Nostalgia & History > Western Maryland - what did I see?

Here are 2 shots I took in January 1975 on the WM - looking to see if anyone has an explanation of what is going on with this train.  We had spent the night with a friend in LaVale MD, but I marked the slides as being taken in Mt Savage MD.  Train was eastbound, and as far as I can tell consisted of an F7A, an oversized tank on a flatcar, and a caboose.    The snow and ice gives it a somewhat surreal air.    Anyone have an explanation for what is happening here?   Is the tank on the flatcar some piece of equipment from a power plant?  (I swear this is not on an HO layout!!)
thanks
Duncan



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/22 22:20 by dwatry.

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Wow, these are priceless the seventies were so great! So much to love here......

Great photos!

I completely agree that the these two images have that model railroad quality. I have failed time and time again to figure out what that element is, and put it into words.

That quality can be present in videography too. For instance, in the Volume IV (Cumberland, MD to Connellsville, PA) of Pentrex's Into the Allegheny Range series, there is a great example of this. That is a recording of CSX's A-B-A unit consist pulling Cumberland's 1992 Railfest train out of the west portal of Sand Patch Tunnel. One would swear that it was a HO scale model, if it was not a part of the other recordings within the documentary.

Matthew

Two "A+" images.
Bob

Those are beautiful photos and the only thing that I can think of is that a particular customer needed that tank car (whatever it was) immediately and back in the days when the Western Maryland was still independent, customer service was very important and customers came first.  So the WM would send out a special train if necessary to satisfy a customer.  The Western Maryland was one of the best maintained and operated railroads in the nation.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

A little hard to make it out, but it's probably a high and wide load.

A hi and wide special move. It happens on rare occasions.

RWJ

You are in Pennsylvania, not Maryland.
On the Connellsville Sub around MP B192, train is westbound, one mile east of Sand Patch., and about 1/2 mile west of Warren's Mill crossing.
You took the photo from SR2006, Deal Rd.
High-wide cargoes/moves very common on Connellsville Sub due to clearances.
Appears to be a boiler, could be local delivery to Connellsville, or interchange with P&LE/N&W.
Oval sign at right end of bridge said "Sand Patch-One mile".

Big savage - thanks for the location ID!

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