Grassroots Railroad Sports?

Look at all those autoracks with GM square bodies aboard.

Rock Island C415s awaiting final disposition after The Rock's shutdown. Since the Rock Island was in dire financial straits and Union Pacific was in the talks to merge with Rock Island, the ten units were purchased through an equipment trust jointly held by Railcar Leasing and Union Pacific; upon the CRI&P shut-down on March 31st 1980, CRI&P #415-419 were returned to Railcar Leasing and CRI&P #420-424 were returned to UP; UP retired all five units in December 1980, never even renumbering or repainting them. What's funny is that, when Rock Island had tried to purchase Alco C430s in a similar move, UP had shot down the purchase, but UP apparently had no issue with the purchase of the C415s.

A filthy C415 works a string of hoppers at Blue Island in July of '73. The C415s were only 7 years old and already looked pretty rough.

The sole low-cab C415 built, Monongahela Connecting Railroad #701. The #701 still exists, albeit in much-deteriorated condition, at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

One of the Burlington Northern's two ex-SP&S C415s at Lyle, Washington. SP&S's canceled order of Alcos was also supposed to include some big C636s along with the second batch of C415s.

NickD said:

The sole low-cab C415 built, Monongahela Connecting Railroad #701. The #701 still exists, albeit in much-deteriorated condition, at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.

That looks way better as a low-cab model. 

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

The high cab wasn't as useful as Alco believed according to SP crews either. Being perched up high caused issues with spatial awareness of where the ends of the locomotives were. And, the center cab layout wasn't so hot either. On an end-cab switcher, from the engineer's seat you can see three out of four corners of the locomotive. On a center cab unit, you can see only 2 of the for because hoods are in the way both directions. Really, Alco would have been better off building something like an SW1200RS, an end cab switcher with higher speed gearing and a larger fuel tank and either the 1200hp inline-8 251D from the narrow-gauge DL535Es or the 251B V12 from the RS-11/RS-32 with the fuel racks turned down to 1500hp.

A century of tradition came to an end yesterday, with the final operation of the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend's street-running in Michigan City, Indiana. Dating back to the South Shore's interurban roots, the alignment down 11th Street dates back to 1908, with the iconic 11th Street Station opening in 1927. Starting in 2009, they began exploring the options to relocate or rebuild the main line through Michigan City in an effort to relieve congestion and increase service. Once it is complete, the railroad will be able to run additional trains during rush hour and a trip between Michigan City and Chicago will take 67 minutes as opposed to today’s 1 hour and 40 minutes. The project includes almost 17 miles of double-track to be installed between Gary and Michigan City over dedicated right of way, four new bridges, eight new station platforms and increased parking, and the closure of 21 grade crossings in Michigan City to help increase average train speeds. The single track street-running will be replaced with ballasted double track, and 11th Street will be converted into a single one-way lane for eastbound automobile traffic. But while all that efficiency is great, it's also a shame to lose that charm and history. For right now, passengers going between Chicago and South Bend will have to transfer from a train to a bus and back to a train to complete their journey.

Passengers boarding a South Shore interurban car at the 11th Street Station. Looks like a '59 Impala up close and personal with the camera, and check out all the Oldsmobiles at the used car lot. Also, what is the little British car in front of the dealership? The top screams Triumph to me for some reason.

One of South Shore's 800-class electric freight motors. These were part of the class of electric locomotives developed by GE for Russian railroads that then were stranded in the US when the US State Department banned their sale to the USSR. The Milwaukee Road offered to buy all twenty and the spare parts for scrap prices, but the railroad's board of directors refused to release the funds. During the Korean War, when the Milwaukee Road needed additional power, the board of directors approved the sale, but by then the South Shore had grabbed up 3 of the locomotives and a railroad in Brazil had purchased 5 more of them, plus the two had bought up all the spare parts. A begrudging Milwaukee Road settled for the 12 remaining locomotives and no parts supply.

South Shore #803 on a light power move in 1977

Taken in 1980, this photo could have just as easily been taken in 1940. 

