#legacyequipment

[railwayhistorical]

GG1 with a Light Train Given the direction of the lighting, this diminutive train (at Perryville, Maryland) is obviously northbound. Some knowledgeable folks on FB tell me this may have been the Washington section of the National Limited (which connected variously at Philadelphia or Harrisburg).

Perryville sits upon the eastern shore of the Susquehanna River, with Havre de Grace across the river on the western shore. These two images, shot by Richard Koenig, were taken at Perryville, Maryland, on March 21st 1977.

[railwayhistorical]

Moffat Tunnel

This image was made from the dome car while riding on the Rio Grande Zephyr. I've posted one of these images before, but added a previous shot approaching the famous tunnel. As stated before, this wonderful train ran between Denver and Salt Lake City. I was headed westward on my ride, and so this is the eastern portal.

This 6.2 mile bore, which pierces the continental divide, was built by the Denver & Salt Lake Railway between 1923 and 1927. The first train went through the tunnel in February of 1928. The Denver, Rio Grande & Western took over the line in 1931.

Prior to the building of the tunnel, the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway (DN&P) crawled over the mountain using switchbacks, loops, and very steep grades (4%). David Moffat, on the board of the railway, conceived of the tunnel to eliminate all of that—but would not live to see it built.

This train would be discontinued in 1983 but a few months later Amtrak began running their train, the California Zephyr on this route and still does today.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken August 30th 1979.

[railwayhistorical]

Moffat Tunnel

This image was made from the dome car while riding on the Rio Grande Zephyr. As stated in the previous post, this wonderful train ran between Denver and Salt Lake City. I was headed westward on my ride, and so this is the eastern portal of the famous tunnel.

This 6.2 mile bore, which pierces the continental divide, was built by the Denver & Salt Lake Railway between 1923 and 1927. The first train went through the tunnel in February of 1928. The Denver, Rio Grande & Western took over the line in 1931.

Prior to the building of the tunnel, the Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway (DN&P) crawled over the mountain using switchbacks, loops, and very steep grades (4%). David Moffat, on the board of the railway, conceived of the tunnel to eliminate all of that—but would not live to see it built.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken August 30th 1979.

[railwayhistorical]

Hustling Across Illinois This is a westbound Amtrak National Limited in Altamont, Illinois.

We on the Conrail line between Terre Haute, Indiana, and St. Louis (former Pennsy/Penn Central). That’s a relatively new EMD F40PH (built in December of 1977) on the point of the train, which means the legacy cars here have been retrofitted for head-end power (HEP). The red Ford pickup truck completes the snowy Midwestern scene.

The National Limited would be discontinued on October 1st later that same year. One image by Richard Koenig; taken in February of 1979.

[railwayhistorical]

Some Joliet Action

Here are two images made while spending some time in Joliet back in the mid-1970s. All of these trains are either northbound on the Alton or eastbound on the ATSF, clattering over the Rock Island diamonds, headed toward Chicago.

The first photograph has a northbound Amtrak train—most likely the State House, arriving on the Alton (GM&O). The second picture shows a Santa Fe manifest blasting through with six units, the first three being what looks like big General Electric U36Cs.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken September 20th 1975.

[railwayhistorical]

From the Quad Cities

This is where Marley Road flies over the Rock Island, just a bit east of New Lenox, Illinois. The photograph was made in the waning days of Rock Island intercity passenger train service. The train pictured is the Quad Cities Rocket.

Image by Richard Koenig; taken September 5th 1976

[railwayhistorical]

SDP40F in Phase II Paint

I assume this unit is from the initial batch of SDP40Fs from La Grange—beyond its fairly low number, it has the more complicated sheet metal work on the nose. (Later ones had a simplified design, with a flat section where the access door is located.)

The reason this locomotive is looking so marvelous—in Phase II paint—is that it has just come out of the Illinois Central Paducah shops after being refurbished. Too bad that the entire fleet of this model would be taken out of service later this very year or early the next due to a mysterious problem that caused it to derail with enough regularity that it was untenable.

The problem *may* have been due to large water tanks which were needed for the steam generator. (This locomotive was designed to haul legacy equipment that still used steam heat.) There's also a question about a newly designed truck. In any event there's never been a definitive reason for the issue. The engines would be returned to EMD which recycled some components in the manufacture of the F40PH for Amtrak; some of the units were reworked into freight locos that ran for the ATSF.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken June 12, 1976.

[railwayhistorical]

Legacy Equipment

Three Alco RS3s work the Amtrak facility in Chicago. Number 117 is ex-PC 5441, nee PRR 8441 (built November of 1953), number 125 is ex-PC 5502, nee NYC 8253 (built June of 1951), and number 122 is ex NH 523 (built August of 1950). The two SDP40Fs have recently had Phase II paint applied.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken February 27th 1977.