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Guess Who's Fifty?

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Guess Who's Fifty?
Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, January 30, 2020 5:28 PM

No, not me!  I passed that milestone a while back.

It's New Jersey Transit GP40PH-2!  Fifty years old and still earning it's keep.  EMD sure built 'em good!   I wasn't sure whether to post this under "Locomotives" or "Transit," but anyway, "Transit" it is.

Here's a short vid from NJ.Com...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_3k0ityRBg  

And here's 4100 in company with NJ Transit's Jersey Central "Heritage" unit 4109.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-RmGXJU6bc  

Have fun!

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Posted by matthewsaggie on Thursday, January 30, 2020 5:50 PM

Not quite accurate for the vid to say 4100 has never left NJ since obviously in the vid its on its way to Port Jarvis New York. But we know what they meant.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, January 30, 2020 7:09 PM

Oh, certainly.

Anyway, it's a lot better than that "Dead man covered in bugs..." story, ain't it?

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Posted by NKP guy on Thursday, January 30, 2020 7:49 PM

[quote user="Flintlock76"]   Anyway, it's a lot better than than "Dead man covered in bugs."

+1!

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Posted by Miningman on Thursday, January 30, 2020 9:10 PM
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Posted by Flintlock76 on Thursday, January 30, 2020 10:02 PM

Thanks Vince!

No point in my telling the story, the linked article by Mr. Brennan tells it well enough.

BUT, I'll draw everyone's attention to those commuter coaches.  Those are vintage pre-war CNJ.  Some were used on the "Blue Comet" but I couldn't tell you which ones. 

And back when that shot was taken the CNJ didn't have long to live, Conrail was right around the corner.

June 17, 1975.  I was 22 at the time and just about ready to report to The Basic School at Quantico VA.   Seems like yesterday.

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Posted by Miningman on Thursday, January 30, 2020 11:18 PM

That's from Mike Wayne. Should have included that at the start. I'll edit it in. 

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Friday, January 31, 2020 8:42 AM

Well here's a belated "Thanks Mike!  You continue to amaze!"

"And I sure wish the moderators would bring you in from the cold!"

Hint-hint-hint...  

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, January 31, 2020 10:03 AM

I got a picture of those coaches still in CNJ colors in 1982 while on weekend layover at Phillipsburg.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by Overmod on Friday, January 31, 2020 10:34 AM

Flintlock76
"And I sure wish the moderators would bring you in from the cold!"

So long as the moderators expect him to keep posting copyrighted material in threads, they'll never allow him to return.  I believe he's said he will not stop.

And as a point of honor with him, he will not join under another user name.  (I believe he has explained his reasoning, which I respect.)

Personally, I'm glad that Vince and he have worked out the present arrangement, which serves nicely to get the content on the forum with honor intact.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Friday, January 31, 2020 10:37 AM

CSSHEGEWISCH

I got a picture of those coaches still in CNJ colors in 1982 while on weekend layover at Phillipsburg.

 

Lucky man!  To my knowledge they were never repainted into NJ Transit, or NJ Department of Transportation schemes, they lived out their lives as they were, and were then retired.

For that matter the Stillwell coaches used in Erie commuter service always kept their Erie markings and were never re-lettered Erie-Lackawanna after the merger.

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Posted by Overmod on Friday, January 31, 2020 11:14 AM

Flintlock76
For that matter the Stillwell coaches used in Erie commuter service always kept their Erie markings and were never re-lettered Erie-Lackawanna after the merger.

Oops!

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1103118

(I remember several fully-relettered ones on the Northern Branch in the last couple of years, too, but I was too young to watch for it critically, as I could do more easily for the progressive change in paint on the RS2s and 3s... that Halloween-skeleton scheme Erie used toward the end was spooky to a kid!)

It was, of course, nowhere near as easy to implement the "Erie Lackawanna" as it was on the ex-DL&W equipment ... where the 'Erie' could be and was patched in ahead of the existing word on the letterboards, a bit like SP or SF were intended to be on the Kodachromes.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Friday, January 31, 2020 12:52 PM

I'm not too proud to admit I'm wrong, but are you sure those are Stillwell coaches?   It says "Stillwell" in the photo caption but I don't see the arches over the windows.  

And if they are, then that Carlton book o' mine, "The Erie Railroad Story" got it wrong!

Oh, if you can't trust Carlton who CAN you trust?   Crying

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Posted by Overmod on Friday, January 31, 2020 1:26 PM

Flintlock76
It says "Stillwell" in the photo caption but I don't see the arches over the windows.

You, of all people?

Almost my entire experience with Stillwells, from 1959 to the bitter end, was with the 'plated over' improved versions; in fact, I can't remember, out of the literally hundreds of cars I saw over the years on the 'Northern' when it was the only railroad I saw regularly firsthand, observing even one that still had the arched tops visible.  Afterward when observing the Pascack Valley in the glory days (E-8s with solid prewar ATSF consists!) I think I only remember a couple, they being dramatic exceptions to the 'norm' as well as visibly antique.

I only know 'this ... is this' as what's-his-name said in the Deer Hunter.  I'm certainly not the authority Carlton is, but I've seen pictures and I know very well what was running as Stillwells in my vision at both the beginning and the end of the Erie-Lackawanna years.

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Friday, January 31, 2020 1:51 PM
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Posted by Overmod on Friday, January 31, 2020 2:39 PM

charlie hebdo

And, from the linked site:

A full offline copy of this website can be downloaded here:

http://passcarphotos.rypn.org/site/passcarphotos.zip

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Friday, January 31, 2020 3:25 PM

Thank you Charlie and Mod-Man, that looks very infomative!  I'm going to have some fun there!

To my knowledge, now demonstrated as defective,  Embarrassed  , I was only aware of the Susquehanna plating over the arches on their Stillwells, I didn't know the Erie did as well.

As I've said before, it's a wasted day if you don't learn something new!

Yeah, me of all people.  Mod-man you were lucky, you had the Northern Branch in your back yard.  Me, I wasn't so lucky.  The Erie (New Jersey and New York) was to the east of me in River Edge, I couldn't see it but I could hear it, and the Main Line was to the west in Ridgewood.  (Putting it simply)  I couldn't hear them at all.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Friday, January 31, 2020 7:45 PM

Look at all the pole lines.  7 cross arms of wire.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1103118 

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Saturday, February 1, 2020 6:47 AM

Chicago & Western Indiana had some second-hand Stillwells that were used on the Chicago-Dolton commuter run that lasted until 1964.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul

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