Current Classic Trains - I WAS BORN TOO LATE!!!

[daveklepper]

Jim Rice, you are my contemporary, and I saw it all, also.  Even rode behind an Atlantic E-6 PRR from Red Bank to Princeton Junction.   But I am now about 8000  miles away, and since my move you've Acela and electrification to Boston and retaining the view of Manhattan from Hell Gate Bridge and adding some few stretches of really high speed running, you've got a real diesel interurban line from Trenton to Camden, NJ, behaving like a streetcar in the two cities and then using the old Camden and Ambay R/W between with good scenery and with CSX providing freight service, you've got new light rail lines all over the place, many very similar to classic interurbans and some like Baltimore and the San DFiego East line, very scenic, heritage streetcar operations in cities that are beautiful replicas of what was in the '30's and are useful for transportation and not just operating museums, occasional excursions with 844 and other restored main line power, Strassburg, Steamtown, the Nevada Northern, Cumbres & Toltec, Durango & Silverton, the domeliner the Canadian, Amtrak on the Moffat Tunnel route, and plenty of hot trackside spots in places like Chicago and Kansas City and Cajon Pass and Alexandria, VA, and legal opportunities for cab rides....   Lot's going for the hoppy today.

[spokyone]

I am retired now, but I remember riding the Super Chief LA to CHI, then riding the El Capitan back. And riding the old Chicago North Shore interurban from the boot camp at Great Lakes to Chicago. Then on the return trip, when changing from the third rail to the trolley wire, the train would coast to a stop and the trainmen would go out into the cold night to hook up the pole. All of us young sailors would laugh. I wish I wudda taken some pics.

[Anonymous]

Hey guys... first time poster on this forum.  Gotta say... I love trains PERIOD!  I'm grateful to have grown up near Brooten, MN.  I was born in 1972, and The Soo intersected my dad's farm.  I would give anything to go back to the late 70's and have a camera while riding a hayrack next to the Soo mainline, and shoot the parade of first and second generation diesels as well as cabooses that were a constant.  Alas... today... I'm just grateful that that same line is still open, and a major source of traffic for CP.  The parade is much more regular today, and yes there still is a great variety of second generation power that gets a workout on that mainline.  My only problem now... I live in Reno, Nevada!  Oh well, I've grown to love western railroads, and because I travel for my job, get to see trains in Nevada, Arizona, and California.  Even saw my beloved SOO this past spring in Fresno, CA. (See attached pic)  Someday... the locos that are common now will be rare, and we'll all be happy that we kept our camera's handy in the here and now! 

Greg

 

Well ....what a great set of posts!  When I first said I was born too late....I was just honoring the great giant breathing behemoths and the classic photography of yesteryear---I wasn't necessarily gloomingly lamenting the era of today's railroading.

 I DO appreciate the trains of today---matter of fact, things on the rails are a bit more exciting with the newer Amtrak head end power and commuter lines (Metrolink) for passenger service than in the 1970s.  For example, I am near the BNSF mainline and can see a triple=header Genesis amtrak consist every evening.  Before it comes to town, you can observe many BNSF freight trains.  Not all these trains are container trains either....you will see oil tanker consists and if you are lucky REAL "boxcars" like in the 1970s.  The boxcar trains are some of my favorite , but they are few and far inbetween.

 The BNSF freight lines also have a variety of power...you;ll see Norfolk Southern in black mixed in with Cotton Belt diesels in tow.  There will always be a orange and black BNSF up front though.  And the new "Lightning font" lettering on the sides is great to spot.  And hopefully, the Sacramento Railroad museum will have steam fired up because I will be there during Christmas week.

All aboard!

 

Tom M.

 

 

[wjstix]

Well, I've lived my whole life in the Twin Cities area, as did my parents. My Dad was a fan of his back in the 30's. My Mom never liked him - she saw him at a store opening or something and thought it was bizarre that this 'cowboy' singer was wearing spats instead of cowboy boots !!

