Nostalgia & History > Saluting roster shots (#24): Montana juice

When I shot this Milwaukee Road electric veteran I was a mere 3 months into digital photography. I had just emerged from a near 20 year long “hibernation” away from photography, and I was thrilled to be back in the saddle. I was trying hard to wear out my new Nikon P90 point & shoot by shooting everything in sight. At 3 months I was still in that stage some of you might remember: Total amazement at how sharp digital images were. And the idea that I would never again have to worry about dust specks or fingerprints on film.

I very naïvely thought the P90 was the last camera I would ever need. But being dragged into a Nebraska Furniture Mart backfired on the culprit doing the dragging! She walked out of the place without finding that small piece of furniture to fill a corner in the living room. But I walked out with about $600 worth of Nikon D3000 gadgetry. Two days later I found a used Promaster 70 ~ 300 zoom at Wolfe’s in Topeka, and my full-bore return to railfan photography was etched in digital stone.

There was one more step I didn’t see coming. 18 months later I caved in to my long time friend, Bob Helling’s continuing pressure to get me to join something called “TO.com”. Nine years later here I am saluting another roster shot. But this one happens to have a lot of personal history to go with it…

1. Retired MILW E70 sits off Main St (aka I-90 business loop), just south of the Montana Auto Museum in Deer Lodge, Montana on September 16, 2009. Taken with a Nikon P90 point & shoot.

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/23 03:40 by santafe199.

---

Don't fence me in........

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

Lookin good!!

For the love of Stalin!

Great story and a crisp sharp shot.

Mighty fine looking shot.

And you got her when she still looked orange. Today that orange has shifted to more of a pale peach. The only paint that will stand up to that high altitude UV is old fashined heavy metal pigment polyurethane. And it could be argued that in this instance it was required for historical accuracy and the chance of it harming anyone is minimal. But it's expensive, and that's the biggest drawback.

steeplecab
Montana

Beautiful.
Bob

I never saw these in person - not ever being in the right places back then, but I have grown to really like them.  It's nice there is a preserved example.  I can see why modelers are drawn to model the portion and era of the MILW when they ran.

Handsome electric!

Cheers,
Jim

steeplecab Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>The only paint that will stand up to that
> high altitude UV is old fashined heavy metal
> pigment polyurethane. And it could be argued that
> in this instance it was required for historical
> accuracy and the chance of it harming anyone is
> minimal. But it's expensive, and that's the
> biggest drawback.
>

All paint will fade with time, even that with lead and hexavalent chromium. Try telling the people making the pigment and those making the paint that it is minimally harmful... also tell that to the soil and groundwater that the paint gradually decomposes into and contaminates.  

It's expensive because in many places it is banned, therefore anywhere it isn't banned it's in very short supply.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/20 08:22 by exhaustED.

Thanks for the photo. The Illinois Railway Museum has a South Shore "Little Joe" that is operable. I would have loved to follow that RR in Montana when it was in operation. Having seen it abandoned, I can only imagine how fantastic it was.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

Any good quality automotive grade paint should be used - not the paint found at the local hardware store and certainly not Rustoleum. Yes it costs more and yes it lasts much longer. Even struggling railroads (not always shortlines) used.
RWJ


steeplecab Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And you got her when she still looked orange.
> Today that orange has shifted to more of a pale
> peach. The only paint that will stand up to that
> high altitude UV is old fashined heavy metal
> pigment polyurethane. And it could be argued that
> in this instance it was required for historical
> accuracy and the chance of it harming anyone is
> minimal. But it's expensive, and that's the
> biggest drawback.
>
> steeplecab
> Montana