Mark Boyce posted:Rich, I see you have gotten us off to another fine day of switchers! Excellent photographs everyone. Some may classify this as a road engine, but others would let it slide as a switcher, so I am going to take a chance.
Elkins, West Virginia - August 2017
Hey Mark - When I was 11 years old I heard the B&O local freight arriving in Savage, Md. It came three days each week to switch a Westinghouse appliance distribution warehouse, cement plant and a team track. Right away I pedaled my bike as fast as I could to meet the train. When I arrived the GP7 was sitting on the Westinghouse spur waiting for a warehouse crew to finish unloading the final bit of payload from one of the 5 boxcars. As I stood there next to the engine, the conductor asked me if I wanted to come aboard and ride with them as they did the switching in Savage for the day. Of course I said YES!! How cool it was! The crew was super nice and the engineer let me blow the horn each time the train crossed route one on one of its up and back switching moves. That experience is burned into my brain. Your photos remind of that time. The loco had the same paint scheme, of course its always hard to disquish between a GP 7 or 9 externally ... however I guess your photo is a GP9 given the dynamic brake blister on the hood. Many thanks for the memories!
