September Picture Worth A Thousand Words

"Gee wizz, not another geep!"

This photo is a typical shot obtainable in Waterville, Maine, with minimal luck. In this case it was a Labor Day Sunday, and lately, not much happens on any Sunday on Pan Am's District 1. As I went over older photos for various reasons, I noted that geeps such as these - GP7's & 9's with intact high short hoods - are getting tougher to find. Most railfans know this. While true nationally, it is not true in Waterville. The smaller photo below shows another pair hiding a bit deeper in the yard. That's at least 4 in one spot. That's hard to find anywhere in the entire nation! Even shortlines have tended to replace these units or buy rebuilds with low hoods.

For the number cruncher those are numbers 51, 71, 15 & 45. I'm not going to go into the predecessors except to say this small and shrinking class of units came from the old Boston and Maine RR and the Maine Central RR. Guilford/Pan Am seems to be keeping a few around Waterville to service the branches to Madison and Hinckley. The track on these branches is still light rail on the order of 80-85 lbs. and not in good repair either. These geeps apparently negotiate these rough lines at very slow speed (1-10mph) without making things much worse or falling through the track like a larger and heavier unit might. It also helps to have repair shops in Waterville. Original MEC GP38 #252 apparently mixes in acceptably with these guys, at least on the SAPPI local to Hinckley and is often found in Waterville. I don't know if the GP35's can replace these units one day. They are getting pretty old themselves and they are heavier and rougher on the track. The next few years should be interesting in Waterville (as long as the mills are open anyway) to see what happens after the geeps are finally retired. Fixing the tired track could open a few options, but why would anyone build new track to a troubled industry?

Back to how I ended up on this in the first place: The older the photo I was looking at, the more likely I was to spot a geep, or it's 6 axle counterpart, the SD9. The old Burlington lines where I grew up - CB&Q, C&S and FW&D - were loaded with SD9's switching light branch lines or local industries. They could also be found in road freights. Reviewing locations farther away, featuring the UP mains, AT&SF, D&RGW, CRI&P or MP, and the old photos include plenty of the good old geeps. In fact, I remember many a time I'd pull into some town, locate the depot and then feel let down that there was "only another geep" in attendance. Open any book featuring anything prior to the "megamergers" in the diesel age, and you find geeps everywhere! Newer photos since the late 1970's feature rebuilt units with lowered short hoods and even those were sold off to scrappers and shortlines in the 1980's. Built in the late 1940's and 1950's, they were old units then! That makes those guys in Waterville downright ancient!

Catch them while you can, even if they bore you to tears! You won't be sorry.

BC

Framingham Joint Summit 9-8-09 CSX Boston Sub

P-530 @ 18:16 Cabcar 1703 - 6 cars 1055 pushing (Boston).P-525 @ 18:20 1121 - 6 cars cabcar 1531 (Framingham).P-527 @ 18:31 1054 - 6 cars cabcar 1715 (Worcester).P-532 @ 18:42 Cabcar 1531 - 6 cars 1121 pushing (Boston).P-529 @ 18:52 1052(Greenbush) - 6 cars cabcar 1707 (Worcester).P-531 @ 19:28 1065 - 5 cars cabcar 1504 (Framingham).P-534 @ 19:45 Cabcar 1504 - 5 cars 1065 pushing (Boston).P-533 @ 20:10 1055 - 6 cars cabcar 1703 (Worcester).P-536 @ 20:22 Cabcar 1707 - 6 cars 1052 (Greenbush) pushing (Boston).P-448 @ 20:30 Amtrak Lakeshore Limited 202 - 116 Baggage 1162 ViewLiner Sleeper # 62004 "ViewLiner" 2 AmFleet Cars 1 Horizon Car. (Boston from Chicago).B-721 @ 20:36 6217 - 6213 24 cars from Beacon Park Yard.P-535 @ 21:13 1068 - 6 cars cabcar 1530. (Worcester).Q-115 @ 21:26 5000(Diversity In Motion) - 5280 - 60 - 4523 - 7703 - 5311. The First Joint W.F.P.T. - H.A.P.T. In Framingham in a few years went well.Not much freight,But a lot of HOT RAIL ACTION Anyway.It's always fun when Paul "THE WHEEL MAN" Apollo is around.Maybe a few more Summits in the near future. Till Next Time Railfans. Billy Leazer W.F.P.T. / H.A.P.T.Paul Apollo H.A.P.T. / W.F.P.T.Gary "THE BOSS" Young W.F.P.T.W.F.P.T. / H.A.P.T. Worcester Foreign Power Team.Hebron Any Power Team.

August Picture Worth A Thousand Words

Here is a prime example of learning a lot after the fact. Due to my ignorance, I really believed I was looking at an EMD and a bunch of common commuter cars. The whole scene was a fun one to walk through but boy do I feel a bit silly now.

The picture above is a typical Metrolink commuter stop in Lancaster, CA. This is the end of the line so the train is readying to push back to L-A. This was on August 7th, which was a Friday, and early evening at that. The place was busy and there were three or four uniformed sheriffs at the doors of the cars and wandering around. The patrons were all as anxious as commuters everywhere but most seemed to have evening plans rather than work in mind. The station was reasonably clean, well organized and efficient. A nice visit overall, part of the previously posted trip to California.

