Nostalgia & History > Pictures taken from a moving car

One of the advantages of being a passenger in the family car while your dad is driving to vacation destinations is you get to take pictures of interesting things while the car is speeding down the highway. Of course the results won't win any contests but assuming the content of the pictures are scenes you don't normally see, they are still personally evocative. In summer of 1970 we took a three week trip from New York state out to the Rockies hauling a camping trailer. Photo 1 shows an eb North Coast Ltd (I think) somewhere in the wilds of Montana; photo #2 shows a pair of DD40s on a UP freight on Sherman Hill, and lastly, closer to home, a PC U25C and GP40 are taking a freight east over the NYS Thruway at Cheektowaga, NY.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/16 12:58 by JPB.

---

---

---

I think I recognize that overpass in Cheektowaga.  I used to do environmental work in NY State in the 1990's and recall the railroad overpass over Hwy 90; it feed into a large yard IIRC.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

JPB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
 closer> to home, a PC U25C and GP40 are taking a freight
> east over the NYS Thruway at Cheektowaga, NY.

Nice shots, but look closer. That is a PC U28C if it's nmbr is 6534. The U30C's started at 6535 and went to 6539. U28C's were 6520-6534 U25C's were 6500-6519.  Ben

I love your shots! And thank you very much for escorting me down memory lane. You have swept me completely back to my 1960s childhood where I WAS that kid in the family station wagon straining to catch glimpses of anything RR-wise while on some vacation outing. I suspect the scenario in your thread will jar some fond memories for quite a few other members here in TO! I never had my own camera as a kid. But worse, it never occurred to me to beg my Dad to let me bring the 'family Kodak Brownie' along on vacation trips. (I'm quite sure the answer would have been "we don't have the money for anything that silly" anyhow.)

Your NP shot jumps out at me! I'd be willing to bet a fair amount it was taken in the Big Timber, MT area. I worked as a engineer out of Laurel for Montana Rail Link from 1991 ~ 2010. Your shot sure looks like a fit with a "scenery" shot I took near Big Timber in March of 2010. Even if I-90 was already in place by 1970 (I don't think it was) there is a short stretch just west of Big Timber where old US highway 191 (& I-90) closely parallels the MRL, ex BN-NP mainline. The sun angle is correct, the utility line wires are in exactly the right place matching a Google Maps view from 2016 and the tree line in your shot suggests the proximity of the Yellowstone River. I've enlarged my original shot to show the close match between it & the mountain line above the B-unit in your shot. The slight differences in the mountain skyline could be explained by the 46 year gap between photos and the probable different angle they were taken from...

Lance/199

1. Montana's "Crazy Mountains" taken from the I-90 frontage road (old US hwy 191) on March 8, 2010.

2. Enlargement of same.

---

---

ns2557 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> JPB Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>  closer> to home, a PC U25C and GP40 are taking a
> freight
> > east over the NYS Thruway at Cheektowaga, NY.
>
> Nice shots, but look closer. That is a PC U28C if
> it's nmbr is 6534. The U30C's started at 6535 and
> went to 6539. U28C's were 6520-6534 U25C's were
> 6500-6519.  Ben

I can't tell for sure but when I zoomed in on the original slide, I thought the lead unit # was 6518, hence I guessed it was a U25C. But that could well be wrong!
 

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
...
> Your NP shot jumps out at me! I'd be willing to
> bet a fair amount it was taken in the Big Timber,
> MT area. I worked as a engineer out of Laurel for
> Montana Rail Link from 1991 ~ 2010. Your shot sure
> looks like a fit with a "scenery" shot I took near
> Big Timber in March of 2010. Even if I-90 was
> already in place by 1970 (I don't think it was)
> there is a short stretch just west of Big Timber
> where old US highway 191 (& I-90) closely
> parallels the MRL, ex BN-NP mainline. The sun
> angle is correct, the utility line wires are in
> exactly the right place matching a Google Maps
> view from 2016 and the tree line in your shot
> suggests the proximity of the Yellowstone River.
> I've enlarged my original shot to show the close
> match between it & the mountain line above the
> B-unit in your shot. The slight differences in the
> mountain skyline could be explained by the 46 year
> gap between photos and the probable different
> angle they were taken from...
>
> Lance/199
>
> 1. Montana's "Crazy Mountains" taken from the I-90
> frontage road (old US hwy 191) on March 8, 2010.
>
> 2. Enlargement of same.

Excellent - thanks for providing a Montana place name for the BN photo! I made a similar trek through Montana in ~2010 with my daughter on our way to Walla Walla, WA but didn't see the North Coast Ltd! Sure is beatiful country ot there!