Funny thing, Slim's radio show in Mpls was sponsored in the '30's by Crazy Water Crystals Co. of Mineral Wells Texas. When my Dad went in the Army in WW2, he did his basic training in Mineral Wells.

I have a couple of his LP's that were put out back in the seventies or eighties by a small local record company, mainly radio transcriptions he did in the early fifties.  (BTW in the song "The Swede from North Dakota" the character in the song  talks about wanting to go down to Minneapolis to see the 'big state fair' so he "Yumps on Yim Hill's little red wagon" - I wonder how many people now would understand the reference to the Great Northern Ry. of James J. Hill..."The Empire Builder" himself!!)

[Greg T.]

Stix!  That's too funny!  I wish there were a statue of one of Brooten's Notables!  I wish we still had our Soo Line First Class depot!  How do you know about Slim Jim?

Greg

[wjstix]

Well I see SOO engines virtually every day, working in Pig's Eye yard along the Mississippi south of St.Paul - many still in the red and white paintscheme. If you get a chance you should take a look.

<> BTW is there a statue or anything in remembrance of "Slim Jim" Iverson in his old hometown of Brooten??

[Greg T.]

Hey guys... first time poster on this forum.  Gotta say... I love trains PERIOD!  I'm grateful to have grown up near Brooten, MN.  I was born in 1972, and The Soo intersected my dad's farm.  I would give anything to go back to the late 70's and have a camera while riding a hayrack next to the Soo mainline, and shoot the parade of first and second generation diesels as well as cabooses that were a constant.  Alas... today... I'm just grateful that that same line is still open, and a major source of traffic for CP.  The parade is much more regular today, and yes there still is a great variety of second generation power that gets a workout on that mainline.  My only problem now... I live in Reno, Nevada!  Oh well, I've grown to love western railroads, and because I travel for my job, get to see trains in Nevada, Arizona, and California.  Even saw my beloved SOO this past spring in Fresno, CA. (See attached pic)  Someday... the locos that are common now will be rare, and we'll all be happy that we kept our camera's handy in the here and now! 

Greg

[slotracer]

Yes for the most part people gravittate to interest in what they were exposed to when they were young, and lament for the things they had just missed before their lifetime, but since the early to mid eighties things have mad a significant change.

Changes throught the 1800's up to the 1960's were advancements in equipment, bigger steamers, then diesels, second generation diesels, change over from wood cars to steel, heavyweight cars to lightweight streamline etc. But still up to the early seventies and late seventies in many areas, the individual rail companies and all the characteristis they bought with them were around for the most part, numerous rail lines, small towns that identified with the rail line that served their town and businesses, railroad architecture etc was still around, some abandonned but the character, variety and flavor part of railroading still existed in one way or another.

That went away for the most part during the eighties and early nineties, numerous rail lines ripped up, rail architecture torn down along with small lineside industries, mainlines sterilized to one or two concrete tie tracks running thru town and never stopping at any industry, corperate paint schemes, look alike wide cab engines, cabooseless trains....less rail lines, no character today.  I would find something in modern railroading if there was something interesting but it has become a faceless, characterless, sterilized corperate entity now that I don't get the least bit excited or interested in.

Yes things have always chenged but as a hobby we all lost big time  in terms of character, variety the very nature of how the railroads used to be woven into the fabric of our country, from city to small town.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

I will agree, all of us tend to regret missing what came just before us (steam, South Shore steeplecabs, Nickel Plate PA's, etc. in my case) and lament the passing of what we saw in our youth (Monon C420's, all of EL, orange MU cars on South Shore).  This is part of human nature.  As I've aged, I've also come to appreciate what's out there in front of me right now, because nothing lasts forever.  I enjoy watching and photographing UP SD70M's, BNSF C44-9W's, the Green Goats as they pass through, and all that's both old and new on BRC and IHB.  I know that there's a lot that I missed and a lot that I saw that's long gone, but I still find railroading as fascinating and captivating as ever. 

[wjstix]

Well Trainboy, you have to keep a couple of things in mind.

