New and Old

BNSF ES44AC 5756 leads KCS 4002 and TFM 1631 on a south bound Martin Lake coal train past LASTA's SP 745 2-8-2 at Page. The LASTA movement from Kansas City to New Orleans had been plagued with all kinds of problems from the KCS pilot locomotive that had been assigned at KC to 745 own minor aliments. A few days after this photo 745 would continue on to New Orleans, though not under her own power. For the record, 745 pulled 8 loaded private varnish cars and push one dead SD40M-2 from Pittsburg Kansas to Heavener, Oklahoma while still maintaining track speed of 40 most of the way. Though she never did get back on schedule after the 6 hours lost troubleshooting issue with the SD40M-2 pilot in a siding. The folks at LASTA should be proud that artifact was able to work that hard that far.