Western Railroad Discussion > A Mix Of Motors to End 2017

With everyone in the house having the day off Saturday Dec. 30th, we picked somewhere to head out to that afternoon. Being as none of us had ever photographed the Chessie System SD18 in South Haven, KS we headed north despite the clouds. After seeing Blackwell Northern was up to nothing, we went over to Wellington where BNSF offered some interesting power.

1&2) EWLX 7311 in Chessie paint rests on a side track in South Haven, KS

3) Further north, a former WC GP30 also owned by EWLX waits for an assignment in Rome, KS

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4) After nearly missing this westbound out of Wellington yard, we managed to get a passing shot as the Q leaves town

5) After getting enough time to cross the tracks, we were ready for the following westbound Z with an executive MAC thrown in the consist

6) Another westbound leaves town with no two alike up front

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7) Alex gets the elevation on the car with Zach getting up close and personal

8) We bailed out of the car after seeing headlights from this eastbound Z we'd been hearing from, seen entering town while the sun breaks loose

9) Knowing 5009 would be leaving the yard soon, I was able to sneak in a shot of the H2 and H1 pair leaving town from the other side

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10) With the Z stopped for a crew change, the Q pokes out from behind crossing over the UP west of town

11) By the time I went wide angle, the power was gone, but it was still a nice Kansas sunset to watch

PQM

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Man, that Chessie motor is beautiful. I'd volunteer to degrease/clean the paint and clearcoat it. One of the best railroad liveries ever. 

As for Alex, I hope that was his own ride lol, otherwise Alex also gets a taxi home. Thanks for your 2017 coverage, great job, Happy 2018!

Hookdragkick Wrote:
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> Man, that Chessie motor is beautiful. I'd
> volunteer to degrease/clean the paint and
> clearcoat it. One of the best railroad liveries
> ever. 

Seriously. I'm glad she's still around. A couple years ago they talked about scrapping her because of wiring complications. Happy to see that hasn't happened.

Great series, love the Sunset shots! Nice looking Santa Fe plaque as well!

Great series of photos Patrick.

Ronda Thomas

Nice photos and glad to see the C&O unit still around. It is in the same place it was in May 2016---hopefully they will get a chance to work on it and get it running this year.
Brian Stevens

SCKP187 Wrote:
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> Nice photos and glad to see the C&O unit still
> around. It is in the same place it was in May
> 2016---hopefully they will get a chance to work on
> it and get it running this year.

I read elsewhere that it was rewired, and there's a short video of it doing a little test run last summer.

Bill Gillfillan
Tulsa, OK.

Looks like a good day of photos, I always thought those trimount truck SDs just looked wrong but a clean coat of paint would more than make up for that.

But I'd be happy to that carbody today, growing up in Denver BN SD9s were common power back in the 80/90s and they've been gone a long time here. I saw one SD9 this year in Denver that appeared to be passing through (SD9-3, next loco was a Tier 4 GEVO) and that was a surprise to say the least!