Railway Historical

Fires in Canada must be fundamentally different than ones in the west: peat, perhaps? Instructions for the day (and tomorrow): stay indoors.

Smoky Sun

Sunset, West Bay

Two things can be true at once: the sunset was spectacular and the iPhone jacks up color way too much.

Fifty Years Ago... Mitchell, Indiana

Here we see a southbound Amtrak Floridian at Oak Street in Michell, Indiana. The passenger consist of legacy equipment is being pulled by two EMD SDP40Fs.

This line was part of the Louisville & Nashville at the time, formerly the Monon. The Hoosier Line ran between Louisville and Chicago, with a couple of branch lines (to Indianapolis, Michigan City, French Lick, and the coal fields in the southwest portion of the state). The train will soon pound over a crossing with the east/west B&O line that ran between Cincinnati and St. Louis.

Back to this photo: upon the passing of the lead locomotive, the distinctive semaphore signal, camera left, is in the process of dropping to the stop position. The other semaphore (with doll arm) will soon rise to reflect that the block the Amtrak train has just vacated is now clear. The doll arm indicates that the signal governs one track over from the signal (i.e. the main and not the side track).

The number on that signal mast indicates this spot is 255.8 miles from Chicago's Dearborn Station.

Fifty Years Ago... A Haven for F-Units

In the mid- to late-1970s, Bloomington, Illinois was well-known as a haven for the remaining GM&O F-units.

With this during the Illinois Central Gulf years, one of them, 806A, got the orange and white treatment and renumbered to 1615. All of these units are EMD F3As built for the railroad in 1946 or 1947.

Fifty Years Ago... When They Were New

Here we see a southbound Amtrak Illini, number 381, rolling by Champaign Tower, on the Illinois Central. I recall that the EMD F40PH, as a model, was brand new at the time.

We went back later that day, once it was turned around for the morning run north, and did some night shots. We even climbed inside the engine compartment for a photo (compare with the interior of the Milwaukee Road F found in my previous post).

Fifty Years Ago... The F-units of Latta Yard

Back in the 1970s, there was a little set of F-units, one being a slug, that seemed to be based at Latta Yard in Jasonville, Indiana. This is along the Milwaukee Road’s Southeastern line.

We would venture over to do night shots every so often, and this one hosted a nearly-full moon. The times were very different then—with rail photographers being able to crawl all over the units, inside and out.

Strawberry Moon