2 in Conrail patch paint at Berea, OH in '78. This GP38-2 is actually still in service on Norfolk Southern
Brand new Conrail SD50s at Alliance, Ohio.
A GG1 in the rarely seen silver-and-red scheme for the Congressional Limited. Only three GG1s were painted in this scheme.
In reply to NickD :
I like that. I always felt they looked a bit menacing and tbh kinda ugly in that dark maroon color, but the silver completely changed it.
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
There was also a bizarre blue and gold one that Penn Central painted up for the 1969 Golden Spike Limited. NKP #759 hauled the GSL everywhere else, but it needed electric power for the leg from Baltimore to NYC, and so Penn Central #4902 was drafted for duty.
The GG1s wore a lot of different colors over the years.
When in the development phase, the first GG1 #4899, later #4800, was painted in a Brunswick Green with gold panel stripes. #4800 was also unique in being the only GG1 with the entire body riveted together, earning it the name "Ol' Rivets"
When the GG1 beat out the R1 as the next electric locomotive, Raymond Loewy was brought in and he applied two touches to the GG1. First, he made the suggestion of welding the entire body, instead of riveting it, to give it a sleeker look. Second, he came up with the five thin gold pinstripes that swept down the side. If it was a GG1 intended for freight use, it was Brunswick Green. If it was a GG1 intended for passenger use, it was Tuscan Red.
Then there were the three in silver with red for Congressional Service
Then, after the Penn Central merger, they were painted all in black with just the "mating worms" logo on the side.
In 1969, #4902 was repainted for the Golden Spike Limited.
Then, in 1971, a number of GG1s were leased to Amtrak. They originally received just Amtrak lettering over the Penn Central lettering and kept the black paint. Later in life they were painted in a bright silver, red and blue.
When Conrail was formed out of the ruins of Penn Central, they left the majority of their GG1s in Penn Central black and just added small Conrail CR lettering.
The sole outlier at Conrail was "Ol' Rivets", #4800. First it was painted in a truly terrible bicentennial livery. The randomly placed white stars are particularly bad.
After the bicentennial hysteria died down, Conrail decided to repaint #4800 out of the bicentennial scheme and chose to paint it in Conrail blue with the "Wheels on rails" logo. #4800 was the only GG1 to ever wear Conrail blue. Since Conrail was formed in '76 and Conrail ceased electric freight operations in '80, the rest of the fleet never got run through the paint shop.
The last of the GG1s ran out their final years leased to New Jersey Transit, but NJT never repainted any of them. Too bad, because done up in the purple/orange/blue "disco stripes" with silver and black might have been a good look.
The NJT "disco stripes" definitely could have looked cool on a GG1. I recently learned that the colors are supposed to correspond to the three times of day NJT runs their service; morning, evening, and night
Without wanting to hijack the thread ... a few pages back someone linked to YouTube clips of great NZ train journeys - I've ridden the Northern Explorer (in a previous life with less salubrious carriages) and I dearly want to do the Tranz Alpine one day. The Coastal Pacific is highly rated but to be honest I suspect only the few hours in the middle while it runs along the coast is really worthwhile and the bulk of that is just as visible from the road. No trains here but showing the proximity of sea, road and scenery for your viewing pleasure.
Heading south from Kaikoura, road and rail tunnel under a bluff.
Further north (heading the other way after a day's riding) the railway line is in the "tunnel" and you can see the debris fence that has been built over the road.
Around the bluff and the railway appears briefly before heading though another tunnel. Kaikoura township is some 20 miles north.
In reply to RichardNZ :
Is there any part of NZ that doesn't have beautiful scenery? From what I've seen here in the US it sure doesn't seem like it.
GG1 #4930 at Leaman Place, PA in 1962. The interchange with Strasburg Railroad is just out of frame to the right. The large mill to the left is still there.
At least 4 GG1s are present with Army-Navy football specials lined up in the yard next to (then) Philadelphia Municipal Stadium on the south side. Its a safe bet that a lot of those gentlemen in jackets and hats are PRR train masters and dispatchers and they're sweating the details just as much as the football coaches and players.
Runty 3-axle B1 electric switchers and GG1s as far as the eye can see on the ready tracks at Sunnyside Yard. The photographer noted that he was actually in search of the last DD1 side-rod electric the day he took this photo, but had no luck in finding it.
Doubleheaded GG1s on Robert F. Kennedy's funeral train
Doubleheaded Penn Central GG1s on freight duty, both coming and going at Jersey City in 1970. Especially noteworthy is that the trailing GG1 on the right is #4800, "Old Rivets" herself.
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
Yeah there are bits that are pretty boring ... don't knock the US too quickly though - a highlight of my trips there was riding the California Zephyr / Lakeland Limited cross country and New Haven - Boston was pretty cool.
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