EMD GP50's & SD50's
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Former Family Lines C30-7 is pushing the CSX Worthville Turn over the trestle in Independence, KY. Myself being only 21 yrs old at the time and in great shape, was able to shoot the front of the train on the other side of the trestle, run down the hill and back up this side for this shot of the helpers. The front of the train had 2 SD50's and an SD45, all in Seaboard System paint. The light was better for the helpers.
This was shot on 4-30-1988.
In a view from lofty Bear Mountain Bridge is a Conrail double stack train crossing Popolopen Creek Bridge along Hudson River at Fort Montgomery, New York, on April 11, 1991. The southbound train is powered by EMD SD50 No. 6787 and GE C39-8 No. 6004.
On Colorado’s Joint Line, a southbound Denver and Rio Grande Western coal train crests the grade at Palmer Lake on February 24, 1986. Three SD50s power the train led by No. 5501, and soon, the train will roll to a stop and cut out the two helpers on the rear.
Here is the front end of the train from yesterdays post.
CSX Worthville Turn coming over the trestle in Independence KY. , with 2 SD50's and a SD45. After shooting this, I ran down the hill and up the other side to shoot the helpers. Im glad I did, because the helpers had much better light on them
This is shot on 4-30-1988
M693 slides downgrade at Ashford just after sunset with a classic SD50 leading leading the way South.
A westbound Rio Grande freight drops down the steep 3% western grade of Tennessee Pass at Mitchell, Colorado, on July 20, 1990. Leading the train is EMD SD40T-2 “Tunnel Motor” No. 5349, which is m.u.’ed with a SD50, a former Conrail GP40 and a Cotton Belt SD45T-2.
SD50 CSXT 8665 leads southbound U610 under the classic C&O cantilever in Fostoria while a few geeps wait for their next local assignment to the left.
After meeting the Railblazer while tucked away in the siding at Mesa, Rio Grande SD50 No. 5504 leads train No. 752, the "Helper Local" into the small town of Lehi, Utah the morning of June 23, 1988. The 5504 (and sibling 5514) were touched up for a photo shoot promoting an upcoming SP and D&RGW partnership. Note the Aspen Gold paint overspray on the air hoses.
A pair of Union Pacific EMD SD50s power a southbound taconite ore train over the Escanaba River Bridge at North Escanaba, Michigan, on January 18, 1997. This Pratt through truss bridge was built in 1892 by Lassig Bridge & Iron Works for Chicago & North Western on their ore line running from Partridge Junction to the ore dock located on Lake Michigan at Escanaba. After Union Pacific merged Chicago & North Western, it only had the Upper Peninsula of Michigan ore line for a short time before Wisconsin Central, and later Canadian National, operated it. In late 1996 and early 1997, the trains were powered by former MoPac EMD SD50s, with a SD40-2 occasionally thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, this bridge was replaced in 2015, and with the closure of Empire Mine, Canadian National also closed the ore dock in Escanaba in 2017.
My first trip to the DMVW was in 2019 and I have yet to get my fill of it. The did not want to cooperate like it did iin 2019, but this will do.
While making a set out at Slinger, Wisconsin - The Sun has made a brief appearance providing some beautiful late November light on Conrail EMD SD50 #6778 which was leading eastbound Wisconsin Central train T046 on this day. ~~ A Jeff Hampton Photograph ©
Under the skilled hand of Mr. Tom Scott, a quartet of Lake State EMDs (SD70M/SD70M/SD40-2/SD50) rumble north through mid-Michigan with 122 cars of manifest as cats and dogs fall from the sky. I'm sure I looked like an absolute bafoon standing on the side of interstate 75, but I got the shot!
Motive Power Monday: Three MPI MK5000Cs lead a Utah Railway coal train along the 1983 Thistle Line Change in Spanish Fork Canyon the afternoon of January 6, 2001. Late in Oct. 2000, the Utah Railway began testing Motive Power, Inc. MK5000C locomotives, which lead to the purchase of the entire production fleet of six units by November. In April 2001, MPEX 9901 and 9902 became Utah Railway 5004 and 5005 and SP 503 became the 5003. Unfortunately, MK5000Cs were prone to main bearing failure on both the CAT 3612 diesel engine and the Kato alternator. MPI in Boise replaced these components with standard 3500 HP EMD SD50 prime movers, alternators, and long hoods by 2003. Historical information from Utahrails.net.
D&RGW SD50 No. 5508, SD40T-2 No. 5353 and SD50 No. 5505 pull Rio Grande train No. 136 through a photogenic four-degree curve three miles east of Springville, Utah the morning of Aug. 6, 1988. A lenticular cloud formation cloaks the peaks of 11,752 ft. Mt. Timpanogos on the northeast corner of Utah Valley.
We had good intel that the 5018 would be on the point of the NRFF yesterday so, JJL and I made the trip North. With a blue dome we were not disappointed when the NRFF came into view at Port Clinton, the chase was on.
On the shortest days of the year, the one of the last places of the day to get light on a train on the Southern Tier is on the Starrucca Viaduct. Viewed from the shadowed Delaware & Hudson Penn Division, Conrail train BUOI (Buffalo – Oak Island) crosses the storied stone structure just a minute or two before it joins the Penn Division in darkness.
With flags adoring the nose of the lead SD50, NRFF climbs uphill past the signal at MP 147 on the Lehigh Division Main.
Rio Grande locomotives worked in a tough operating environment along numerous grades, through canyons and tunnels. SD50 No. 5504 was particularly clean (even the snow plow) as it lead train No. 772 between Mesa and Lehi, Utah the morning of June 23, 1988.
CSX SD50 No. 8543 leads a westbound empty unit grain train across the crest of Alleghany Grade at Alleghany, VA on April 13, 1997.
