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A pair of Cat-powered geeps switch cars in the Breckenridge yard while another job idles. The field have been harvested and tilled - a sign of the transition of seasons.
Respondek's brightly painted, IT inspired GP40 works a cut of hoppers in their park in Granite City, IL.
Delaware & Hudson RS11 5007 switches the yard in Taylor, Pennsylvania. Piggyback cars with general freight and cabooses were still a not-too-uncommon sight in the mid-1980’s, but were rapidly disappearing.
Providence and Worcester local CT-1 with B39-8E 3906 is seen on the Portland Running Track working the only customer on the line, Red Technologies, which ships contaminated soils and demolition debris out by rail. After crossing the more than 1200 ft long bridge, there is only a bit more than 3/4 of a mile of perfectly tangent track on this side of the river extending to just shy of Marlborough St. / Route 66. This view looks east (railroad north) from the aptly named Airline Avenue grade crossing toward the end of the line where one can still find an old New Haven era freight house standing as a reminder of an earlier era.
To read the detailed story of this day along with some history and links see the original post here: flic.kr/p/2n38ud7
Portland, Connecticut
Friday February 11, 2022
With Norfolk Southern, North Shore, and North Sunbury Bulk Transfer all using "NS", names can get confusing in Pennsylvania railroading.
This GE 50-Ton, former Navy, switcher engine has seen better days. With its swing couplers and side rods, I don't know if it is still in use or not.
western vancouver washington a bnsf railyard with strings of boxcars and flatcars waiting assignment.
A BNSF GP50 leads one of the Los Angeles Junction Railway's switch jobs through the many industrial warehouses along the LA River in Vernon.
A Union Pacific local has arrived at the sand mine located on the outskirts of Pacific, MO to do a little switching. A check of Google maps shows this facility owned by U.S. Silica and it is not only still in business, but it also appears to have been expanded since the time of the photo.
Milwaukee Road SW1200 switches industry along the banks of the Mississippi River at Wabasha, MN back in 1983. Amazingly, this 1954 built diesel is still in service on the Twin Cities & Western! Pretty much everything else is gone. We're at the corner of Bridge Ave and Lawrence Blvd. The bridge shown in the background connecting Wabasha with Nelson, WI was replaced by a new structure in 1988. This bridge had a crazy approach and tight curve before crossing the river.
On the morning of September 27, 2016, Portland & Western GP9 No. 1801 switches the PNWR yard in Eugene, Oregon. The 1959-built EMD is dressed in classy Southern Pacific black widow colors and lettered for previous owner Willamette & Pacific.
Toledo, Peoria & Western’s Morton Switcher, powered by the road’s lone EMD GP18 No. 600, switches a lumber yard at Morton, Illinois, on December 16, 1983.
The Columbia Basin Railway local is switching at Connell with its SD9s. Parked up in the distance is a short BNSF inspection train.
Union Pacific GP9 No. 195 switches the yard near UP’s car shops in Omaha, Nebraska, in June 1981. Mixed in the freight cars in the background are three former Rock Island bay-window cabooses, in three paint schemes, recently acquired from the bankrupt railroad after Rock ceased to exist in 1980.
Just another frame I like of this picture perfect scene as a Delaware-Lackawanna crew makes a few last switching moves before calling it a day. They are on the Mall Siding adjacent the railroad's yard office and base of operations located in the former Lackawanna Railroad's Bridge 60 tower. Located at MP 133.8 (as measured from the DL&W's Hoboken Terminal) just east of the railroad's large steel span crossing Bridge Street, the D-L's ex D&H main, the Lackawanna River, and tha abandoned CNJ right of way,
Leading is DL 405 an Alco C420 blt. Nov. 1964 as Lehigh Valley 405. Behind her is DL 2457 an Alco C425 blt. Jun. 1965 as Spokane, Portland and Seattle 312.
