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As we have some time to scan and sort boxes of prints from 1980 to 2000 or so, here are "some old prints". This first batch is from my brand new in 1998 N65 Nikon film camera. I finally could afford a new camera. 8 years or so later digital changed life as we knew it. Some of the Topeka KS BNSF shops and a few from around Omaha.
This bunch, except for the first 2, is older but not real sure when. Early 90's I guess. ATSF is 1972 at Albert KS. 844 on an excursion when painted 2 tone gray.
Brand new tunnel motors at Albright NE. Albright is where the Rock Island breaks away from the UP and the MOP in South Omaha and heads SW toward Colorado. #43 is at MP 39 on the BN. A KCS was unusual then. Quite common the last couple years with grain trains.
Time has not been good to the color on some of these prints. #49 is an NW5 in running condition. Its body is now mounted on top of some containers in Council Bluffs. Lots of borrowed power and many bought from other roads, particularly the RI buying stuff toward the end.
I really enjoyed the sound of the IC geeps when they were kicking cars in the Council Bluffs yard. I made models of the MOP switcher at Salina(#54). The engineer was a neighbor of my brother-in-law and he gave me a tour of loco. I built a model for him too. I wonder if the 1617 is still in the PNW?
Seeing photos of the Western Pacific units brings back memories. I lived beside the WP's South Sacramento yard for several years and have a ton of slides of the WP. Too bad I don't have a slide scanner as members would probably like to see those old photos from the mid-70's to early 80's.
Photos of the N&W are interesting as it is a railroad I associate with hauling coal over the Appalachia Mountains on the East Coast
The only WP I saw was after the merger and units started to show up in Omaha. I would shoot Santa Fe on trips to Kansas to visit my girlfriend and later my wife(same person).
Took pics of equipment and building too. The handcar shed is at Pacific Junction (you can tilt your head cause it's too much work to turn it in the computer). Oh good, now the prints are starting to stick to the top of the scanner. MILW Fairbanks were a staple in Council Bluffs. I enjoy their sound, very mellow. Derailment at California Junction Iowa. That is where the CNW diverged to Sioux City or Western Nebraska and Wyoming. Never made it to California.
At some time Fremont NE had a hand levered interlocking on the south side of UP. The CB&Q, CNW and UP had access to the industrial area, but had to cross each other. The paper diagram in frame is worse for wear because of moisture or rain or snow or hail or wind. Let's build the weed cutter in N scale.
Remember when switch lamps were everywhere? This one is in the MP yard in Hoisington KS. Couple more of the derailment at Cal Jct and a derailment on the Milw in east Council Bluffs. 6939 in Des Moines Iowa on a special to a baseball game.
That red car in the background of one of your photos looks like a 1973 Pontiac that I had.
Love those FM's. Fairbanks-Morse was located in Milwaukee and served by the Milwaukee Road. The oddly striped BN unit was a former CB&Q unit that had received that experimental paint scheme prior to the merger.
I love the steam locomotives of the years. The 844, 3985, 1522. Grand larger locomotives. One of the most fun chases was the 1385 on it's home rails of CNW thru Missouri Valley Dunlap and Denison. I had to cut the chase there because of 2nd shift work, but the trip on misty cloudy day yielded some great sounds and a few pictures. The last picture is from the cab of MILW 104A in the Council Bluffs yard looking over the turntable in Nov 1974. Bill the red car is a Chevy Nova, cousin of the Pontiac.
Three oldies: BN at Waverly NE in Nov of 1971, BN in Council Bluffs in 1974, those tracks don't exist now and 2 MP GP 15's they are about a year old. These are on the Weeping Water to Union line.
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