Nostalgia & History > the devil went down to Shreveport...

Unfortunately none of the lyrics from Mr Charlie Daniels’ lively fiddle tune* can be paraphrased into any sensible connection with railroading. Unless of course, that devil rode the old Southern Belle down to Shreveport... ;^)

1. KCS unit wearing the devil’s number 666 is at the north(?) end of a consist of 4 idle SD 40-2s in Shreveport, LA on August 21, 1980.

Thanks for looking back!
Lance Garrels
santafe199

*In 1979 Charlie Daniels penned & performed (with his band) a highly energetic cautionary tale called: “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”. It was a #1 smash on Billboard’s Country chart. In July it also crossed over and stormed up the main Top 40 chart, peaking at #3 during its 12 week rampage on the chart…   DJ Sir L



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/22 00:33 by santafe199.

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  KCS white units - my favorite KCS scheme.   Thanks, Lance .

The 666 was delivered with a rediculously small sized 666 painted on the side of the cab that was eventually replaced by a larger sized number while the unit was still in the white scheme.   I can't tell from your photo if the small sized 666 is present of if there was a stage between the two versions where the number was completely missing.   

The KCS was kind of th like the WP's silver scheme where they for some reason didn't feel the need to report the number of the unit for anyone to really see from the side.  I never figured out why those railroads did not feel the need to read a large number on their units from the side and both obviously changed their positions (possibly required by the FRA safety rules?) and eventually had larger numbers added to their units.

You could call that a "hadacol" engine.

The Beast.

The SD40-2 was supposed to be "the best there's ever been."  What sort of diesel-electric "Johnny" did it meet down south?