Nostalgia & History > A couple more GM&O Black and Whites

Here are a couple more night shots of the old Gulf, Mobile & Ohio in Bloomington, Illinois, shot more than four decades ago (Boy! Do I feel old!!)

First is of E-7 #103A on Chicago bound #4, the Limited.
Then SD-40 #902 on an empty coal train headed south.

Roger Holmes

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#1 is a beautiful photograph.

Love the way the lights beam out of both, but #1 is a classic. Thanks for posting. - Jerry

Extrordinary photography. Care to share equipment, film and exposure values to get such crisp night images?

Nick Roberts
Possum Belly Caboose

PossumBellyCaboose Wrote:
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> Extrordinary photography. Care to share
> equipment, film and exposure values to get such
> crisp night images?
>
> Nick Roberts
> Possum Belly Caboose


Let's see...this was about four decades ago...the camera was one of the several Yashica 2 1/4 by 2 1/4's that I owned, probably a Mat 124-G using Verichrome pan 120 film...ASA around 125. I can't help much with the F stops or time of exposure, I never did keep track of that stuff. One thing I like about digital, it keeps track of all that for me!

Roger Holmes

Great shots! Love the crew change one with the 103A on the "LIMITED" (wonder if GMI&O engineer Jimmy Clark was there that night?) but the 902's a sweet shot, too.
That Yashica-Mat 124G was a great camera (I still have a Mamiya 1000S) and those large negatives really made for better enlargements for sure. Certainly agree that it's nice how digital takes care of the exposure recording (I was okay on that about half of the time years ago!).

IC_2024 Wrote:
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> Great shots! Love the crew change one with the
> 103A on the "LIMITED" (wonder if GMI&O engineer
> Jimmy Clark was there that night?)

I rode with Jimmy just before Amtrak took over. I was in the cab of E-7 102 from Bloomington to St. Louis on Number 1. Laid over in St. Louis for a few hours and rode in the cab on the Midnight Special coming home. The TRRA stuck us pretty good but once we got on the open road Jimmy put the throttle in notch eight and held it there. I don't know how many miles we cruised at 90 per!! He told me that the governors were set at 90. Another engineer that I knew would disconnect the speed cable and would cruise at 105 mph! Jim Honness (sp) was Bloomington shop superintendent. He once told me, "The governors are set at 105 but we tell the train crews that they're set at 90!"

Roger Holmes