Wondering if anyone has any knowledge about passenger locomotives on the Nickel Plate Road back in the 50's. As a kid, I use to go to the tracks in Cleveland and watch the Berkshires pulling freight. Of course steam was on it's way out then. What I remember seeing was the 'new' diesels flying by as passenger power. They really looked neat and clean and seemed to always run with the long nose forward. But I am stumped as to what type of units they may have been. Would anyone have any ideas as to what would have been pulling passengers at the time when all the freight I seen was still being pulled by steam? The last years I seen was probably around 1956 thru 59?? Thanks,,,,,,,,,,,,,
pepper4710 Wondering if anyone has any knowledge about passenger locomotives on the Nickel Plate Road back in the 50's. As a kid, I use to go to the tracks in Cleveland and watch the Berkshires pulling freight. Of course steam was on it's way out then. What I remember seeing was the 'new' diesels flying by as passenger power. They really looked neat and clean and seemed to always run with the long nose forward. But I am stumped as to what type of units they may have been. Would anyone have any ideas as to what would have been pulling passengers at the time when all the freight I seen was still being pulled by steam? The last years I seen was probably around 1956 thru 59?? Thanks,,,,,,,,,,,,,
I can't provide you with a live link but the Nickel Plate Road Historical society has a lot of roster information on their website:
http://nkphts.org/rosters/
The Diesel shop website also has a roster:
http://www.thedieselshop.us/NKP.HTML
IMNM, the only dedicated passenger units the NKP ever purchased were Alco PA-1s, and these are most likely what you watched as a child.
The RR also had some road-switchers equipped with steam generators that could be used in both passenger and freight service. The definitely had some Alco C420s so equipped, although that was in the 1960's. They may also have had some EMD Geep's with steam generators, not sure about that...
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
Aside from the PA1's, which lasted until around 1963, the only other s/g equipped power on NKP were GP9's 478-485 and RS36's 874-875. NKP had only one C420, 578, which was not s/g equipped.
The only s/g equipped C420's of which I'm aware are LIRR 200-229 and MON 501-502.
Thanks so much for your info. I looked up pictures of the engines you listed and lo and behold there it was,,, the GP-9. When I seen photos of the GP-9 it was like seeing them all over again. Thanks a ton.
The links you provided were immensely helpful. I was able to run a list of engines suggested by C S Shegewisch and the link from you allowed me to spot it dead-on. Great satisfaction on seeing those again. Thanks,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
CSSHEGEWISCH Aside from the PA1's, which lasted until around 1963, the only other s/g equipped power on NKP were GP9's 478-485 and RS36's 874-875. NKP had only one C420, 578, which was not s/g equipped. The only s/g equipped C420's of which I'm aware are LIRR 200-229 and MON 501-502.
Thanks. I was confusing NKP with the Monon units..
NKP had Hudsons the first of which was a near equal to the first NYC Hudson.
At the end of the Hudson era, they served as protection power for a set of 11 Alco PAs in blue and silver/white livery, the diesels were known as Bluebirds. The Chicago Buffalo trains each rated 2 Bluebirds Alcos these typically required fast turn around in Chicago.
PROTECTION meant a late arriving "Bluebird" set would be serviced while a Hudson delivered the train to LaSalle St Station, or brought the passengers back to the yard. Not much work, but helpful. The remaining Hudsons were available for an occasional fantrip. A group of Hudsons were sold to the Louisiana Eastern, and one remains at the railroad museum in the St. Louis area. A lot of NKP Hudson history has been collected and published by the Nickel Plate Historical & Technical Society (NKPHTS).
Thanks. Love the little historical footnotes like that. Very good.
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