One is, look around as best you can to see what you can find. I see second generation diesels almost every day on the CP here in St.Paul...some still in full Soo Line decoration, even a few that are still in Milwaukee orange and black. The engines are there if you look, there are even a few 1st generation engines around. Should be easier once you get your driver's license (if you haven't already).

Second, get a decent camera and shoot everything. Everything will become obsolete - with the fuel crisis that is looming ahead, you might live to see diesels become extinct !! One thing that happens is if you get too focused for looking for one thing (one type of engine for example) you can miss a lot of other things. In the fifties, a lot of guys went out to shoot pictures of steam in action - just steam. They would stand around and talk to each other not paying attention to the diesels going by...afterall, A-B-B-A sets of FT's, RS-3's etc. were just those D#mn Diesels that would always be around !! Before the 1980's, how many folks bothered to shoot a pic of a caboose?? Until they started to become scarce, few people paid much attention to shooting them.

In my own case, my teen years were 1971-78.  I did get to see a fair number of trains, both at home and on trips I took with my folks to the east and west coasts. But I didn't have a good camera until the 1980's, and I had very little info as far as what was out there to shoot. For example we stayed in Harrisburg PA, it was only much later I found out the ex-Pennsy GG-1 electrics ran to Harrisburg and I could have seen them.

Finally, steam is still here !! Yes, tourist lines and railroad museums are not the same as real mainline running, but they're as close as we can get nowadays. A lot of volunteers put time and effort into recreating the glory days of steam, better to experience it that way than not at all.

[trainboyH16-44]

Probably being the youngest one on this topic, I know exactly how you feel...I'm only 16, and to me even an SD40 is a classic train...out here, steam wasn't banished from the mainline until 1953, and steam stayed on the branches and the occasional foray onto the main until late 59...and I missed it by a good 40 years! I missed basically everything....I missed steam. I missed first generation diesel. I barely caught the tailend of second generation diesel, and as far as I'm concerned, it's as good as gone, with all the SD40-2s assigned elsewhere and AC4400s/ES44ACs ruling the main! Anyone born more than 5 years before me does NOT have complaining rights, at least to the extent I do...

Tom, you're expecting too much of the 50's.  The road I went to work for in 1947 was almost entirely diesel and was completely diesel a few years later.  I was just 20, no car yet, no camera, and I was wishing there were a few more steam engines to appreciate!!

Art

What I would give to have lived in that time of motive power variety!

[jimrice4449]

Well, not to gloat but..............

I was born in 1934 which made me grammer school age in the early forties.  My recreation usually consisted of telling my mom I was off to the playground.   She probably thought I meant the one run by the Chicago Parks Board.   Actually it was the elevated embankment shared by the 4 track mains of the NYC and PRR.   If I felt ambitious I could make the 2 mile or so hike to where the two four track mains of the NYC and PRR crossed the 8 tracks of the IC.  On a warm summer day you could sit there and see a moving train for practically the whole day.   The mix ran from green IC electric commuter and orange and maroon SouthShore interurbans through Michigan Central psgr (NYC engines and cars), Big Four psgr (IC engines NYC cars except for the James Whitcomb Riley which kept it's streamlined Pacific into Central Station), IC psgr and frieght and even the occasional Nickle Plate psgr, all of which were powered by steam except for the IC Panama Limited and Green Diamond).    Of course, if I could scrounge streetcar fare, there was always the Downtown tour of the passenger depots.                  

     All this ended in 1950 when my family moved to LA (I went via the SP/Rock Island Golden State).   At this time the Daylight was running 20 cars behind GS-4s and the SP was running San Joaquin Valley frieghts out of LA w/ a cab forward on the point and a couple more scattered through the train.  

      To avoid being a truly insufferable gloater I'll refrain from mentioning travelling in excess of 100MPH on the Hiawatha one day and the 400 the next and my trip from 63d St. in Chicago to St. Louis on the rear platform of a heavywieght observation car on the IC Green Diamond.   Then there was working as a towerman/opr on the SP in Calif. and as a brakeman on the Milw and BN in the Pacific NW.   All told, I hit it just about right timewise and geogrphically.

