Nostalgia & History > It isn't always a piece of cake - the Needles Sub......

The minute you saw the lead motor, you cursed the day you were born. That was at Needles, what seems like days ago. But then again, you're low on the seniority list, and what did you expect, the 198? This why they call them "dogs", "dawgs", or "bow-wows".

Back to the lead motor. Tempting to isolate it, stall, and call for help; you know there isn't a train behind you for hours. So you let it hunt, hoping that the EMD's will keep you moving - but at what speed? You've got "little ones" behind, and some would even call them "bell ringers".

Oh well. One more grade after this one, to Pisgah, and then you should be OK.

On your rest, maybe you'll get lucky and catch the 891......

Yeah, right......

Thanks for reading and looking, this one is dedicated to ALL the "Rails" here.

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

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Aww, 110 degree heat outside, gods knows what temperature inside, right-hand running, stopping in every siding from Ibis to Newberry to let everything including the kitchen sink pass, and a U36C on the point!!! Just another prefect day on the Needles District.

It may have not been much fun running but it did make a nice shot! Thanks for your sacrifice to make the foamers happy!!!

Oh, but would I love to have one of those "bell-ringer" consists nowadays. Maybe I'm just getting older and "wiser"(?), but that consist looks very sweet to me, not just as a fan to photograph, but as a hogger to climb on to and take across the desert or anywhere else.

I'm really sick of Techno-Toasters, crew cabs, desk-top controls, and computers telling me more than I want to know.

BTW, nice shot Bob.

Soo Line Hoghead

Nice shot Bob. I love big 6 axle U boats, especially ATSF U36C's. Thanks for sharing this image.

Did those have the nose-mounted air conditioners the Dash Sevens got before they went to rooftop AC? I thought the ATSF pretty well had everything air conditioned by 1985.

Yes...the U-Boats, and, the Dash Sevens, which EVEN General Electric admitted were "dogs" in the Wall Street Journal!!! They made quite a racket, particularly the ones with the small, unmuffled exhaust stack--pure chug.

As any hoghead can attest, a U or -7 (and that would include Amtrak's old P30CH "POOCHES"), you could make a "Throttle Swipe" on them coming out of a swag, trying to keep speed up and outrunning slack, and, only after they started barker louder, louder, and ever louder, did the ammeter even THINK about rising...ever so slowly...into the green. I once throttle swiped one in Missouri, and even already had some juice going in, being in Notch 1, an early UP 2400-Class C30-7, and counted nearly 75 seconds before the amperage built up to "Notch 8 Amperage." It was actually fascinating to watch.

That is a terrific photo you've got there, Bob!!!

gotta give ya some good-natured grief, just for the fun of it . . . judging from the lighting, it's in the afternoon, so at least this was "daylight work." also, how do we know this isn't an old-head pool crew that just happened to something less than a shooter?

you retired guys have too much time on your hands!

great pic of a great era! regards, eljay

Superb shot yet again Bob , just wonderful ...Only thing changed at this location is the trains ..More of them but in that nasty quick to fade orange.

Andy G

How do we see the photos of long ago on these history pieces ?
 

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
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> How do we see the photos of long ago on these
> history pieces ?
>  

Since this was asked almost three years ago, apparently you can't see the old photo.  Funny, this showed up as "from the past" on November 26, 2018, 11 years after it was posted.

The pic apparently made the post.  Oh well.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/18 20:48 by MILW16.