Nostalgia & History > Operating in obscurity...another look at the railroads backbone

I've done a series on switchers before, but an encore performance is called for.  Piggybacking on yesterday's thread about whiling away time between trains, it is only fitting that I follow up with what I considered the best way to wait out the road freights I sought the most. Watching the switchers work was a ballet of steel , smoke, and steady. The smaller power, worked the humps, yards of varying sizes, mines,  the industrial back yards, and the industries along the main lines of the class 1 roads. At the time, a 1200 hp switcher was as valuable as the highest horsepower road unit, because without them, there was no road train. A look back on these little dynamos, it is another head shaker that they are virtually non existant on today's class one roads. But then again, the road freights themselves seem to be disappearing...except on BNSF. Once again, progress, as defined now, and the general shift from the railroads traditional delivery system, has rendered the small power to the status of the caboose. But then again, that's why we hang out on this part of TO.

Three examples of the switcher in transfer service

top...a nice collection of S-2s on an eastbound transfer in south Baltimore, 1967

middle... a light power move from Allentown yard to Bethlehem, 1974

bottom...somewhere in the Chicago area in 1971

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/20 06:37 by Roadjob.

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top...eastbound wreck train returning home to Riverside yard in Baltimore, 1966

two examples of letting the big boys pass...both shots at Bay View yard in Baltimore

middle...holding for hot eastbound on west end of the yard.1965

bottom...waiting for hot westbound to pass on the same side of the yard 1967

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/20 06:37 by Roadjob.

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top...looking down the lines of an H10 44 at Oak Street yard in Baltimore

middle...Savannah Ga. 1971

bottom...Lewistown Pa. 1969

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/20 03:54 by Roadjob.

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top...even Auto Train had its switchers, Alco S2 to boot.Lorton Va.

middle..Location lost on this one, marked 1975

bottom...shifting road power around, Cincinnati, 1975

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/20 06:40 by Roadjob.

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First-rate set. Photo two with the LV switchers is a historic beauty.
Bob

 The third photo (of IHB 8878) is at Hammond, Indiana. The train has just crossed the state line while coming off the Burnham Branch.

Once again nice sets. I believe photo one is an eastbound from Mt Clare, the locos are east of the westbound home signal Carroll Interlocking. Photo 4 probably answers my question in yesterday's post about possible steam loco tender at Riverside. The B&O road freight in photo 5 has one of the B&O F7s leased to CNJ on the head end, number 13.
CR

Even the short hoods of the SW1500's tower over the bay window caboose roofs. Those Fairbanks Morse units are amazing ugly or maybe just plain? I can't decide. Maybe they grow on you over the years?

#11 is looking north toward Southern's Gest Street Yard in Cincinnati, OH, of a southbound being pushed up Erlanger Hill. 

You are correct on the direction.. Thank you. It is an eastbound transfer from Mount Clare A yard.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

You know that I like them all but especially the photos from the Baltimore area.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Roadjob Wrote:
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> middle...holding for hot eastbound on west end of the yard.1965

Again, good stuff all- but I'm liking this one, lots to see. New Haven, MKT, and C&O boxcars, dwarf signal with a full set of lights, and what I'm guessing was a former B&O F7 that had been on lease to the CNJ (#13) leading the mainliner.
 

Roger Durfee
Akron, OH

#8 is a hostling move between Savannah Yard and Southover yard. The SCL Baldwins did not have MU hoses or a jumper cable recepticale.
Sam

Really enjoyed these top of the line images.
Gary

Another fine set of images, Bill. I tend to be a road train guy myself, but I'd often get reminded of how switchers really kept things going too, and yes, often in obscurity. It's great to see them and their work recognized so well as in these images.

MC

Thanks again for a look back at some good times! Back then road guys were road guys and yard guys were yard guys for the most part. Don't see much of that any more either. Seeing the fellas at work in some of these fine images made me think a lot of them were career yardmen. Some guys just preferred the regular schedule over the "glamour" of the high iron. 

More please! More please! More please!

Fritz in MD

Thanks, for another big slice of railroading before it all got merged into the cookie cutter stuff of today.

Bill, do you know when Carroll Interlocking was demolished. I remember seeing it in my younger days.
But I never had nerve enough to go there. :-(



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/20 12:47 by BaltoJoey.

Sorry, I don't. I did not do too much railfanning in Baltimore after the 70s. Operators at Carroll were generally friendly, but were cautious about inviting people in, because of the area. I did get in once though. Classic Armstrong lever tower.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD