Missed Opportunities

[Fergmiester]

Realizing I'm in my forties I'm starting to realize some of the opportunities I have missed. Big or Little it doesn't matter. But as I bike through different parts of Nova Scotia along the Rail Trails I realize some of the wonderful opportunities to document some of the last vestigages of railroading in the Atlantic Canada region over the last 20 years. In 81' while residing in Sydney the old coal trestle at Sysco sat still. Though ugly and delapidated it stood as a testimony to a long history of coal production in Cape Breton. It was torn down several years ago. In 82' while stationed in St John's Newfoundland I would walk past the shops of the Newfoundland railway (narrow gauge) on a regular basis, never once did I think to take a picture. That railway was torn up in the late 80's. Two months ago while in Sydney once again, this time with a digital camera, ready to take pictures of the servicing yard and shop, which also has a working turntable I find the batteries are dead. This week I read in the paper this may be the last few months of the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway as business is down.

So in short if the opportunity presents itself at the very least take a picture it may be all you have 20 years from now.

Fergie

[Big_Boy_4005]

Anymore, it's like you should take a picture of any railroad related thing you see, because so much of it is dissappearing. That's one nice thing about the internet, it gives us a place to collect bits of history.

I was curious about some old Milwaukee Road passenger cars, and found an entire site devoted to just that. My question was how many Sky Tops were made? Not only did I get the answer 10, but there were photos and descriptions of the disposition for each car. While I was there I checked out all of their Super Domes too. (Many of the cars in question were owned by the CN for a while.[;)])

I have some interesting old photos taken over the years. The trick is to get them up to the net so they can be shared. Maybe we should all have that as a common goal in our lifetimes.[^]

[fiatfan]

The one drawback that I see to the internet is that so much is here today, gone tomorrow. The info one the Milwaukee Road passenger cars is a case in point. Someone has obviously spent a lot of time gathering this information.

What happens to that information when he loses interest? The information is probably on a personal web page. Suppose he moves and decides setting up the website in his new location is not worth his effort anymore.

These and any number of reasons result in the loss of information which we as model railroaders consider valuable. In the grand scheme of things, do we really need to preserve this information forever? If we do, who pays for the storage?

Just some musings form an old guy...

Thanks for reading.

Tom

[Jetrock]

Probably the biggest railroading ones that come to mind is the fact that I have lived in downtown Sacramento since 1993 and, since I got back into model railroading two years ago, realized that I:

Missed not one but two Railfairs at the California State Railroad Museum
Missed checking out the Sacramento Locomotive Works when they were still in operation, as well as the Sacramento Yards (which are now empty, highly contaminated fields.)
Missed seeing Sacramento Northern and WP's Haggin Yard, which is now a "Rails to Trails" trail--and while being able to stroll along what used to be the mainline is nice, personally I prefer rails to trails.
Also missed observing the WP's Jeffrey Shops and Yard in south Sacramento, now also a big open field.
Missed seeing the "Green Goat" in Roseville Yard--I found out about it the month after they moved it out of there.
Missed taking photos of at least a dozen treasured buildings in downtown Sacramento that have been leveled for new development.

I usually have a camera, disposable or regular, in my car at all times to capture just those sort of things. I used my last one up recently and need another...I know more stuff is coming down soon. Any railroad-related thing is open season for my camera...

[garr]

What is mundane today will be tomorrow's treasure. Think of all the steam photographers who put away their cameras at the end of the steam era and missed the bulk of the 1st generation diesels. These missed photos would have the same value as the steam photos do today.

Common shots available today, such as standard-cab locos leading trains, will have a totally different value in a decade or two.

So keep the camera charged, loaded, and aimed. For tomorrow you will be glad, even if it's just another NS, CSX, BNSF, etc. today.

Jay

[brothaslide]

Missed out on trains?!?!?

I missed a bunch of good concerts back in the early 1980s. All the guys in the bands I liked are much older now and they just don't have that same "spark" anymore - if they are a band at all now.

[Anonymous]

I am now living in Texas and kick myself nearly every day for the pictures I didn't take when I was growing up in NJ and going to college in Philadelphia to include: GG1's, MP54s running under wire, first generation diesels, the CNJ interlocking in Red Bank etc. etc. Now, whenever I go back to NJ i have my camera in hand as you never know what might not be there next time.

[ericsp]

I average about a roll of film a week.

[Jetrock]

One "missed opportunity" that some might not think of is family history--after getting into trains, I had a discussion with my grandfther about them, who told me stories of his father, who worked as a woodworker for Chicago Northwestern. His uncle also worked for CNW as a conductor, which became a sideline about racism in the early 20th Century--my great-grandfather was Italian and looked it, and so never got promoted, while his brother-in-law (my grandfather's uncle) was also Italian but had blonde hair and fair skin and told people he was Polish, and so was promoted to conductor.

My great-great-grandfather also worked for the railroads, in a track gang--one day he took a handcar out to inspect a section of recently-laid line along a mountainside, which caved in under him, and neither his body nor the rest of the inspection crew were ever found.

If I hadn't mentioned my interest in railroading I never would have heard these stories. For those of you whose older relatives are still around, feel free to share your love of trains--you might hear a tale of passenger train trips long past, or a trolley system where they grew up, or maybe even about a relative you never knew about who worked for the railroads in the age of steam.

Pack a tape recorder along with the camera.

[railfanespee4449]

I'd love to pass a law requiring secondhand equipment to stay in it's colors!

[Anonymous]

There ARE photo and information repositories of exactly what you guys are thinking should exist! They are the R.R. historical associations! Join the historical society of the railroad you desire information on.

I have been a member of the Northern Pacific Railroad Historical Association for three years. You know what!?! The NPRHA owns the N.P.'s logo! BNSF can not ask for money for the use of this trade mark, as they don't own it! There are 4 yearly magazines on my RR's history and I have access to most of the printed material in them over the years the orginization has existed and printed this information. I feel the annual fees to be very reasonable, $25.00 per year for the N.P.R.H.A.

I would think that any of the RR Historical Associations would be most interested in photos any of you have on the line. If you make photos available, I think you wouldn't have to wory about them being lost in time!

[darth9x9]

Had I known that Chessie would be going away, I would have delayed my entry into the army by a year just so I could video and photograph everything Chessie that I could find. Hindsight is 20/20……..

[Jetrock]

deschane: Amen. I'm a member of two such organizations (the Bay Area Electric Railway Association, and the California State Railroad Museum Foundation) and do archive work for BAERA. I have made use of several such libraries, as they are invaluable--but in many ways being able to take "modern-day" photos can also be helpful, due to the advatages of color, higher resolution, or just different angles.

And I'm leaving my railroad photos to said libraries when I die, so maybe someday someone will flip through my photo albums and archive them the way I archived photos taken about 100 years ago!

[slotracer]

I've heard references in the past about steam era photographers who put their stuff away and didn't shoot 1st generation diesel and what more wea all might have had preserved on film today etc. I agree there is a loss in that was not captured but also understand that the motivating factor for many of those guys was taken away when the door was closing on steam. It's kinda tough to say what other people should have done. Are some of them kicking themselves....probably....are other fine with their decison...probably too. I had the same feeling when Conrail came and took away roads I loved....the EL and LV primarily.....I stopped taking photos except for old stations, shortlines etc. I never once took a photo of anything conrail and to this day I could care less. I hated the PC so much for erasing the NYC and PRR I never once riased a camera at the PC.....even had loads of opportunities to shoot PC F-7's, S-2's RS1's D5's etc nd nevr once shot them and too this day I have never kicked myself....I had Zero interest. We choose or don't choose to make this...or anything else a hobby and are not obligated to stay active even after the motivating factors are removed.

I also recall my motivational shift at teh time Conrail happened, switched to the subject of this thread....preserving what I could before it was gone...those things that motivated me. Many many trips to abandonned rights of way, photos and measurements and even drawings of stations and towers, shortlines and museums is where I spent my time for 3 or 4 years untill much of it was bulldozed or vandalized and lost.

[Fergmiester]

After a week on the Brule Shore of Nova Scotia I was able to take pictures of some old railway structures. I talked with one gentleman regarding our loss of historical structures and he told me he was starting to take pictures of barns as they are slowly leaving the landscape and not being replaced.

I've placed all the new photos on my MESS Album

Regards
Fergie