CR 6656 was originally EL 3671. After its service on CR was over, it spent a few more years working as RBM&N 3601 before being retired.
That gives me an idea for a duplicate hopper I have. My caffeine-charged brain is working hard at it...
IIRC EL bought those with the extra-large fuel tank so they could make a Newark-Chicago round trip without filling up.
Correct. They bought their SDP45s for the larger fuel tank, steam generator-delete, for the same reason. IC bought the only SD40As (SD40 on an SDP45 frame) built for the same purpose.
Taken from the skydeck at the then Sears Tower in Chicago, we're looking down on the C&NW's North Western Station, now gone and replaced with a modern glass office/station tower. Three suburban districts converge to enter the station. That's Lake Street Tower in the yellow circle and Clinton Street Tower at the top in the red circle. The bridge spanning the station throat carries Chicago Transit Authority trains. The MILW's two suburban lines meet west to form the double track under the bridge which follows the South Branch of the Chicago River river en-route to Union Station which is out of view. [March 1975]
The way I'd always seen it explained was that the extra-large fuel tank allowed the intermodal trains run for UPS to make a one-way trip without the need for refueling. Such trains took close to 30 hours for that trip. An SD40 consumed about 160 gal/hr in throttle notch 8 and about one-third to one-half that amount in notch 4 or 5. Would a priority intermodal train be operated with the locos running mostly at or near the maximum throttle setting or on average somewhere around halfway? A post to another forum suggested that the locos on those UPS trains could typically make it from NJ to IL and then back as far as Marion OH before needing refueling.
From the time before using covered hoppers for grain shipments. Wooden grain doors to keep the contents inside while filling.
Love it! Amazing how these 40 footers were in use for grain into the early 80s, on BN in WA at least.
I am betting that this string of cars was in that service as they head empty back to the Pacific North West after unloading at the Port of Houston or in Galveston. Photo taken on the MoPac north of Hearne, Texas in 1978.
Sure, anyone can bring a guitar to play, but it takes a dedicated "artiste" to busk with a harp! A street musician serenades folks at the train depot in Laredo, Texas, in around 1906. Looks like they may be loading blocks of ice into the roof hatches of the diner farther down the train.
"Slicing Through the Flatirons" Eastbound coal loads exit Tunnel 7 directly behind me, and approach a rock cut between Tunnels 7 and 6 as they continue towards Denver. The flock hunt was rewarding this April 2005 day!