Midweek Photos 9/13/2017

The nice roundhouse display of Steamtown's 'past power' was made possible with this blue track mobile.  We see it ushering out Canadian National Railways no. 3254 after pulling out Canadian Pacific no. 2317 and EJ Lavino no. 3. 

Checking in on Baldwin no. 26 seems like an endless job.  There are so many parts where work needs to be done on a working piece of equipment, that it keeps the crew on their toes. 

Speaking of Baldwin no. 26, she puts on a nice show even in the drizzle.  We see her completing another Scranton Limited tour of the railroad yard. 

That does it for me this week.  Enjoy your time, both on line and along the railroad line.  

Freight headed to Whittier.

Daily Seward Passenger train back in Anchorage.  Waiting for the Hostlers to take it to the Shop.

On the IC in 1975:

Rusty

Just a few from the Michigan Transit Museum.  I was playing around with a new camera and took a few shots.  See more at 3rdcoastphotography.net 

Rusty, I like the name on the storage tanks in the background of your photo.The name Ashland Oil was our hometown refinery's name sake of Ashland,Ky.Marathon now operates that large refinery.R.J Corman switches the inner plant and CSX runs a local for dropoff and pickup back to their yards in Russell,Ky.Valvoline Oil also got it's start here. 

Upper Sandusky Ohio grain elevator captive engine 

I purchased this original print of a news photo from November, 1921 about a year ago.  It depicts DT&I 4-4-0 #7, an 1897 Baldwin locomotive.  This is a locomotive that was restored in the roundhouse in Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI, and it ran for the first time since the mid 1920s in 2013.  Since it's a locomotive I work on (I was it's engineer today), I had to have it.  When I purchased it, it had the editors paint marks in place still.  I scanned it before removing the markings, since it was one of the best photos of the engine I've seen.  This is its appearance after Henry Ford purchased the failing railroad and modernized everything.  #7 was the first locomotive that was shopped during his modernization and standardization program that all of the locomotives went through.

Fast forward to this week, I found an original news article from December of 1921 on Newspapers.com.  The article was published in the Miami News, as well as a couple other papers I found from other towns.  A cool surprise for me, was that the article featured what I believe to be the exact print of my picture that I have.  It also helped back up the story that is presented about the locomotive today, which is that it was Henry Ford's favorite locomotive when he owned the DT&I, and was backdated and saved for his museum upon selling the museum.

Today it operates as Detroit & Lima Northern #7, in more or less its original, as built, configuration.  Henry Ford had it restored to that appearance, with a few liberties when it was put on display in his museum.

It's threshing bee season, and that's where I've been spending most of my time lately,  However, I did head out west to the Black Hills over Labor Day weekend with my wife.  We have a pair of new Trek FX2 bikes and went to ride the old CBQ rail to trail--the Mickelson Trail.  I suppose I'll break this story up into two parts.

Part 1

The Mickelson Trail is 109 miles long, and I was thinking of riding the entire thing north to south in one day.  Never mind the farthest we've done to date was 35 miles in one day, on the level ground of the Root River Trail in southeast MN!  The day we were to set out was forecast to hit 90 degrees though, and we'd be at 5,000 to 6,000 ft.  The hills were not over 3 or 4% grades, BUT.....they could be 10+ miles long with no break!  We decided to cut it short and ride Deadwood to Hill City, about 42 miles.  The northern portion of the run is mostly through forest and is shaded.  Our Trek bikes are very lightweight and have 24 gears, but those mountain grades showed no mercy!  My wife was staying in gear 1 or 2 and making less than 5 mph.   I could see she would never make it to Hill City!  She seemed to be in the early stages of heat exhaustion. There is no cell phone service along there, virtually no road crossings, and no houses.  Once you're on the trail you are pretty much on your own and committed to finishing!  The only town along the route is Rochford, and it's tiny.  When we finally got there we went for cold drinks at the only place in town --a biker bar.  The place was crowded with about 100 bikers milling around.  I told my wife I was pulling rank on her, and was leaving her there.  I'd ride on to Hill City (~22 miles), get the car, and come back for her in maybe three hours.  She asked, "So what am I supposed to do here for three hours?"  I suggested she grab a beer and shoot pool with the guys.  She replied, "You're ditching your wife at a biker bar?"  Hmm.  That didn't sound like such a great idea when she put it that way.  I then suggested she catch a ride with one of the bikers back to Hill City, riding on the back of a Harley, but she didn't like that idea either.  In the end we found an out of state tourist couple from Elgin, IL that gave her a ride back.  As a bonus they had a pickup truck and we put her bike in there.  I rode on ahead, and made the entire 42 miles before dark with no problem.  Not bad for a guy who was nearly dead seven months before!  Mickelson Trail is considered one of the top 10 most scenic bike trails in North America, and parts of it were spectacular.  Next time though, I think we'll only tackle Dumont to Hill City, about half the distance.  And, make sure it's under 80 degrees!   Anyway, some shots.  this would have been a world class rail line to photo, especially back when it was done with steam engines!

1.  Tunnel D.  Wife resting in the cool tunnel while I take a few shots.

2. Tunnel B.  (There were four tunnels.)  Note there is now only one bike!

Kent in SD

Part 2

The next morning we got up and surprisingly had no stiffness or soreness despite the punishing bike ride the day before.  We decided to ride and then chase the 1880s Train--my wife's suggestion.   I've turned her into a real foamer!  They were using their 2-6-6-2T Mallet that day.  The train moves deceptively fast through the mountains, and I had trouble getting far enough ahead of it to set up for shots.  I mostly shot my Chamonix 4x5 with lenses from the 1920s, and my wife took shots with either of my Nikon DSLRs.  This is an epic ride and I encourage anyone coming through to catch it!   Here are a few shots, mostly taken by my wife while I used the 4x5:

1. Coming up the mountain from Hill City.

2.  Coming to a grade crossing.

3. Through the granite spires

4. Coasting down the hill to Keystone.  (My 4x5 in bottom right corner.)

Kent in SD

Kent, thanks for your chronicle. Sounds like you've got a very compatible wife!

Dan Weinhold

we took a day trip the backway using old hwy 60 and 89a these shots were about 10-15 miles north west of Sun City Grand,Az  the photo with mow and bnsf diesel was taken by my wife on her cell phone.

was a fun day  trees in Prescott,Az and Sedona,Az are already showing signs of fall color