View allAll Photos Tagged Switch
Lighting is still not quite where I would like it but the light box works for what it is. I think I need to raise the work lights off the ground and angle them down through the box.
BPRR 3301 leads the Batesville Switcher as they switch cars around at the Future Fuel spur in Magness.
Here is just another from last summer when GP40-2LW MEC 507 showed up on the docks in Everett to work BO-1 in her sparkling brand new paint. Truly one of the most improbable things to happen in New England railroading in 2020.
The red white and blue unit beside them is the Ciment Quebec plant switcher. This unit is the last privately owned plant switcher to be found in daily use in the immediate Boston area. It is a cabless 125 ton Alco blt. in 1960 and acquired from the bankrupt James River Coal company. The unit is remote controlled and has a hostler stand on it and once worked at a coal mine in Kentucky whose lettering it still wears. I'm not sure of the exact history of of the switcher. Some sources say it was ex Baltimore and Ohio but another says that it was originally Lehigh and New England Alco S2 616 before being sold to the Louisville and Nashville that eventually traded it in to GE that rebuilt it as an 'auto-haul 335.'
To read the whole story check out the original post here: flic.kr/p/2jtoazu
Everett, Massachusetts
Wednesday August 5, 2020
A Juniata Valley Railroad trainman rides a boxcar back to pick up a single empty gon near end of track in Burnham. The big Standard Steel mill is is behind me in this shot.
PRR styled heritage painted SW900 2106 (blt. Nov. 1953 for the Pittsburgh and Shawmut Railroad as their number 236) looks right at home on this former Pennsy branchline that once extended another 8 miles up the valley to Milroy, although since 1980 end of track has been near here just out of sight to the right.
Burnham, Pennsylvania
Friday November 13, 2020
York Rail picks up a car at York Transfer. Formerly Northern Central and then Pennsylvania RR trackage and freight facility. The railings for the steps still sport PRR stanchions.. Always fun to catch them here. Freight facility to the right is being rehabbed, hence the equipment
GP-7 4296 switches an industry track in Elburn, Illinois on a very cold February 10th, 1988. This unit was rebuilt from the 1650 in November 1980 at the C&NW's Oelwein shops.
Coca Cola Bottling is switched by an NS High-hood GP38-2. Here the engine is seen shoving two tankers down the spur, across McDuff avenue.
Amtrak's "Ethan Allen Express" contained multiple firsts for me, and among them was mid-trip power switching. This train requires power to be on both ends due to a change of directions in Rutland (another first), but going in-and-out of NYC, they only need one unit, so they add/remove a unit at the Albany-Rensselaer station.
From here, they run the surplus unit up to Amtrak's nearby Rensselaer shops for servicing. From a fan perspective, it also allows you to get out and photograph the train in the process. In this case, we're looking south towards NYC, and the 701 would be cut off in short order, allowing the rest of the train to run south with just the 716.
ELS 1201 drops 2 boxcars inside the KK warehouse in Marinette, WI, wrapping up their work for the day, they'll then head light back to the ELS yard across the river in Menominee, MI
KCS switching the Cargill plant on Nicholson Ave., Kansas City, 10-31-17. You just couldn't go wrong with this paint scheme.
A pair of Green Bay & Western RS20's switch the Ann Arbor Carferry Viking at Kewaunee WI. February 1976.
Because my VicVipers always have to have a gimmick, I decided to try building one with variable swept wings this year. Like the 2017 model, it was based on sketching out various ideas, one of which was to have it be a "Sometimes Vic". It only strictly meets the criteria with the wings deployed.
The gearing situation was fun to mess with. You twist the engine to move the wings. There is an unfortunate amount of slop when doing so, however. Maybe some of you Technic buffs have pointers?
All in all, a highly enjoyable build and very swooshable.
EDIT: Uploaded higher res image.
After CSX L135 grabbed their cars from York Rail at Smiths, they came back to Center Street yard just east of Hanover, PA. Here they broke the train apart and switched it to be in a proper order.
hazards, rear defroster, driving lights and ???, Saw this in a 240 which was sitting in the junqueyard
The A&M Sand Switcher begins its day switching the various sand plants around Springdale and Rogers. The Monnett Turn and Rogers Local will go on duty within the hour followed by the Springdale Local later that morning. The Sand Switcher religiously uses #32, originally BRC #601 and one of six ALCO C424s delivered to the Belt.
Central Maine & Quebec train No. 1, led by three ex-Canadian Pacific SD40-2Fs, switches the Moose River Lumber Co siding at Jackman, Maine on Nov. 21, 2017. Once a load of lumber is picked up and a cut of logs are spotted on the siding, the American crew will park the train to await a Canadian crew that will take it to Farnham, Quebec.
GTW 4921 switches out cars at the Appvion paper Mill in Appleton Wisconsin. The overhead bridge was added in the later years of the mill.
MRL 251 shuffles cars in the yard at Logan on a cool morning. It just dropped the hoppers ahead for the grain elevator and will now put together its train to head west of the 5th Sub.
MRL 844 Local (Logan Local)
MRL SD40-2XR #251
Logan, MT
May 2nd, 2022
The conductor of the L540 switcher heads back to the comfort of the locomotive cab for the trip back to the Edson yard
CEFX 1569 and NECR 3840 work the yard at Brantford.
1569 was pinch hitting for a power short SOR and would be returned in a couple months to CEFX. It would then end up in Cardinal Ontario.
D&S 107 switches out the next days 461, which it'll pull. One of the signs of the changing times on the D&S the last several years has been the introduction of road diesels-electrics. After what I'll politely call a "mistake" with 2 custom made engines for them, D&S decided to go for a more proven model when they announced that they were acquiring 4 DL535E's from the White Pass & Yukon Route. Ordered by the White Pass in 1969, the first 7 of the 10 started being built at ALCO's Schenectady Works before the comapny folded & were sent to their Montreal Locomotive Works subsidiary. Still sporting the classic green & yellow scheme of the White Pass, this engine serves as a sign of the changing times that'll allow the D&S to continue to operate & also give us railfans a chance to now see these engines in action now without having to go to Alaska. 9-3-21
At the Minnesota Commerical's Midway Yard a pair of old GE B23-7's switch out AC tank cars. #44 and 43 were built for the ATSF in 1979 and still doing its part to serve railroad customers in 2023 and hopefully, years to come.
Just another view from the East Randall Wobbe Ln. crossing into little five track yard north of town where the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad classifies its traffic.
I really wanted a good sunny shot here but they were all filtered light except for this one. Alas I didn't have my long lense on so had to settle for this wide view, but it's kind of grown on me over time. I like the brightly lit train and the foreground shadow of the cloud that is moments from swallowing the scene. This view of the whole yard shows its rather diminutive size that belies its role as the main hub of A&M operations.
This is train SFLO (the Springdale local) which was on duty at 11 AM with this pair of classic Alco C420s, numbers 56 and 57 both built for the Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad in Dec. 1965 as their numbers 25 and 26 respectively. They are seen here kicking up dust in the sand coated yard near MP 341.9 (measured from the Frisco's historic corporate headquarters city of St. Louis).
To learn more check out the long caption with this shot: flic.kr/p/2mmJMoD
Springdale, Arkansas
Thursday September 2, 2021