VI The End
a) Working on the railroad, briefly, as third-trick operator/clerk, Palestine, Illinois
Night, Palestine, Illinois
GM&O GP30 number 509 is resting at ICG’s Palestine, Illinois, engine facility. This engine is riding on Alco trucks, which were recycled when older engines (probably FAs) were traded in. Image made during January or February of 1979.
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Westbound Train Between Palestine and Robinson, Illinois
This train, from Palestine, is approaching Robinson and is probably bound for Effingham, Illinois. The two pictures were taken at a spot about three miles west of Palestine and about one-half mile east of Illinois Highway One.
I believe part of this line was originally laid down as narrow gauge. The minimal grading on this part of the line, easily seen as it crests a small hill in the first image, seems to speak to its humble beginnings. Two images were taken during January or February, 1979.
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Tulip Trestle
This bridge is alternately called Richland Creek Viaduct or Solsberry Trestle. It is situated on the former Illinois Central branch to Indianapolis known as the Hi-Dry (now Indiana Rail Road).
The train is northbound in this instance and the view from the engine seems downright aerial in nature. Photographs were taken in late 1978 or early 1979.
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b) Riding the Rio Grande Zephyr and Amtrak’s North Coast Hiawatha
Rio Grande Zephyr
On July 30th 1979, I had the pleasure of riding the Rio Grande Zephyr from Denver to Salt Lake City. The first image shows the train in Denver prior to departure.
In the second image, the westbound train speeds into the eastern portal of the famous Moffat Tunnel. The 6.2 mile long bore was built between 1923 and 1927. The Rio Grande would discontinue the Zephyr in 1983.
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Eastbound North Coast Hiawatha, Bozeman, Montana
This Amtrak train was named in honor of earlier passenger trains on both the Milwaukee Road and the Northern Pacific. The North Coast Hiawatha operated between 1971 and 1979.
The E-unit in the consist above was used to supply steam heat for the legacy equipment running behind it. (The F40PH was the first Amtrak locomotives equipped with head-end power.) The train here was headed eastbound and was photographed in August of 1979.
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Riding the North Coast Hiawatha in August of 1979
I boarded this eastbound train in Bozeman, Montana, and rode it all the way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I walked like a drunk when I got off the train, with sea-legs, unable to negotiate terra firma after such a long ride.
Left image: Milwaukee Road meet—Jim Shepard thinks this may be between Tunnel City and Sparta, Wisconsin. Right image: MP15AC is bathed in late day light on the west side of Portage, Wisconsin. Thanks to Matt Holman for the location.
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c) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, area
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
In the first image, a Westbound Amtrak North Coast Hiawatha is passing by on the Milwaukee Road mainline. In the second picture, a southbound C&NW train is seen crossing above. These images were shot from West Watertown Plank Road. Photographed in August of 1979.
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Milwaukee, Wisconsin
SD40-2 151 and 133 head up a Milwaukee Road train in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photograph taken in August of 1979.
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Milwaukee Road Fs and FMs
This night finds some interesting Milwaukee Road power resting in its namesake city. Brian Dessereau thinks this location is Humboldt Yard on the Beer Line in Milwaukee.
Unit 93C is an F9A and the other unit attached to the caboose (number 774, perhaps), is a Fairbanks Morse H-10-44. Image taken 26 February 1977. Ron Potsch probably handled the lighting.
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The C&O Car Ferry Badger
The Badger is still in service (to transport people and automobiles)—it makes runs between Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and Ludington, Michigan.
When I saw it back in the 1970s, it was sailing from Milwaukee on the Wisconsin side, where these pictures were taken (hauling rail cars). C&O SW9 5091 looks on as the car ferry Badger prepares to steam across Lake Michigan.
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VII Epilogue—including a few things since the 1970s
Indiana Rail Road Fall Special—Richland Creek Viaduct
While not an active railfan, I would photograph occasionally as opportunities presented themselves. Here, INRD 200 (formerly ATSF 2527), a CF7, leads a fall passenger special over the Richland Creek Viaduct.
This location is near Solsberry, Indiana, on the former Illinois Central line to Indianapolis (known as the Hi-Dry). Image was taken in October of 1990.
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Near Arches National Park
This southbound train is on the D&RGW branch south of Crescent Junction in Eastern Utah. We are three miles NW of the entrance to Arches National Park. Photograph scanned from medium-format negative taken in the summer of 1996.
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Intermontane Region
Pictured here is the westbound California Zephyr on the Denver and Rio Grande Western about one mile west of Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado. The stream is the fairly young Colorado River.
Several medium-format negatives were scanned and digitally stitched together to produce this image. The train was seen during the summer of 1999.
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