The Reading & Northern Tamaqua Local has just backed eight loads of anthracite onto the main from the last remaining segment of the Lehigh & New England main line, which is reached via the connection on the bottom right of the photo. After clearing the signal seen above the sixth hopper, the SD50 brings its haul south to be placed in the yard for a later train to Reading.
The Denver & Rio Grande Western rostered 17 EMD SD50 locomotives, built by EMD in Aug. and Sept. 1984. DRGW 5513 leads the DVROM 04, gliding west through Spanish Fork Canyon at Mill Fork, Utah on Sept. 5, 1992.
CSX SD50 8569 led train E212 through Lansdowne in the summer of 1990. This location has since been extensively rebuilt by CSX and the motive power has such character as it did when it was the Chessie System.
K931 comes east under the intermediates at Longley preparing to hold north of the diamond at Fostoria.
The solo SD50-2 leader was a blessing and there is something about a train with solid white cars that looks good in the morning sun.
Century Saturday finds us chasing eastbound Susquehanna Sea-Land stack train NTV-4. We set up for a shot of it rounding the sweeping curve at Narrowsburg, New York. As the train was coming into view, a pair of Contrail SD50’s roared by with westbound train OIBU. While we didn’t get the NYS&W C430’s passing by us, we did get a running meet.
A Lake State SD70M, SD50, and SD40-2 lead a southbound grain train by the Pere Marquette Cantilever at N Grand Blanc.
KCS's first SD50 is about one year old in this 1982 view yet all 3 units are remarkably clean for a RR with a white paint scheme accented by those unique striped handrails. The train is stopped at the small KCS yard in Texarkana and may be waiting on a clear signal from Cotton Belt Tower to proceed south.
The KCS purchased 10 new SD50's (704-713) and would later acquire 23 more former Conrail SD50's.
7-19-1982
CSX SD50's No's. 8598 and 8527 bring an eastbound unit coal train down the former C&O James River Viaduct in Richmond, VA on March 6, 1994. The body of water we are looking across is the James River & Kanawha Canal.
At 5:34 p.m. on June 24, 1990, Conrail EMD SD50 No. 6736 leads a westbound freight through a curve at New Carlisle, Indiana, on the busy Chicago to Elkhart main line.
After Union Pacific merged Chicago & North Western, it only had the Upper Peninsula of Michigan ore line for a short time before Wisconsin Central, and later Canadian National, operated it. In late 1996 and early 1997, the trains were powered by former MoPac EMD SD50s, with a SD40-2 occasionally thrown in for good measure. On December 28, 1996, a southbound taconite ore train curves toward a frozen Goose lake near Partridge, Michigan, with SD50s Nos. 5054 and 5029 leading the way.
BPRR 5019 leads the road train south splitting a pair of former B&O CPL's.
Link to the video from this day:
While waiting for the rail train with the SD50 leading to pull out of Fulton P124 comes west with the phase 2 heritage.
Luminant Energy uses an 11-mile railroad to shuttle locally mined lignite to their Oak Grove Power Plant. I spotted three of these SD50s painted for Luminant, plus a GATX leasing SD40-2. Here a 40-car train is backing into the coal loading/shop area near Kosse, TX.
More recent pictures I have seen has them currently running trains with 2 ex EMD SD70ACe's demos still in their demonstrator paint scheme. I'm not sure of the demise of these SD50s.
Leaving Phippsburg for the Energy Mine, Rio Grande Train 701 is about to duck under Colorado Route 131.
A Utah Railway MK50-3/CORP SD40T-2 duo slowly work the KYLE Railroad's biweekly LISA turn (Limon-Salina) east out of Bethune, CO on the Rock Island Rocky Mountain Rocket Route.
UTAH 5005 is one of six MK5000Cs built by MK Rail from 1994 to 1995. After being tested by UP and SP for a year and returned, all eventually found themselves in coal service on the Utah Railway. After only a month of service on the UTAH, ?they would have their main alternator removed and replaced with an EMD AR11 main alternator and the engine blocks replaced by EMD 3500 Horsepower 16-645F3B diesel engines from five retired Union Pacific EMD SD50 and one retired Union Pacific EMD GP50. They are now designated as MK50-3s. Once the Utah Railway's coal contract expired, five were sent to the KYLE Railroad in 2017 and earn their keep there today.
Rio Grande 5514 was the first of D&RGW's fleet of SD50 units to be repainted in Southern Pacific's red/gray livery with speed lettering. I was quite shocked to see it that day, leading the UT16L "Dirt Train" thorough Riverton, Utah on June 22, 1994. Seven in total were repainted into SP livery (5504, 5510, 5511, 5513, 5514, 5516, and 5517). Only the 5517 is known to exist today, as the other 16 D&RGW units have been scrapped.
MVNR-30 (Minersville - North Reading) runs number two track south under the signal bridge at “Pulpit” with 94 loads from Reading Anthracite New St. Nick. Missouri Pacific SD50 5014 and Chicago North Western SD40-2 6867 doing the honors.
Rio Grande SD50 No. 5513 leads priority train No. 287 through Ironton, Utah the evening of Aug. 17, 1988.
A lengthy TOFC train snakes its way through the curves at Mance, Pennsylvania during its westbound assault of Sand Patch grade. The normal assortment of Chessie EMD’s has been augmented with a patched Seaboard System SD50 as the CSX integration has started.
Already tied together in Saginaw with a SD50, the crew apparently decided it was more work to unhook them than it was to run the MP15AC leading an empty phosphate train south to Wixom. Just before sunset, the train with the unusual leader outside of Saginaw splits the searchlights at South Holly much to the happiness of a small army of foam that had gathered to see the unusual power set.