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Sunday September 14, 2025
MC 2010, 2012, and LTEX 3815 switch out reefers at Maritime Terminal in New Bedford, MA. 3815 was added to the consist here and, to my dismay, was added on the other end of what could've been a desirable northbound chase.
UP 622 creeps around the corner to enter the industrial street trackage on Fox Avenue South in Seattle as the night starts to sets in. Once clear of the switch, the crew will shove the two tank cars in tow down Fox Avenue South toward Cascade Columbia Distribution, one of two (possibly three) remaining customers accessed by this street trackage. The switch in the foreground leads to Emerald Services, formerly Brenntag, which still received tank cars at least two years ago but appears to be dormant at this time, potentially since ownership has changed. Some improvements have however been made to the track here in recent months and the switch was kept in place at least. Following the track up the street, Seatac Marine Services is the other customer still active here and receives centerbeams and boxcars rather regularly. Although not this week, cars would be spotted more or less in the street (behind me in this perspective). Seattle, WA
Another look back a couple years to my first successful Batten Kill chase.
#4116 is a real live burbling 244 powered Alco RS3...and an ex Delaware & Hudson loco (4116 blt Sept 1952) on D&H "home rails" no less!
Seen here switching out Carovail, one of the Batten Kill Railroad's two regular remaining customers.
Salem, New York
Saturday April 13, 2019
Being switcher Saturday, I'll draw a few scans from the Bob Barnett collection. Amidst the short lines he loved, was the Bay Colony RR with its' fleet of ALCO 244 powered switchers. Conductor Bill Feindel is preparing to switch inbound cars from Conrail at Middleboro, MA in 1982. This scene has changed dramatically today. Robert C. Barnett photo SC Collection
This Saturday morning special required a bit of research. I resorted to an old copy of New England Sates Limited, a magazine from the 80's that Fred and his friend Don Valentine published years ago. On a trip to see the "new" Mass Central RR, Whitcomb 44 tonner, number 401 heads north over Main Street passing the site of Mill No. 1 in Thorndike, built in 1845, on March 29, 1980. The train will pause at Forrest Lake Jct and head west over the B&M Bondsville branch to Diamond National Co paper. Fred Bailey Photo
Doug Harrop Photography • September 30, 1974
A clean Southern Pacific Alco S-6 shuffles Amtrak power in Oakland, California. A grand total of 126 S-6 (DL 430) models were built by Alco in Schenectady, New York between May 1955 and December 1960. SP acquired far more than any other railroad with 70 of them.
Arkansas & Missouri’s Fort Smith turn passes a shut-downT6 in Fort Smith, Arkansas. A replacement T6 is tucked behind the three C420’s on the turn. Number 14 will return to Springdale for servicing with the turn.
After making their pickup from the Great Western in Loveland, the Longmont Switch heads south through an S curve with a BNSF warbonnet.
After setting off their inbound cars for Arizona & California interchange, power from M-PHXMAT returns to the main. Below the lead engine is the East Siding Switch for Castle Hot Springs siding. Although timetable-east, this end of the siding is northwest as far as the compass is concerned. The 543 was probably the best looking warbonnet GE on the roster two decades after the merger.
Seaview SW-7 #5 spots some loaded auto-racks at NORAD's Davisville, RI, unloading yard. The headout car is a still fairly fresh, and graffiti-less, Providence and Worcester auto-rack; the previous owner of the little EMD switcher.
November 2013
Davisville, RI.
Hoboken Paints was an active customer on NYS&W's Lodi Branch into at least the early 90s. Service was infrequent, but if a clay slurry tank car appeared on a local, there was a good chance it was headed to Hoboken Paints. Here we see 1804 working in the weeds on the siding, which ran parallel to the Division of Motor Vehicles facility in Lodi. Most likely the Engelhard car was an empty which will be pulled, and the loaded car spotted in its place. Today Hoboken Paints is gone. The building still stands, but there is hardly any trace of the siding, which crossed Gregg Street after diverging from the Lodi Branch (which, itself, is now a memory).
NYSW 1804 GP18