A Fine Summer Evening Revisited
I posted this shot over 7 years ago, but the visual result was pretty much what I deserved: A muddy piece of crap that was spit out of a cheap scanner with cheap "repair software". I did a re-scan a couple years ago and never shared, so here is the second time around on my Flickr page complete with the original caption. Apologies to those with a great memory and taking up your time with a repeat.
For some reason, I titled it;
"The Short And Long Of It".
This just might be my most rare photo on the New York, Susquehanna & Western Northern Division. Three reasons why.
Number one; C420 #2000.
Number two; RS3 #29.
Number 3; Hardly a cloud in the sky.
The 2000 started life as Louisville & Nashville #1312 in 1966 and spent much of it's life in eastern Kentucky coal country like many of it's Alco siblings. In 1982 she was picked up by the Delaware Otsego Corp. to aid in the expansion of Corporate owned NYS&W. She arrived in May of 1982 dressed in a fabulous altered version of the NYS&W "yellow jacket" paint scheme with brilliant silver trucks.
The #29 was born in 1952 as Delaware & Hudson #4117. She served the D&H well for nearly 20 years and was sold to a railroad supply company which in turn sold it to the Roberval & Saguenay as #29. She arrived south of the border in 1979 to be used for the new Adirondack Railroad which would be a passenger railroad from Utica to Lake Placid to serve the 1980 Winter Olympics still as 29. That railroad would cease to exist not long after the games were over due to poor track conditions. D&O picked up the 29 and Conrail delivered it to Richfield Jct. in March of 1982. At Richfield Springs splashes of green paint covered the gold "Adirondack" lettering and NYSW stenciled under the cab windows and she was pressed into service. Many didn't even know that the 29 existed because she stayed up in the north country rarely being visited by fans. Try and find her on the all time roster. She didn't exist. The following month after this shot, she'd become #104 and ply the rails of the NYS&W into the 90's. Her fate came one evening on a heavy New Jersey bound haulage train. Brakes got "set up" on her and the Conrail crew with the big powerful C430's kept on going to reach the Gulf Summit dragging the RS3 along flattening the wheels and ruining the motors.
On the other hand, the 2000 is a much different story. By December of this same year she be met with a major component failure. Some time was spent resting in Binghamton. Then a bed was made up in the Little Ferry roundhouse. There she sat in a coma for years until NYS&W finally pulled the plug and mercilessly torched her to bits right behind the roundhouse in 1988 after living a serviceable life of a mere 16 years.
This is the only time I ever captured these two "rare birds" together. Throw in a wonderful summer evening in upstate Earlville, New York and you get what I mean.
A Fine Summer Evening Revisited
I posted this shot over 7 years ago, but the visual result was pretty much what I deserved: A muddy piece of crap that was spit out of a cheap scanner with cheap "repair software". I did a re-scan a couple years ago and never shared, so here is the second time around on my Flickr page complete with the original caption. Apologies to those with a great memory and taking up your time with a repeat.
For some reason, I titled it;
"The Short And Long Of It".
This just might be my most rare photo on the New York, Susquehanna & Western Northern Division. Three reasons why.
Number one; C420 #2000.
Number two; RS3 #29.
Number 3; Hardly a cloud in the sky.
The 2000 started life as Louisville & Nashville #1312 in 1966 and spent much of it's life in eastern Kentucky coal country like many of it's Alco siblings. In 1982 she was picked up by the Delaware Otsego Corp. to aid in the expansion of Corporate owned NYS&W. She arrived in May of 1982 dressed in a fabulous altered version of the NYS&W "yellow jacket" paint scheme with brilliant silver trucks.
The #29 was born in 1952 as Delaware & Hudson #4117. She served the D&H well for nearly 20 years and was sold to a railroad supply company which in turn sold it to the Roberval & Saguenay as #29. She arrived south of the border in 1979 to be used for the new Adirondack Railroad which would be a passenger railroad from Utica to Lake Placid to serve the 1980 Winter Olympics still as 29. That railroad would cease to exist not long after the games were over due to poor track conditions. D&O picked up the 29 and Conrail delivered it to Richfield Jct. in March of 1982. At Richfield Springs splashes of green paint covered the gold "Adirondack" lettering and NYSW stenciled under the cab windows and she was pressed into service. Many didn't even know that the 29 existed because she stayed up in the north country rarely being visited by fans. Try and find her on the all time roster. She didn't exist. The following month after this shot, she'd become #104 and ply the rails of the NYS&W into the 90's. Her fate came one evening on a heavy New Jersey bound haulage train. Brakes got "set up" on her and the Conrail crew with the big powerful C430's kept on going to reach the Gulf Summit dragging the RS3 along flattening the wheels and ruining the motors.
On the other hand, the 2000 is a much different story. By December of this same year she be met with a major component failure. Some time was spent resting in Binghamton. Then a bed was made up in the Little Ferry roundhouse. There she sat in a coma for years until NYS&W finally pulled the plug and mercilessly torched her to bits right behind the roundhouse in 1988 after living a serviceable life of a mere 16 years.
This is the only time I ever captured these two "rare birds" together. Throw in a wonderful summer evening in upstate Earlville, New York and you get what I mean.