#emdgp9

Mount Hood Railroad

To follow up on the previous post, here are some images taken of the Mount Hood Railroad, in Hood River, Oregon. It originally operated between 1906, when it was built, and 1987. At that time it was purchased and transitioned to primarily a tourist operation.

The railroad is one of the few that still utilize switch-backs. The station dates from 1911, built by the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, a subsidiary of the Union Pacific. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places. The GP9 seems to have been built for the Chesapeake & Ohio in 1957.

Milwaukee Road’s Charter Line, Part One of Three

The Milwaukee Road in Wisconsin was originally called the Milwaukee and Waukesha, and then the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad. Late in 1976, I followed a train eastward on the line from Milton or so nearly to Waukesha. I believe the railroad was built through the area in these photographs in 1852 or 1853. I’ll split the images over three posts here.

We begin at the depot in Whitewater, Wisconsin, and then just east of town. After that we see our little train along the line eastward toward Palmyra—at Woodward Road, and then at Wojtkunski Road (I believe). The locomotive is an EMD GP9 built in May of 1959.

General Purpose

It’s just a geep, as they were called—short for general purpose. I didn’t take many roster shots, but this is a decent one, with good light on the distinctive, and durable, Blomberg B truck.

This particular model, an EMD GP9, was built in January of 1956, sans dynamic brakes, as was common for the Illinois Central. Later, it would have it’s nose chopped, rebuilt into a GP11, and renumbered to 8736. As such, it would continue to serve wearing the so-called Death Star logo of the later iteration of the Illinois Central (post-ICG). Beyond that it worked for the Columbus and Greenville Railroad, and perhaps lastly for the Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway.

In the above image, taken during the ICG era, the locomotive is sitting on a side track on the west side of Bloomington, Indiana. This is on the Illinois Central line to Indianapolis, known as the Hi-Dry.

A Night in Bedford

Here are some shots taken on a November night in Bedford, Indiana. A train of the Milwaukee Road has come around the wye to head down the Louisville & Nashville, former Monon. (The CMStP&P had gotten these trackage rights when the L&N took over the Hoosier Line.) I believe the lantern hanging on the train order mast was a signal that orders would be received.

Lloyd Kimble, the L&N Operator at the time, and a keen railroad historian, is seen in the station after “hooping up” the orders. After this excitement, we must have gone over to the Milwaukee Road yard to shoot a lone geep idling away in the night. The unit is an EMD GP9 built in 1954.

Yard Power

A former Union Pacific GP9, which would become AMTK 763 and wear silver paint (of various phases), moves a train about. We’re atop Roosevelt Road once again.

I think the train *may* be the Illinois Zephyr; it’s powered by the short-lived GE P30CH. There’s a nice assortment of legacy passenger equipment in the background.