Railroaders' Nostalgia > SFe train 811 redux

Here’s a slide scan I first posted in 2014. With Photoshop back then I was just learning the ropes. And believe me I had a lot to learn. Nine years later I still have a lot to learn, but I can offer much better color work. I’ve also learned how to eliminate a lot of background ‘noise’. This time I was able to edit out the magenta color shift I hadn’t previously noticed. (Unfortunately Kodachrome will color-shift, depending on how it’s stored.) Now I’m back to the original sunset color I still recall to this very day...

I do remember Tuesday October 16, 1979 like it was yesterday! I was a 24 year old Santa Fe brakeman and I had the whole day off! Like one Santa Fe crew clerk used to say: I was “so far down on the brakeman’s extra board they had to pump air to me to keep me alive”. While the wife was at work I was running around town burning up copious amounts of Kodachrome 64. I had what’s known in some railfan circles as a banner day! One of my favorite telephoto shots ever came on this day in this old Toto Tuesday thread: ( Toto Tuesday: Once upon a time in Emporia (trainorders.com) ).

I have to expound on SFe train 811 here near Constitution St: This train was one of my pet-favorite hotshots to work. It didn’t have quite the high priority that other Chicago-bound trains 991 & 881 did, or even the Argentine-bound 883. But it was still a HOT affair, usually with 2-3 big units and a short block of orange MTC reefers followed by a small farm pen full o’ pigs. Only in times of real power shortages did the 811 suffer from a lack of HP. The 811 pictured here is typical, having just changed the head end crew at Emporia. With two big 6-axle units one can see the end of the train, so I’m guessing this one had upwards of 2000 tons total. The Eastern Division hogger will slow the train down so the rear end crews can change on the roll. There was no better place to watch rolling waycar crew changes than Emporia, KS. As long as you didn’t get too squirrelly about trespassing you were welcome to hang out with your rig directly south of the Santa Fe/Amtrak passenger depot and watch crew changes all the live-long day ♫♪♫. A variety of power, waycars and rolling stock could be picked off at your leisure. Emporia, Kansas when it was still Emporia...

1. AT&SF 5632 leads train 811 N-1 away from the depot at Emporia, KS on October 16, 1979.

Thanks for looking back a bit more refined!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/23 01:26 by santafe199.

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I was in 5th Grade then. Think about that Lance. LOL 
MILW86A 

MILW86A Wrote: > ... Think about that ...

Yikes... where DOES the time go? In the 5th grade the sum total of my railfanning was whatever I could see from Grandma's house @ 105 SW 4th St in Abilene, KS (razed in the 90s). The Rock Island ran right behind her back yard on the south and the Santa Fe depot was but a short block to the north. In 1965, at 10 years of age could I afford to run film (B/W) through the family Brownie? Did that concept even occur to me??? Ha ha ha ha ho ho ho ho ho hee hee hee hee hee hee...............

;^)

santafe199 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MILW86A Wrote: > ... Think about that ...
>
> Yikes... where DOES the time go? In the 5th grade
> the sum total of my railfanning was whatever I
> could see from Grandma's house @ 105 SW 4th St in
> Abilene, KS (razed in the 90s). The Rock Island
> ran right behind her back yard on the south and
> the Santa Fe depot was but a short block to the
> north. In 1965, at 10 years of age could I afford
> to run film (B/W) through the family Brownie? Did
> that concept even occur to me??? Ha ha ha ha ho ho
> ho ho ho hee hee hee hee hee hee...............
>
> ;^)

Fifth grade??? In October of '79, I was well into my first year promoted. 

"Twenty cars 811. Ten cars. Five......We're on 811. Highball!"

 

October of 79 I cared about the NY Yankees, the Chicago Cubs and the Dallas Cowboys! Oh, yeah I was in 5th grade too!

😆

Regards

Posted from iPhone

In 1979 I was sailing on the TT WILLIAMSBURG from Greece to Libya and then on to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, then the Persian Gulf to load for the Mediterranean, back to Persian Gulf and then on to Germany at a freeze your butt off port in the winter. Enjoying my first trips on a VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) propelled by a 50,000 HP steam plant. My great wife did send me a very nice set of Santa Fe HO scale brass factory painted PA-PB-PA'a for Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all TO members.

SuperChiefDon

ATSFSuperChief Wrote: > ... My great wife did send me a very nice set of Santa Fe HO scale brass factory painted PA-PB-PA's for Christmas ...

Holy moly!!!! Next time I'm in your neck-o-the-woods you'll have to show them off to me! But I'll make sure to stand at least 5 feet away. I wouldn't want to accidentally drool all over them... ;^)

Lance

what's it like there now?

In the summer of 1979, I had a 12-week internship at WOWO Radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Temporarily living about 50 miles from home, I spent the summer in a rent-by-the-week motel that was a couple of blocks from N&W's East Wayne Yard in New Haven.  When I wasn't tending to radio station obligations, I was railfanning (but didn't bother to have a camera with me!).    

inrdjlg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In the summer of 1979, I had a 12-week internship
> at WOWO Radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

WOWO - ten or so years before that I was a high school railfan listening to powerful WOWO late at night in North Carolina.  The DJ was Listo Fisher.