Picture with LBC is Triumph TR4, so photo dates from at least 1962. Probably a little later, as I don't remember white factory tops. White JC Whitney replacements were common.

In reply to TurnerX19 :

Photo was dated 1963. Forgot that part.

Although not of the street-running operation, this is taken at Michigan City and is of the Chicago, South Shore & South Bend. This curious machine is an Evans Autorailer. In the mid-1930s, Evans Products Company came up with the idea to take a Chevrolet truck running gear and chassis and installed a bus body over the top of it, with retractable wheels like a hi-rail car. The resulting machine, dubbed an Autorailer or Auto-Railer interchangeably, was envisioned as being a connection between small communities and rail service in the era before highways. You could depart from a railroad's terminal by rail, then get off the rails and take dirt roads to more remote townships that lacked their own railroad connection. The Evans Autorailer was never a huge success and they were reported to have had an abysmal ride quality. Not hard to imagine, considering the comparatively light weight and that this was an era before continuous welded rail. Most were purchased by remote shortlines who didn't want to dispatch a locomotive with a single passenger car and didn't have enough traffic to support a doodlebug.

The South Shore purchased this machine from the Arlington & Fairfax trolley line in Virginia, and you can see that the destination board above the windshield still reads for Vienna, a stop on the A&F. The South Shore never used it in passenger service, but instead gutted it to serve as a work van and then installed an insulated platform that could be raised and lowered for working on the overhead catenary. The photographer notes mention that by the time this photo was taken in 1963, the Autorailer appeared to be fully deceased and just hadn't been disposed of yet. I don't believe any fully intact or operational Autorailers still exist. There is one at Clark's Trading Post in New Hampshire, although it isn't owned by Clark's Trading Post, and it is shoved way out back in the weeds and has either settled into the ground or is missing the running gear.

Posted on Reddit

Poor Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge just cannot seem to catch a break. In 2018, one their steam locomotives was attributed to causing the 416 Wildfire, and they've been facing lawsuits ever since. In response, D&S then announced the purchase of a pair of new diesel locomotives from a company called Motive Power & Equipment Solutions, which cost them $3 million dollars and were supposed to arrive in late spring of 2019. The idea was that they could be used for maintenance of way work or on trains during times of high wildfire risk. Later on, when White Pass & Yukon retired their narrow-gauge MLW DL535E locomotives in favor of new GE's, D&S also grabbed up those as well. D&SNG also decided to revive K-37 #493 as an oil-burner, since oil-burning locomotives are less likely to chuck cinders and start fires. To train their crew on oil-burning equipment, they borrowed Southern Pacific "Slim Princess" narrow-gauge 4-6-0 #18, only to have it blow apart a piston on one of the trips. They also decided clear back some on the trees in their right of way to also mitigate the risk of fire, but then the US Forest Service stepped in and stopped them because they were selling the trees for timber to offset the cost of the logging. Then they had a tree float down the Animas River and damage their bridge, causing them to have to cut full service to Silverton. When they began to replace the bridge, they again got stopped by the US Forest Service because they hadn't cleared the construction with them.

Now, Durango & Silverton is suing Motive Power & Equipment Solutions, because that pair of diesels that they paid $3 million for and were supposed to arrive in spring of '19 still haven't arrived. Some employees of American Heritage Railways Inc, parent company of D&SNG, swung by MP&ES's Greenville facilities in January and noticed that the company’s signs had been removed and the property “appeared to have been deserted for a while.” It's since turned out that MP&ES has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. So, now they have locomotives that they've paid a hefty sum for, are three years overdue, and the company is dead and gone with no real recourse for D&S.

These locomotives always seemed a sketchy proposition. They had started life as Conrail GP40s, which were then sold to a commuter line in Florida. At that point in time, they had been sent to Morrison-Knudsen, who had rebuilt them with a wide-nose front, and a full-width cowl body behind the cab, kind of like an F45 or an SDP40F. Then, MP&ES was going to yank the 645 engines and replace them with 2200hp Caterpillar engines (yuck), rewire them, convert them to 3-foot narrow gauge, and leave the wide nose safety cab intact but convert the rear back to standard road switcher configuration. That seems like a lot of things to go wrong, especially from a company that had a very small but poor track record.

