You are definitely getting up there when, shockingly, the "Classic" Trains photo of the Day is SD38-2's and CSX is mentioned in the by line.
You have become a "classic" yourself!
Experiencing accelerated time...anyone else noticing this?
Nothing classic about an SD38-2, its a deeeesel! And a post-war one at that!
Here's my defination of a classic car, by the way. If it was around when my father was a kid it's a classic. If was around when I was a kid, it's a bomb!
And yeah, I've noticed that "accelerating time" thing myself. Has it really been 40 years since I was a Marine?
Firelock76Has it really been 40 years since I was a Marine?
No, it hasn't. Once a Marine, always a Marine.
The first of the AC locomotives were placed in service over 20 years ago!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACDThe first of the AC locomotives were placed in service over 20 years ago!
And unless I'm mistaken, a '38 "AC" isn't AC drive, it indicates the use of a traction alternator, and those were put in service much more than 20 years ago.
RMEnd unless I'm mistaken, a '38 "AC" isn't AC drive, it indicates the use of a traction alternator, and those were put in service much more than 20 years ago.
I take Balt's post as meaning GE's AC4300CW's which came to CP in 1995.
Of course growing up as I did, in what would be considered a museum, many things make me experience "accelerated time". It is just under a quarter century since my Dad passed away, and just over 31 years since he retired. He retired under the TT&TO system which ended here on Dec. 31, 1985.
Train radios still kind of amaze me, yet we had DPU's west of Calgary since 1968, with the mid-train units controlled by a seperate "Robot" car which hooked up to the units through the MU connectors.
Hard core "big time" railroading were the 10,000 ton unit grain trains headed west with 3 SD40-2's on the point and two more in the middle. Now, that would gerate a rash of photo's and Facebook postings.
It is time for bed here, but I suspect I will be jumping into this thread again.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
AgentKidI take Balt's post as meaning GE's AC4300CW's which came to CP in 1995.
It was in that period, anyway - 'mainstream' use of radial steering trucks, which still have a certain magic for me, are of similar vintage.
I had thought the topic, being concerned with SD38s, was where the 'AC' reference might have come from initially. Not criticizing BaltACD, or taking away from the nostalgia of AC drives being older now than the entire lifetime of, say, Baldwin passenger Sharks.
Prior to the "-2", an SD38 came stock with a DC generator, so the SD38AC was used to identify a unit equipped with an AR10 traction alternator/rectifier setup. The SD39 was equipped with an AR10 by default, so a model equipped with a DC generator would have been an SD39DC, if any had been built. There were a bunch of GP38ACs and at least two GP39DCs. AC traction motors didn't show up for a long time after that. Just FYI for anybody who doesn't know - AC traction motors run on inverters from DC, which in turn is rectified from an AC slip-ring alternator. This is the reason units like Amtrak's P32AC-DM dual-modes are practical with AC motors - just connect the DC bus to the third rail!
This could be a a long story, but, the cat wants some attention, and I know if it's denied he'll get back at me somehow, when I least need or expect it.Back in the day we'd stop and watch ANY train that had a Diesel on it ( or an Electric ). We would plan to watch trains to catch a Diesel on a Scheduled Passenger. Blah, Blah.First Factory low nose Diesel we saw was D&H 5012, subbing for a NJ RS2. Occasionally a NJ RS2 would sub on the D&H Psgr at Rouses Point, NY ex Albany., NYC/NYC., it leading the S/G power.Anyway.There was an article in Trains years ago about one of the staff, DPM?? remarking on a photo of a UP GP30 on a lowly Work Train rather on the High Iron expediting Expediters.The reply was that time had passed, were no longer First Tier and 'Just another Diesel, now'.We too still considered Diesels new. Years later.One UP GP30 was UP 844, causing the renumbering of steam UP 844 to be renumbered UP 8444.CP had two GP30s and for a time they too headed the Hot train Toronto/Montreal and they DID look wonderful at speed. ( These are stopped, BTW. )Carrying Green.http://www.canadianrailwayobservations.com/croarchives/2013/junecro/cp.htm28.jpgProving to one and all that Steam was gone, for GOOD, and the beginning of the end for that which replaced it.They were hated by the Electricians, along with the GP35s which followed, in number.My parents still thought a Rotary-Dial 302 a type of sorcery, and would hang up if they heard thunder. The first models had a Zinc Case, changed during the War, Older Dial models had a Brass Finger Wheel.http://www.oaktreevintage.com/web_photos/Telephones/Western_Electric_302_Black_Lucy_Telephone_Web.jpgCats never get old, unless they want to.Thank You.
RME Firelock76 Has it really been 40 years since I was a Marine? No, it hasn't. Once a Marine, always a Marine.