Only one thing really stood out, equipment wise, at the time: The Front Runner car behind the locomotive. This got my attention and I mentioned it in a prior post. Sitting between the loco and three bi-level cars, it stood out well. I have ridden the light rail in Salt Lake City and knew that the Utah Transit Authority was expanding into heavier "commuter rail" with the Front Runner service. The link provides some detail. The car turns out to be an old NJT "Comet" car, one of five on loan to Metrolink.

Ignorance became apparent when I have since discovered that the locomotive is not an EMD. The DT&I fan and I were chatting about MPI commuter locomotives and how they had sneaked up on us. It turns out that they are getting down right common, at least in places far from here! A quick glance at the computer confirmed what I missed before. The locomotive above is not EMD but MPI! The links provide much information that I had not comprehended before. Yes, I probably saw all the news articles about the delivery of MPI units to the various roads, but the big picture failed me. Though not consisting of hundreds of locomotives, commuter rail is a growth area that apparently doesn't show up on the radar of the big builders. I would guess that MPI is doing well with their other locomotives as well, staying under the radar there too.

It's been fun to delve into all this stuff.

BC

California Finale

This last day was unique in a couple of ways for this trip. We would spend two consecutive nights in the same motel (Rocklin HoJo) and not drive too far, at least by the standard set to that point.

We spent the morning checking out Roseville again. The Fiddler missed this on the first day and the place was worth visiting again. We had the prior trip to lean on for directions and the Amtrak lot had one slot left for us. The yards were active, trains were moving and we encountered the eastbound California Zephyr. The lighting was different from the last trip but still not ideal. Oh well. Without the telephoto I was limited anyway. The video guys were happy because movement was everywhere. We saw a couple of trains come in from the east and went back to the motel to get our airline boarding passes.

Next was the California State Railroad Museum in "Old Town" Sacramento. This was worth the visit. We had until closing time at 5pm to roam and that turned out to be just right. The collection is excellent and geared toward the public as well as railroad buffs. Lots of emphasis on California history, which I particularly enjoyed. The exhibits were all top notch, including many artifacts and equipment from the earliest days. Fiddler was taken with the "Cab Forward", which was huge.

I enjoyed wandering through the passenger cars. The volunteers in those cars were very helpful and truly enjoyed sharing their knowledge. The guy in the sleeper car turned out to be a Maine native from New Sweden. He knew where Hebron Academy was and was still familiar with most of the state he left in the 1940's. He was also Swedish and Lutheran so when in the course of the conversation I said I went to school in Kansas he immediately asked if I went to Lindsborg (Bethany College)! Cool! He nailed that one. He was very busy with others passing through so I bid him good bye. I noticed that the car was set up to give you the sensation of motion and the windows had lights and sounds passing by. I could have conked out on one of those sleeper beds. What a neat encounter!

The Videoman was setting up a visit with his grandson for dinner so he had my phone. Fiddler and I wandered around the rest of the museum and then headed outside (into the dry heat) to see the tourist line. We also hoped to find Videoman. We found our way around the Sacramento Southern tourist line facilities and the river boardwalk. From there we could see Amtrak California cross the tracks to the depot next to the museum. We walked a wide loop, trying to stay in the shade. No sign of Videoman but we did see some interesting stuff. At 5pm we split up and I went to the front of the museum while Fiddler went to the depot. I quickly found Videoman by the front door and called Fiddler, but it was too noisy on his end. We walked over to the depot to get him and then on to the car to head west for dinner.

We met Videoman's grandson and the other Grandfather at Chevy's Restaurant in Fairfield. Great Mexican food there! The other Grandfather brought photos from a trip on the White Pass and Yukon, plus a railroad book from the Yosemite area. What a fun time. This wasn't Taco Bell (even though there has been a corporate connection). Typical classy joint with all the staff constantly refilling chips or water glasses. They had the employees do the "happy birthday" routine too (3 times) but luckily none of us qualified.

When we left, the Fiddler got to work navigating to a point where we might see some Amtrak California as well as any freight in the area. We eventually got to the busy, modern and clean station at Davis. This was a well lit station on a wye. The platforms curved away from the depot and old tower. As we arrived we couldn't even see the mainline tracks through all the shrubs and other park like fixtures. Signals faced us in both directions and schedules were posted. We had trains within reasonable waiting times. It was too dark for stills but the tripods were set up for video under the plentiful lighting. The SD's to the left are similar to those once used to power the trains through here after the FM's were retired. (Photo from the WPRM on the previous day) That must have been noisy!

Once again the Wheelman's luck entered the picture. We got the Amtrak California trains we expected, but we also saw a 3 car UP inspection train sneak through behind a westbound. The depot was open late but we had our fill and called it a day. Other than getting misdirected down US50 for a while, getting back to Rocklin was okay and the day was over. Late as usual. The UP car at left is from the CSRM earlier in the day.

We made a quick run by Rocklin station in the morning but Davis was our last rail adventure in California. Off to "Sac Int'l" for the return voyage.

This adventure was navigated with good old paper maps courtesy of the state, along with brochures, booklets and magazine articles, but no DeLorme Atlas (too big to pack) and definitely no GPS unit! Yes we saw some "extra" sights as a result but there were no casualties and the car full of navigators got along just fine without arguing with a computer box on the dash. Besides, for most of the trip we had the Wheelman! He could have taught Henry the Navigator a thing or two.

To say this was quite an awesome trip would be an understatement! Many Thanks to the Wheelman for setting this up! The three of us were still pinching ourselves when we got home.

This will be hard for us to top!


BC