Feb 7, 2022
"Back in May of 1976, America was in the throughs of Bi-Centennial madness, and the railroads were rushing to join the craze. Looks like the Cuyahoga Valley was a little late to the show, but still made an appearance with this red, white, and blue SW1200, the 1284. Meanwhile, there's a different story sitting behind the 1284. Erie-Lackawanna F7 7121 sits in the IHB yard at Riverdale with an almost certain future, and it wasn't good. Conrail had come into being just a month earlier, and the pruning of the massive locomotive had begun. Seeing the sharp looking F7 sitting in a yard track and not over at the engine facility was not a good omen."
Riverdale, Illinois
May 9, 1976
Photo by Bill Johnson