Firelock76 Has it really been 40 years since I was a Marine?
Oh, that's very kind of you, and certainly true.
But still, WHERE did the time go?
Firelock76 But still, WHERE did the time go?
Don't look at me, I don't have it! At least none I can spare!
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Hmmm..a bit quick with the "I didn't do it" there Penny.
Just kidding.
So I'm sitting at my round kitchen table, located at the rear glass patio doors, 2nd cup firmly in hand, at 10am this morning...sun finally up casting light on the deep snow in the backyard and I think..."relax you've got an hour before you need to get into gear"...no sooner thought that, checked the forum real quick, and it's 11am. What? What the..? Could not believe it. My "internal" chronometer thought maybe 10:20 at the latest. Several episodes like this over a period of time now....maybe I should boil water, watch the pot, record the time, and repeat. Since a watched pot never boils perhaps I can restore some normality.
AC's were OVER 20 years ago? Good grief.
Miningman, I've lost rack of time myself while on this and other trains-related forums. I throw a "Red Baron" pizza in the oven, next thing you know it's "30 minutes gone ALREADY?"
Hey, time flys when you're havin' fun!
You know your time is flying when last New Years Eve seems like just the other day.
Wanswheel...Well that's true...I must mention sincere gratitude for all those days where your contributions, research, backups, information and enlightenment is truly a pillar of this forum. Thanks for all of those days and lets find more great information throughout 2017.
Thanks Miningman. Always a pleasure to read your posts. You got a knack for interesting topics. Happy '17.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F07E6D81438EE32A25752C0A9679C946696D6CF
You've grown old when you wake up January 1, 2017 and you've been married over 49 years....with the same woman!:(
Item: In 1975 Southern Pacific employed a lone Alco C628 to power the train that rebuilt the line between Ennis and Waxahachie, Texas! A Classic in her own time!
I had a sense of this some 30 years ago when a pair of new SD60s wheeled a freight past a long line of stored SD35s and a few SD45s at DeButts Yard. Time does not stand still on a progressive railroad. New things replace old, time marches on.
Great little article Wanswheel. Got to luv how Irving Berlin is "just another guy" crammed into that all star lineup. 3 Quarts of confetti in NYC on New Years Eve in Times Square a hundred years ago. Yeesh.
Up here in Canada, stuffy British influence insured those limitations all the time...heaven forbid one has any fun. Please, we're British!. If you wanted to regale in festivities one would have to go to Quebec. This kind of "restraint" went on well into the mid sixties. In fact, up until the mid sixties you had to purchase all liquor from a government outlet that had only a very stern and stark counter, nothing on any shelves, and a published list. You wrote down what you wanted from the list, handed it to the clerk and recieved it on the other end of the counter in a brown paper bag. Used to drive my folks nuts!
At least the brown paper bag was environmenally friendly!
....reminds me of the line in Woody Guthrie's tribute to the City of New Orleans....pass the paper bag that holds the bottle....
A belated Happy New Year!
I realized that I was getting old when I started seeing SD40-2's being used as hump pushers.
I knew I was getting old... as you were! Old-er, when I was at a hobby shop and squatted down to read the labels on some MTH train car boxes. Getting down was easy, getting up....ow, ow, ow!
RME BaltACD And unless I'm mistaken, a '38 "AC" isn't AC drive, it indicates the use of a traction alternator, and those were put in service much more than 20 years ago.
BaltACD
CSX's 1st CW44AC #1 shows a build date of 10/1994 in UMLER. The rest of CSX's first order of AC's show build dates of 11/1994.
CSSHEGEWISCHI realized that I was getting old when I started seeing SD40-2's being used as hump pushers.
As I recall, B&O's Queensgate yard was using SD40's + a slug as their Hump Engines in the early 1980's. As info CSX's date of formation was Nov. 1, 1980 - 36+ years ago. CSX Transportation came several years later.
You know you're getting old when...you're going through old magazines and realize that current issue from 1992 was printed 25 years ago!
1992 was 25 years ago? ! Oh boy, that really sucks. Too fast, way way too fast.
Lady Firestorm and I just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. Does it seem like 40 years? No way!
It seems like only yesterday we exited the church into a brief snow shower, which was kinda cool actually. While some people were throwing rice, "someone else" was throwing snow! I took it as a good omen at the time. Looks like I was right.
The first issue of Trains magazine that I bought was June 1967 - in a few months I'll have had it for 50 years. Reading up the the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire was another gocha.
Realizing your kids have never seen a telecast of men on the Moon, LIVE.
BaltACD Realizing your kids have never seen a telecast of men on the Moon, LIVE.
Johnny
Login, or register today to interact in our online community, comment on articles, receive our newsletter, manage your account online and more!
Get the Classic Trains twice-monthly newsletter