Isle of Man Railway bought a locomotive built by MP&ES back in 2013 and it has never run in extended regular revenue service due to a wide range of problems. Early tests revealed a problem with overheating, and a new prime mover was supplied by the manufacturers under warranty. Further testing saw the locomotive perform several passenger duties, notably at the head of the railway's dining train, but was only used in limited service, due to various issues.. It finally entered regular service in August 2019. This, however, only lasted a couple of weeks before a "power problem" caused it to become stranded in the siding at Castletown. This was its most recent spell in revenue service and it has been out of service since. Technical issues are understood to included slipped tires on the wheels, software problems, oil leaks, transmission seizures and traction motor flashovers. It sucks that D&S is out the $3 million, but it also sounds like they dodged a bullet by not actually taking ownership of them.

NickD said:

Posted on Reddit

Saw a World According to Brigs vid last year where he mentioned a fact about Indiana is they sell more small-sized condoms there than any other state. 

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

NickD said:

Posted on Reddit

Saw a World According to Brigs vid last year where he mentioned a fact about Indiana is they sell more small-sized condoms there than any other state. 

Wow, what an odd and undesirable claim to fame

Never quite as well-known as the D&RGW's narrow gauge operations, but as deeply loved by those who were aware of it's existence, was Southern Pacific's 3'-gauge operations. There were actually two separate lines purchased after construction and operated by the Southern Pacific.

The first was the former Carson & Colorado Railway, which was constructed in 1883 by the Virginia & Truckee and ran from the Southern Pacific main line at Mound House, Nevada to the Cerro Gordo Mines at Keeler, California some 300 miles away. Upon completion and riding the C&C's entirety, part owner Darius Ogden Mills remarked "Either we built the line 300 miles too long, or 300 years too early." The Carson & Colorado was a drain on the Virginia & Truckee, and they sold it to the Southern Pacific in 1900. Shortly after it's sale to SP, major gold discoveries at Tonopah and Goldfield made the Carson & Colorado, also called the Nevada & California Railroad, the Central Pacific Railroad, and the Southern Pacific Railroad Keeler Branch at various points in history, into a wildly profitable operation. The northernmost 140 miles were converted to standard gauge in 1905, but the rest of it, excepting minor abandonments in the '30s and '40s, operated as a narrow gauge system until it's abandonment in 1960, with steam power no less. It was nearly standard-gauged during WWII to provide for traffic overflow, but dodged that bullet. Today, none of the C&C rails still exist.

The other Southern Pacific narrow gauge line was the Nevada-California-Oregon Railroad, often called the Narrow, Crooked & Ornery by pundits. It was planned to extend from Reno, NV to the Columbia River, but never got past Lakeview, Oregon. It was plagued with mismanagement and corruption, and after it's best year in 1913, it fell into a sharp decline, being largely bypassed by the Western Pacific and Southern Pacific's Susanville Branch. In 1917, the company began selling branch lines in California, and the next year, the Reno station was closed, and the company headquarters and maintenance shop were relocated to Alturas. By 1922, the railroad was in serious financial trouble, and the Moran Brothers, who owned the railroad through their bank, wanted out of the business. On April 30, 1925, the Southern Pacifi purchased the company. It was short-lived as a narrow gauge operation under SP, because by 1928, Southern Pacific had converted all of the remaining Nevada-California-Oregon track standard gauge. A lot of the equipment went elsewhere, including N-C-O Ten-Wheelers #8, #9, and #18, which were all shipped down to the former Carson & Colorado and were the sole motive power on the SP's Keeler Branch in it's twilight years.

The trio of narrow-gauge Ten-Wheelers were nicknamed "Slim Princesses" and trailed the unusual whaleback tenders that Southern Pacific seemed to prefer in the early days.

SP #18 treading through the grass at Laws, California