Vintage trains still in regular service today

Ahhh Ace, excellent topic!

I shot these back in 2007 but I still see most of them running around.

West Virginia owned and operated South Branch Valley RR. Coming out of a thunderstorm and heavy down-pour SBVR SD18 #182 leads this "Chicken Feed" train with SD9 #180, (Chessie Painted) GP9 #6240 and GP9 #92 on the head end. Pushing are 2 other GP9s and SD9 #181.

Larger image here

Larger Image here

Local short-line railroad Grafton & Upton's #1501 is an F7-A built in 1952.  It has been used in daily freight service since being acquired...and has been recently re-painted into G&U corporate colors...

Seen today: P&W GP9 #1803 parked and idling with a work train along Water Street, Albany Oregon.

Here's a couple that are still being used by a short line at the Port of San Francisco.  Although, I think they may have been repainted since I took these photos.  Matt

Do short lines count?

Clinton Terminal RR (Clinton, NC) 2480, ex-ATSF CF-7

The Carolina Southern RR runs vintage engines. GP18's. I visit the area each year and finally tried to see some of the engines.  They run out of Conway, SC.  Long story short, they are on hold.

I was only able to get the maintenance person on the phone. They have bridges out in the lowlands and can't afford repairs. They haven't run in a year or so. Trains are stored in Dillon, SC and one other location, southwest of Conway. Not dead yet, but the industries they served are gone and Sandy debridged them.

#943 (GP-18) is painted in Waccamaw Coast Line colors, which looks like the Clinton above, as most were ACL back in the day. 

Is the YVT still running these little guys?

Not in regular freight service since 1985, but it survives in a museum with some operating trackage?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y...ansportation_Company

Union Pacific filed for abandonment of the YVT on April 26, 1984, and this was approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission on June 5, 1985. Operation ceased on November 18, 1985.^[5][6] However, at the request of city officials, Union Pacific donated the entire railroad to the City of Yakima,^[5] to allow continued operation of the heritage streetcar service by the Yakima Valley Trolleys, a 501(c)(3) volunteer-run non-profit organization. The donation included two of the railway's three locomotives, 1909 "Line car" A (for overhead line maintenance) and 1922 GE "steeple-cab" locomotive No. 298.

this one still operates in SoCal, ive run it

No kidding, that's fabulous! The one that got away from Yakima ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y...ansportation_Company

The third YVT electric locomotive, 1923 boxcab-type No. 297, was donated by UP to the Orange Empire Railway Museum, and left Yakima for that museum (on a railroad flatcar) the day after the YVT closed... The YVT was one of the last freight railroads in North America to use trolley poles on its locomotives, never having changed to pantographs.

It's surprising that the electric operation lasted as long as it did in Yakima.

Union Pacific had an electric operation in the Los Angeles area.  When that operation was discontinued the only locomotive went to the YVT. When the UP abandon the YVT they sent the Glendale and Montrose locomotive back to the Los Angeles area.

I'm a "street-running" nut and when a street-running photo showed up on Wikipedia, I went to http://maps.google.com and looked at Pine Street in Yakima. The street view shows the tracks and wire in place (Google doesn't give you the dates of the street view photos.) Have they pulled the wires and paved over the tracks yet?

The city has cut the railroad back so the only thing left is the line to Selah.  The copper trolley wire keeps getting stolen so I think it has been a while since they have been over there. The GE locomotive has had a bad traction motor for many years. There was some effort to get it repaired but I do not know if it has been fixed.  The line car and a master unit were running and there is a little bit of track in front of the car house and down to the high school that they may be operating on.

Sometime in the early 80's I was on a driving trip through Yakima Valley. I lived in the area as a kid and would see the electrics run in apple season. The line was still running so I pulled in and talked to the guys. They offered me a ride. I loved it. They even gave me some of the original tools. Don

1904 vintage J.G. Brill open trolleys operate during the summer between Sintra, Portugal and the beach at the Atlantic Ocean.

The line is single track with passing sidings.  The photos were taken September 21, 2012 during lunch hour which accounts for the light load.  The trips I rode were full.

Iowa Traction Railway uses five electric locomotives on its 11 mile line. The steeple cabs date from 1917, 1921 and 1923. More info here.

The videos of the Iowa Traction Railway were a lot of fun to watch.

sent that pic of the YVT Electric to all my DuPont(Safety 1st!) colleagues!

A highly entertaining blog and thank you...Ace for getting it started.

  I think half the locos I've been on lately.....well rebuilt ones.Older Southern and N&W SD-40's and a few GP's.

Nearly everyday, Monday - Friday, I see Amtrak #737 switching at Washington's Union Station. #737 is the oldest operating locomotive on Amtrak's roster, a ex Pennsylvania Railroad SW-1 built in 1942. 

This old beast is still at work! 

Portland & Western SD7 #1501