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[poppyl]

Stix;

Funny, but for some reason I never thought about trains or steam locos while I was humpin' the boonies for thirteen months.  I guess that I had other things on my mind.

Poppyl

[wjstix]

How true !! As much as I love history (railroad and otherwise) I'm OK with the when and where of my birth (Minneapolis MN in 1958...same place and time as Prince by the way, but he looks a lot younger than me.) True I missed steam, but I started out seeing 1940's Baldwin and FM switchers on the MNS, then highnose Soo GP-9's in the eighties and nineties...all with cabooses of course !! I got many chances to see highnose DMIR SD-9's in action, even those Erie Mining F's. Now living in Cottage Grove MN I get to drive to/from work in St.Paul along the Mississippi river, next to BNSF and CP Rail mainlines to Chicago with AC4400's and SD-70's. (Can't see the trains from the house, but I can still hear them!!)

p.s. If I was born a little earlier, I would have gotten to see steam...and I would have gotten to enter the Vietnam-era draft !! Every era has it's plusses and minuses - "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times".

[PBenham]

Growing up within sight of an active rail line, regardless of what the power one saw running on it is reason enough to feel very fortunate, indeed!

[wjstix]

Well as a fifties 'geezer' I don't remember any "shorty" F units??? Maybe you're confusing F units and E units?? F's were freight (and passenger) engines with two 2-axle trucks, E's were maybe 8-10ft longer and had two 3-axle A-1-A trucks.

Even being in Minnesota (as featured in one of the stories) by the time I had a car and camera and could get around c.1984, the F's were pretty much gone. I did get to see quite a few CP/CN/Via Rail F's and FP's in Canada though, and Erie Mining Co. F-9's lasted into this decade.

But then I did grow up in the sixties seeing Baldwin and FM diesels every day on the MN&S in front of my house, and I did get to ride the GN "Badger" behind an E unit though.

[poppyl]

Wait a minute!  I was born in 48 and I don't consider myself an "old geezer"!! 

I do remember steam on the Northern Division of the PRR making the climb from Watkins Glen to Himrod Junction, primarily because of the brush fires they started.  I also remember F's on the Fallbrook Division of the NYC and Erie A-B-B-A F's roaring through Cambridge Springs PA at all hours of the day and running about 50 MPH right through the middle of town.  made quite an impression on this youngster.

Poppyl

[PBenham]

If you had been born in the '50s you would be an old geezer by now. Take it from me, being a geezer is not some thing one would wish for.
I missed out on Fs on B&M and PRR, BUT I have fond memories of EL,LV, NYC,and N&W (Wabash)Fs. There were lots of memories of NYC E7s and E8s, too. FA/FBs? Nope (except for CN/VIA FPA/B2s and FPA/B4s.) I missed almost all NH electrics except EF4/E33s, which I saw in the ex-PRR electric zone. But GG1s on Metro liner make-ups? WOW! Regular service steam? CN 4-8-4s on the Dunnville sub mixed, just missing Pacifics or Mikes during July 1957. BTW I was five then, almost six but they stick in my memory.

[Mimbrogno]

Grass is always greener on the other side of the camera lens! I do share your sentiment though, it's hard to imagine Baldwins ben out of production for 50 years!

Matthew Imbrogno
-Mechanical Vollenteer, Arizona Railway Museum
www.azrymuseum.org

[Anonymous]

Tom, you're expecting too much of the 50's.  The road I went to work for in 1947 was almost entirely diesel and was completely diesel a few years later.  I was just 20, no car yet, no camera, and I was wishing there were a few more steam engines to appreciate!!

Art

[Anonymous]

I love the steam and diesel highlights of the Current Classic Trains on the newstand!  WOW!  What a full-featured magazine issue this is!  Way to go Kalmbach editors!

The steam pictorials are outstanding...and I was never too big a fan of the "F" units (at least the shorty F3s and F7s) until now...what a great selection of photos!  Why wasn't I kickin' in the 50's?

BORN TOO LATE!!!

 

Cheers,

Thomas P. Metzger