Nostalgia & History > CSX Leader on one of the Last Modoc Thru Freights

I think the Modoc had less than a week to go when I recorded these images.The slide box says September 1997.The first image is a westbound blasting out of Wendel and the second picture is at Viewland.Viewland is where the chase ended after I high centered the rental car and recieved a massive coolant leak.The disabled vehicle was bad enough but my wife said there was limited clearance on the road,but I told her not to worry I had been here before.What I forgot was the before was in a high clearance four wheel drive pckup. Anyway ,one of those mistakes never to be forgotten.Bill Webb

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Nice photos especially number 2.

Awesome catch and shots, especially #2! Too bad about getting stuck and ending the chase, been there done that however:{

Tearing up the rental was worth it for that last one!

Excellent catches!
JB

Really rare shots, pool wasn't that common on that line, very nice and certainly worth the effort.

Out

Wow, nice photos.  Sure hated to lose that line.  Wide open spaces of the American West.

Lee Hower - Sacramento

Have to ask - what did the rental car repairs cost you?

Great pictures.  Thanks for posting them (and for the story).

Thanks for posting these great images.  CSXT SD40-2 #8400 was built 7//69 as WM SD40 #7449.  Gerry

Fabulous images.......!  I always wonder if anyone had captured-on-film any of the then-44-car Ringling Bros.' Red Unit Circus Train moving southbound on the Modoc during the Fall of 1989 (en route from Tacoma WA to Salt Lake City UT).  I was on the show that year and was shocked to realize the jointed-rail route we moved south on out of Klamath Falls wasn't the ribbon-rail line toward Dunsmir..... and seeing the coaches zig-zag up the reverse curves an hour or two (?) south of K-Falls was a thrill and a half - even at night, with the spot lights atop the coach sides.  I fell asleep with fatigue not long after those curves (we had SP tunnel motors on the point, if memory serves), and the next morning I awoke to find us stopped at the point where we entered the mainline somewhere near Reno (?) - which is what came instantly back to me after seeing the last image, above.  Darn, we've lost so much - not only the Modoc, but RBBB as well..........



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/19 04:17 by rbx551985.

Had a similar experience with my then-new Dodge minivan on my way in to the Pecos River bridge in TX back in 1985. High centered, hard,  on a rock outcrop that was still firmly attached to Mother Earth. 

I got got out of the car, looked underneath, but saw no fluids. So  at the end of the day, I headed back home to Dallas. It’s a long drive. Next morning, there was a puddle of tranny fluid under the car, large enough so that I didn’t chance driving it to the dealer.  I called a tow truck. 

The next day, I got an apologetic phone call from the salesman that sold me the car two weeks earlier. Evidently, a chunk of the aluminum casting that made up the outside of the transmission had broken clean off and disappeared. The repair guys, not knowing that some idiot had hit a rock at 20 mph, decided that there must have been a metallurgical defect in the aluminum casting. So the repair was free, under warranty, and they picked up the towing bill as well. 

Great customer service there, and I referred several customers to the dealership over the next few months. This was back when Iacocca minivans were all the rage, and I’m pretty sure they sold a few to my friends. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/19 17:45 by march_hare.

Very NICE and intersting series!

Larry

I forget the rental car company ,but they came out and picked it up and brought a replacement.I lucked out,other than the chase being spoiled and living with the reminder for years to come.Bill Webb