"This is better than any fireworks I've ever seen" -Wick Moorman 7/3/2012
I was there. He was right.
It was sunny and hot. Mid 90's. It was humid. Dew point in upper 60s. It was crowded. Several thousand. People were cowering in whatever shade they could find. They were lined up at the drinking fountains refilling water bottles. They were passing out right and left and being hauled out by the very busy EMTs. But, those are just details....
It was terrific!
NS and the museum folk put on quite a show. First up, they took each locomotive for a spin on the turntable, sort of like models on a runway. People were lined up 3 and 4 deep around the rim of the turntable. There was a viewing platform and some bleachers available, but most people opted for an up-front view.
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The crowd at the pit Tuesday morning. |
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Making sure the wheels stay where they are supposed to... |
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Lackawanna gets her turn |
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Erie going for a spin |
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All lined up for the speeches to begin |
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Brainy, Wick and North Carolina Dept of Cultural Resources Secretary Linda A. Carlisle....and half of Jim Wrinn of Trains Magazine |
The lighting wasn't great for pictures at the turntable, but there was narration describing some of history, effort and nuances of each railroad and it's paint scheme.
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New York Central freight black lightning stripes |
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Lehigh Valley with chevron striping on the nose |
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Sun-lit noses and sweaty railfans |
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My sentimental favorite heritage unit rolling toward the turntable. |
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The long hood end of the N&W unit. In a "what-if" world, would this have been the F end? |
Following the speeches, they started a parade to the south in an area the named "Heritage Hill". They did their best to keep the locomotives aimed the right way relative to the sun.
First came the Southern family.
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Southern "Cresecent" green |
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Sharp looking Central of Georgia |
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The obscure, original Norfolk Southern |
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The even more obscure Interstate |
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Southern traditional black on Savannah and Atlanta |
The museum had spotted some of their collection in the area making for some interesting comparison shots.
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Southern E8 |
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Norfolk Southern Baldwin AS616 |
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Southern FP7 |
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Southern GP30 |
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Heritage unit with E8 |
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Wabash Heritage next to Norfolk Southern Baldwin |
After the sun swung around a bit, they continued with the N&W family.
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N&W in "C&O merger" blue |
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The New York, Chicago and St. Louis... |
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known as the "Nickel Plate" |
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Virginian in the Trainmaster scheme |
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Very sharp looking Wabash |
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The "you can't miss it" Illinois Terminal. Where's the trolley pole go? |
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Red shadows on capital letters! |
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All lined up |
And, finally after the sun move around a bit more, the Conrail Family.
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Classic Conrail paint scheme |
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PRR 5 strip Tuscan Red with BP-20 inspired keystones |
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Keystone in circle logo |
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PC wearing the somewhat controversial Brunswick Green paint |
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Erie passenger scheme |
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Sharp looking Lackawanna paint |
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CNJ |
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Reading with the "Bee Line" slogan |
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Lehigh Valley in Cornell Red |
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Monongahela in "Super 7" gray scheme |
There was a lot of opportunity to get up close to the locomotives...although if you got TOO close or stayed TOO long, you'd get hoots and hollers from guys trying to take pictures!
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1968 revisited? |
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Looks like it could be Erie in 1990! |
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Rolling off the turntable, headed for Heritage Hill. |
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Conrail with some predecessors |
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NYC and PRR - too close for comfort? |
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Erie - Lackawanna |
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Could be Bethlehem? |
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The Anthracite Roads |
There was plenty of other stuff to look at, too.The museum's regular collection was on display in the roundhouse. There were tables with cool stuff for sale. I bought a Conrail T shirt. NS was giving away a free book, "Eat Steel. Spit Rivets." The railroad historical societies all had booths and Amtrak showed up with some equipment you could tour including a diner, sleeper and dome car.
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One of Amtrak's five heritage locomotives |
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The only Viewliner Diner |
After nine sweaty hours, two liters of water and a quart of Gatorade, I had seen and done enough. It was time to call it a day. What next? Maybe I'll try to catch one of these heritage locomotives out on the road, doing some real work.
But, for now, I think I'll stay inside and enjoy these pictures in the cool for a while!
Don: Thanks for this Photo Posting!
ReplyDeleteWhat memories,and what fun :~))
Thanks for sharing them.
Sam
Along side the Eldorado sub on
the BNSF Transcon!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos. Wish I had been within a couple hundred miles of Spencer and I would have been there! Alas, I live in Oklahoma for now and have to look for the Heritage fleet on the BNSF north - south mainline in OKC.
ReplyDeleteDavid, future NS/BNSF/TRE/KCS/or other RR employee when the military is done with me!
Would you mind if I posted a link to your blog page with the NS Heritage units on our web page? www.neffvideo.com
ReplyDeleteThanks!
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