Special liking for this locomotive type as it was the last locomotive the Milwaukee bought new in any quantity I believe in 1976. I was just a kid in grade school. And remember the Brookfield to Waukesha job parking it's sole MP15AC on a siding next to the Brookfield Depot. Primarily used to switch Waukesha and pull loads of ballast from the Waukesha quarry back to the Twin Cities mainline. There it was in shiny orange and black Milwaukee Road paint shut down in the summer but left to idle overnight in the winter. Interesting to see how long these units survived.
Even though weed grown back then the Waukesha-Brookfield line pulled in a lot of traffic back to the mainline sometimes 1/2 to 3/4 mile string of boxcars, tankers and Milwaukee Road Ballast Cars. The lone switcher would make two trips back and forth in times of heavy traffic or it would have a twin MP15AC mu'd (rare as the Milwaukee was short of locomotives). Cars bound for Milwaukee were stored in a siding next to the Eastbound main but every once in a while there would be cars bound west and the switch job would place them in the siding along the Westbound main (very rare but saw it happen more than once....most of the Waukesha cars would go to Muskego yard first).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThoIFFfJLm0
SOO really spared every possible dollar in patching those engines.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACDSOO really spared every possible dollar in patching those engines.
True but on the other hand they blew a lot of money on CTC signaling upgrades between Milwaukee and Twin Cities. Intersting it looks in the video they replaced the horns on one or both units. The EMD delivered horns looked different than what is on them now and were painted black not silver.
CMStPnP BaltACD SOO really spared every possible dollar in patching those engines. True but on the other hand they blew a lot of money on CTC signaling upgrades between Milwaukee and Twin Cities. Intersting it looks in the video they replaced the horns on one or both units. The EMD delivered horns looked different than what is on them now and were painted black not silver.
BaltACD SOO really spared every possible dollar in patching those engines.
Don't know about the SOO in Milwaukee - but one aggregrate loading plant on my territory where engine were left to protect the loaded movement of the empty cars delivered to the facility - the engines frequently had their horns 'liberated' by the time that the crew arrived to move the loaded train.
Half of them eventuallY wound up in Armour Yellow and Harbor Mist Grey as UPY 1397-1428.
The job appeared to have a five man crew.
Backshop The job appeared to have a five man crew.
One seemed to always be in the cab, and had a very clean hi-viz vest. Possibly an officer or trainee riding along.
One of the groundmen has a different color hi-viz vest. That might signify something. Usually all TE&Y wear the same color vest.
I liked seeing some of the derelict communication poles with 6 crossarms in some of the views. I know photographers don't miss them, but something seems missing along a main line without them. Even if they're derelict, reminders of what once was.
Switching that one industry with brakes still set. Reminds me of our discussions on flatspots.
Jeff
jeffhergertSwitching that one industry with brakes still set.
I noticed that. At first it was "what the heck is that..." Hard to see if the end caps are turning.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
The guy in the shiny green vest is probably a trainee. At the start of the video it looks like the conductor is giving him a few tips. Perhaps a supervisor or training coordinator is riding along to observe the trainee's performance, or perhaps they have both engineer and conductor trainees.
When switching the short hoppers it looks like they dug out an empty that was behind several loads. While it can probably happen I've never actually seen loaded cars skid, and the squealing noise indicates that the wheels are turning with the brakes applied (skidding wheels sound different, they sizzle and crackle, almost like electrical sparking).
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
I lived for many years across the street from the 'high line' branch of the Minneapolis Northfield & Southern Ry. When it was bought by the Soo Line in the early 1980's (about the same time as the Soo-Milwaukee merger), they replaced the MN&S' usual back to back EMD switchers with a high-nose Soo GP-9 and a Milwaukee MP-15 back to back, usually with a SOO extended vision caboose but sometimes with a Milwaukee bay-window.
Interesting thing about the "bandits" is they were left in that paint scheme so long that by the 2000's the black bandit paint pretty much had worn off so you could read the "MILWAUKEE ROAD" on the long hood again.
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