HAPT Slugfest

After the last post I started to wonder just how many slug pictures I could find from the last few years. I also thought it would be good if at least one HAPT person was around when the photo was taken.

The first photo is familiar to anyone in the greater Hebron metroplex. The St. Lawrence and Atlantic at Lewiston Jct. is where one can find "road slugs" around these parts, unless you happen to find them on the way to Quebec. As I understand it, the crews like to have the slugs lead the train because they are quieter and yet have control stands to run like a normal locomotive. This particular shot is a repeat of sorts since I just love those GP40X details on the second unit. You'll note a distinct lack of fans and grills on each end which is the easy way to spot a slug of any kind, usually.

This shot is from Green Springs, WV on a HAPT journey to Sand Patch with the Wheelman and the Fiddler. We found this former GP35, now road slug, just as the sun was going down back in July of 2007. It arrived from Cumberland as we got to town. It crawled it's way around this very public wye and continued on a mile or two to the South Branch Valley Railroad interchange. We watched them for a few minutes but the light failed and nothing was happening.


This shot is at the eastbound MARC platform in Brunswick, MD earlier in the same day. A stone train was arriving as we were. Pure luck put my favorite GP30 body style on the point in the form of a road slug. After the elation of another GP30 began to wear off, I noticed those cars rocking real hard on a very low joint right across from where I was standing, so I moved a bit. Brunswick had some scary track and another two mains right behind me, across the parking lot with even scarier stuff. I guess the MARC mains get all the good track in these parts.


This has to be Christmas break 2006, Wheelman and I taking a 24 hour run north. This guy was fun to watch. It was attached to a normal rebuilt geep that is stationed at Coteau Jct, QC. They were sorting cars on the curved yard on the west leg of the wye behind the depot. Let's say there were a lot of rolling cars that stopped rapidly when they found the cut already in place. Reminded me of a hump yard, but this was flat switching. CSX trains and Ottawa Central visit this yard so it can be a busy place. I've seen this same type of locomotive combo all over the CN system, including North Fon du Lac, WI on the old WC. Wheelman has caught them in the deep south on old IC rails. Countless railfans have posted photos of these all over the place.

Here is a bit of Wheelman luck and some wild navigation. This is MLK weekend in 2008 for our previously posted trip to Pittsburgh. The afternoon before we left for home we drove up to Youngstown, OH to see what we could find. A bit of dead reckoning got us to the Ohio Central yards where this item was found. Sure looks like an old RS11 on the top side. EMD trucks seem to be a common touch after a few decades of wear. This one seemed isolated so we didn't know if it was used for road or yard, though my guess would be both.


This little KCS unit has the Alco look. The KCSHS website says it is a former CNW Alco S2, born in 1942. A wartime relic! I've seen it previously nose on but cannot find a photo (probably a slide from when my SLR finally died). It also appears to have matching trucks with it's master. The Kansas Correspondent must have been around for one of these. Here it was kicking around the North Kansas City locomotive facilities in June of 2007 along with a bunch of other off-beat units that held my attention longer.

Above we have a more recent May 2007 shot from the Selkirk hump. The SD38 is still gone but the former RSD12, now slug with EMD trucks, is still going strong in the latest paint scheme. Below, at Buckeye Yard in Columbus, OH in Aug. 1999 a pair of sets work the hump in the old Conrail habit of SD38 plus old RSD12 body slug. I have a similar photo from Selkirk, but we've seen enough of that place here. The DT&I Fan and I were touring Ohio hotspots that year.

I end with a going away (always better than nothing) shot from Queensgate Yard in Cincinnati, OH in Aug. 1999. I think I have photos of a similar setup in this spot from 1980 or so with Chessie System paint. The locomotive facilities are behind me so this was a great place to get photos of that "southern" road (not so southern by 1999). This place is "off limits" now, until someone legally challenges the local Barney Fifes. This looks like a very dull ex-geep slug. Very little character compared to the Alco body slugs. Here we already see SD40's doing heavy yard work. Sure looks like the future at Selkirk.

I'm sure I have more slug photos somewhere to run through a scanner, but this was enough for this task. I just grabbed the handy ones here. Newton, KS always had ATSF slug sets roaming around, set up like CN does with a rebuilt geep. Argentine yard in KC was always good for a few too. Almost any major city east of there was good for finding slugs. Funny how there weren't many further west in Colorado while I was a cub railfan. I'd probably know more about them now. But, with the SLR sporting former GP40x's hooked to later GP body road slugs, I'll get over it.

Another itch scratched.

BC