Nostalgia & History > Moving an RS3 Sayre to Chicago part II

1. Another shot at Meadville next to a Conrail unit. The run from Meadville to Chicago was overnight with most of the next day running over the old PRR main line via Crestline toward Ft. Wayne but I didn't get any decent photos on the run.

2. Now on the Indiana Harbor Belt, I had a long wait and plenty of time to visit the roundhouse and surrounding area.The Milwaukee Road units were off of a transfer run.

3. These Milwaukee Road units were off of a transfer run.

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IHB roundhouse and ready tracks

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1. IHB Ready tracks.

2. Finally, around 7 PM, a switcher came to get the RS3. It was another 4 hours of crawling around Chicago's industrial area before the unit was delivered.
It was quite an adventure and the only time I delivered a locomotive. But I had several more trips escorting sleeping cars to Laredo, Texas for delivery to N de M over the following couple of years. I'll post some photos from those trips when I can get to it.

-Jim Herron

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Thanks for the nice photo chronicle of the move. The shots of your train on the move along the Southern Tier are my favorites. Did you keep a bunch of pillows and a sleeping bag in the cab of the RS3 on this journey?

Cheers,
Harry

Yep, a sleeping bag and a bunch of groceries! That cab was a pain to sleep in because there was no place to completely stretch out in a straight line. The brake valve on the foor prevented it and the seat box got in the way, too. Moving sleepers was much more comfortable! Plus, I had no electricity on the RS3 so there were no lights other than a flash light or electric lantern. Oh well, it was a real blast at the time!
-JH

If this is the locomotive I think it is, it spent several years at Interlake's coke facility along Western Avenue on Chicago's South Side. It is now in the Illinois Railway Museum's collection where it has been painted into it's original Minnesota Transfer colors.