Bob's Fort Wayne area photo of the week

[rrnut282]

In all my years of railfanning, I have only been able to witness a SD80MAC in Allen County on two occasions, and the first time BOTH of my camera batteries were dead! This is the second time, taken in March, and though the conditions and location didn't make for very good photos, I'm still thrilled to have finally bagged one of the 20 cylinder beasts.

I know it doesn't help you now, but NS 7222 rolled South out of the fort this weekend. Maybe it will flip and and return.

[Bob Durnell]

5/10/2013. A northbound CF&E Decatur local slowly creeps through the woods near I 469.

[Notch 8]

For the amount of traffic that goes to Decatur I was surprised to see how tired the track looks..

[Bob Durnell]

They definitely don't set any speed records on that line, but I'm only aware of one derailment during the CF&E's tenure, so it's probably better than it looks.

[Bob Durnell]

6/6/10 Old Maumee Road. I believe this was the very last time I ever saw TWO Conrail painted units on the same train.

[Hotbox]

I miss Conrail.

[Bob Durnell]

Variety is the spice of life. In an era of only seven class one railroads, and basically two locomotive models, is it any wonder some of us get so excited about Heritage units, leasers, crappy looking short line power and oddball rebuilds?

[Hotbox]

I don't think any of us understood how good we had it as railfans back in the 1960s-70s.

Erie? gone! GRI? ditto FW&J? ditto all those NKP sceondaries? ditto...C&O? ditto!

[Bob Durnell]

Sadly, I was too young to appreciate or truly understand what was happening, and not really in a position to document it. By the time I got serious about it, most of the fun was already over.

[Notch 8]

I miss Big Blue ! the leader NS 3398 SD40 is a favorite model.

[Hotbox]

Sadly, I was too young to appreciate or truly understand what was happening, and not really in a position to document it. By the time I got serious about it, most of the fun was already over.

I was really too young to appreciate it too...I was a "railfan" in the sense that most boys in their early teens are. But I was too ignorant to appreciate the business side of it...but I do have an unusually sharp memory. I had a babysitter who lived right next to the Wabash main on the west side...and I remember the passenger trains... I remember the guys who would come out on the little service cars about 4:30 PM and fill the oil burning signal lights on the switches....stuff like that. I even remember an occasional locomotive that sounded like no other...that shook the very ground as it thumped by. I didn't have the knowledge to appreciate it back then, but I strongly suspect those were FM Trainmasters.

Back then the holding signal for westbound trains was physically located east of Brooklyn ave...a three bulb mast (before the current signal tower was built at Hugo). I recall a train standing there, and the engineer came out onto the steps to talk to me...which was really exciting at the time.
I recall asking him where he was from...and he said "Peru"....then I asked him where he was headed...and he replied "Peru"....at the time I thought he was being hard to get along with.....not even knowing what a "crew district" was.

I think back around that time my dad had a boyhood friend who became a car knocker for the Nickle Plate....his name was Butch Gramelspacher...or very similar. We would go out to east wayne and visit him from time to time, and he would take us on derelict cabooses...even into the cab of a dormant Berk when those were being called into retirement.....so for a 3-5 year old kid...I thought we were at Cedar Point.

[RDJ]

There was a lot of blue where I lived in the Conrail days.
In the 1970-80, if you behaved you could roam the train yard for photos, trade hats and time tables with the train master, visit towers,
cab rides, ride with maintainers and spent most all day photographing the Chicago race track from track side.
I miss those days.

RD

[D.L.]

I certainly do, much better than this boring crap now w/the slodown and all.

[Bob Durnell]

I FINALLY got the N&W Heritage unit last week. 18 down, two to go.........

[Bob Durnell]

A little fun in the snow last week.... I love to take snow photos.