I never had a chance to see many Sprint trains in Bensenville, and most of the ones I did see were on the ramp without power.
Does anyone here have any recollections of early '80s Sprint trains? I'm trying to determine how large the fixed trainset was, and what power was generally used. I remember a single SD40-2 the few times I saw one on the road, but have heard single GP40s were also used on occasion.
Thanks!
Ken
If I am reading the Jim Scribbins Milwaukee Road history book correctly, when the Sprint trains began around 1978 they used two GP40s. Then they shifted to one SD40-2. Then they ran with one GP40. What I remember is the single GP40. I think by the early 1980s you were looking at one GP40 although I am sure someone has photographic proof from time to time an SD40-2 stepped in.
I remember an early 1980s summer night railfanning at the Grange Avenue bridge on Milwaukee's south side. A sprint train was coming north and an MP15 local was also coming north "wrong main." For whatever reason the crew on the MP15AC decided to have some fun and tried to pace the sprint train! The two locomotives, both roaring, came under the bridge at almost exactly the same time although there is no way the MP15AC was going to beat the sprint. I can still remember the sight of those headlights approaching, the sound, and the smell of hot exhausts as they passed under the bridge. At times like that it was hard to believe the Milwaukee Road was slipping away from us.
Dave Nelson