Snowbird
Though the Age of the Roster Shot has, for all practical intents and purposes, lapsed from the repertoire of those whose budgetary overages at notable photographic houses such as New York City’s reputable B&H, may rival the defense spending of burgeoning yet infantile nations at or near the equator, it is nevertheless in the interests of railfan humanity to at times set aside the creative tendencies for the good of all concerned and expose the life and times of some of the more scarce electro-diesel creatures whose rarity rivals that of the Fiery-billed Aracari.
To catch them at the end of some disused spur track, decaying from neglect and the elements is one thing---
But to catch them energizing traction motors in the manner that they were prescribed to---
Is another thing entirely.
In the full brightness of a 109-degree summer afternoon on the High Plains of Texas, our rare subject preens herself in an attempt to cool her innards, select doors held open with bungee cords exposing the aged prime mover that throbs at her heart, the generator that controls her currents, and a radiator section that is struggling mightily as her progress is measured by inches-per-minute instead of miles-per-hour. As she coaxes a string of Mineral Brown Trinities under the loading spout, our hogger has opened the cab doors to allow a scorching southern wind to roll through, and hung a curtain in the window to shield himself from the unrelenting sun.
She was birthed at the very dawn of the Six-Axle Age, the orange and black paint that she wore when exiting the gate at La Grange, Illinois is now long gone, mixed in the atmosphere of memory as aluminum oxide particles scoured it from her form at some indeterminate date to make way for a fresh coat of primer gray.
On that proud day when she graduated from the EMD Academy of Diesel Locomotion in April 1952, she wore road number 2200, being the very first SD7 received by the Milwaukee Road in a fleet that would eventually total 24 units.
She would toil away for the next 20-some-odd years just as her makers had deemed, perhaps unremarked in her accomplishments, but also unfailing in her duties, putting to good use her 1,500 horsepower 16-567B and 77,250 pounds of tractive effort. She wore her Flexicoil C-trucks well, and the D-27 traction motors housed within the curvaceous side frames proved capable of lugging tonnage.
In the mid-1970s she received an infusion of personality. Shop forces chopped her short hood, liberated her exhaust, filtered her intake air, and upgraded the prime mover’s output to 1,800 horses. They then sprayed her with fresh orange and black, christened her as an SD10, swatted her on the rump and sent her back to work, where her efforts could do little to save the ailing Milwaukee Road from itself.
She was patched-out with black paint and hastily applied stencils and did a stint on the now-gone Dakota Minnesota & Eastern before migrating east and getting a full makeover in the red and white of Tom Hoback’s Indiana Railroad.
A damn hot August 2024 afternoon on the loading loop at the Agri-Producer’s grain elevator in Plainview, Texas is 72 long and hard years away from an April day at La Grange, Illinois, and though the faded red paint and exposed gray primer and the rust that has settled on her upper surfaces give no hint whatsoever as to her Milwaukee heritage, the winterization hatch still in place above the first radiator fan, the snow hoods on her air filter, the four stacks of her exhaust, and the faired-in number board on the front of the cab leave little to question.
And though she may be aged, she can still lay down the tractive law as the hogger nudges the throttle just a bit, coursing diesel through her veins and juice through her cables and blue smoke into a hot Texas sky as that sweet EMD melody passes through her soul and out through her pipes.
She’s a venerable snowbird who came south for the winter and perhaps found the climate to her liking---
And she can still show a heavy brace of Mineral Brown Trinities just who rules the roost.
---RAM
Rick Malo©2024
Snowbird
Though the Age of the Roster Shot has, for all practical intents and purposes, lapsed from the repertoire of those whose budgetary overages at notable photographic houses such as New York City’s reputable B&H, may rival the defense spending of burgeoning yet infantile nations at or near the equator, it is nevertheless in the interests of railfan humanity to at times set aside the creative tendencies for the good of all concerned and expose the life and times of some of the more scarce electro-diesel creatures whose rarity rivals that of the Fiery-billed Aracari.
To catch them at the end of some disused spur track, decaying from neglect and the elements is one thing---
But to catch them energizing traction motors in the manner that they were prescribed to---
Is another thing entirely.
In the full brightness of a 109-degree summer afternoon on the High Plains of Texas, our rare subject preens herself in an attempt to cool her innards, select doors held open with bungee cords exposing the aged prime mover that throbs at her heart, the generator that controls her currents, and a radiator section that is struggling mightily as her progress is measured by inches-per-minute instead of miles-per-hour. As she coaxes a string of Mineral Brown Trinities under the loading spout, our hogger has opened the cab doors to allow a scorching southern wind to roll through, and hung a curtain in the window to shield himself from the unrelenting sun.
She was birthed at the very dawn of the Six-Axle Age, the orange and black paint that she wore when exiting the gate at La Grange, Illinois is now long gone, mixed in the atmosphere of memory as aluminum oxide particles scoured it from her form at some indeterminate date to make way for a fresh coat of primer gray.
On that proud day when she graduated from the EMD Academy of Diesel Locomotion in April 1952, she wore road number 2200, being the very first SD7 received by the Milwaukee Road in a fleet that would eventually total 24 units.
She would toil away for the next 20-some-odd years just as her makers had deemed, perhaps unremarked in her accomplishments, but also unfailing in her duties, putting to good use her 1,500 horsepower 16-567B and 77,250 pounds of tractive effort. She wore her Flexicoil C-trucks well, and the D-27 traction motors housed within the curvaceous side frames proved capable of lugging tonnage.
In the mid-1970s she received an infusion of personality. Shop forces chopped her short hood, liberated her exhaust, filtered her intake air, and upgraded the prime mover’s output to 1,800 horses. They then sprayed her with fresh orange and black, christened her as an SD10, swatted her on the rump and sent her back to work, where her efforts could do little to save the ailing Milwaukee Road from itself.
She was patched-out with black paint and hastily applied stencils and did a stint on the now-gone Dakota Minnesota & Eastern before migrating east and getting a full makeover in the red and white of Tom Hoback’s Indiana Railroad.
A damn hot August 2024 afternoon on the loading loop at the Agri-Producer’s grain elevator in Plainview, Texas is 72 long and hard years away from an April day at La Grange, Illinois, and though the faded red paint and exposed gray primer and the rust that has settled on her upper surfaces give no hint whatsoever as to her Milwaukee heritage, the winterization hatch still in place above the first radiator fan, the snow hoods on her air filter, the four stacks of her exhaust, and the faired-in number board on the front of the cab leave little to question.
And though she may be aged, she can still lay down the tractive law as the hogger nudges the throttle just a bit, coursing diesel through her veins and juice through her cables and blue smoke into a hot Texas sky as that sweet EMD melody passes through her soul and out through her pipes.
She’s a venerable snowbird who came south for the winter and perhaps found the climate to her liking---
And she can still show a heavy brace of Mineral Brown Trinities just who rules the roost.
---RAM
Rick Malo©2024