Nostalgia & History > Broken noses...some faces famous and not as, but all gone.

Roster shots were never my thing, but I sure took plenty of them as a matter of convenience. If it was sitting there staring at me, it must have wanted me to photograph it. The variation of the theme was that I liked photographing the noses of the power when possible. To me this was the business end, and what I looked for when out on the line. There was something quite surreal about walking up to idling power, or the hulk of a unit that would run no more, and absorbing the stories they could tell if they talked. Big or small, I shot them all, but for today, just a few that went away.

top...dead Fs at Collinwood, Cleveland, 1977

middle...FL9 at end of the line in Altoona

bottom...One of the prettiest noses, at Washington DC in 1977

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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top..Cumberland. 1977

middle...A long way from Tucumcari.. ex Rock Island in Portland Maine 1982

bottom...Scranton Pa. 1976

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/21 06:39 by Roadjob.

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top...one of the most famous faces of all, Wilmington 1977

middle...Best place to get Amtrak nose jobs...Ivy City Washington DC

bottom...Just a common in your face nose job westbound at Gallitzin Pa

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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Thanks Bill for the interesting photos, especially of the Western Maryland F unit nearing the end of its' life with the Chessie System.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Very interesting shots to examine.   In that first photo, the perspective of the nose to nose allows for easy comparison of the two pilots on the F-units.   I assume one was the freight version and the other was the passenger version?   

Nice shots!  I really like the Amtrak nose shot a lot.

RC Lundgren
Elgin, TX

B&W at its finest. 

Robert Morris
Dunsmuir, CA
Robert Morris Photography

For this railfan one of the best things about modern cell phone technology is being able to see cool stuff like this even while chasing 2 UTAH units out in the Kansas boonies.

But for this railfan one of the worst things about modern cell phone technology is not being able to see cool stuff like this on a screen like the size I have at home. I guess ya can’t have everything... :^)

Posted from iPhone
(on location at the 100th Rd/KYLE crossing SE of Delphos)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/21 09:37 by santafe199.

Very NICE and interesting series!!

Larry

Milwaukee Wrote:
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> Very interesting shots to examine.   In that
> first photo, the perspective of the nose to nose
> allows for easy comparison of the two pilots on
> the F-units.   I assume one was the freight
> version and the other was the passenger version? 
>  

Both these were ex NYC Units. No difference in type of service that I am aware of. Both were active on the PC Roster at least til Jun 1 1973. Ben

Milwaukee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Very interesting shots to examine.   In that
> first photo, the perspective of the nose to nose
> allows for easy comparison of the two pilots on
> the F-units.   I assume one was the freight
> version and the other was the passenger version? 
>  

Correct.  What we call the freight pilot is on the left.  The right pilot is the passenger version.  The front coupler and associated front buffer on the passenger version were retractable, to allow placement of the front coupler covers.  You can see the different designs of the buffer in this excellent comparison photo. 

- Norm

Getting a little nosey, were we?! Great stuff, #1 looking like they were whispering to each other...

JG

Creative, interesting set.
Bob

Great photos, and not all gone.  GG1 4935 still exists at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg.

Rich

Awesome stuff!!! Always enjoy the post.

You put color photography to shame!