What more can I say. This engine is sitting in Pensacola FL in the median of a street. Bet she was something back in the day.
But at least she's safe and sound, and didn't have to fear the reaper. (Props if you get the reference)
Maybe some day we'll have automobiles sitting behind fences in parks and we'll all be riding flanged wheels on steel rails everywhere we go.
Glad she's preserved. Regional rail service is slowly growing. May be set back for a while with current conditions. Eventually those regional networks will start meshing with each other. There have been many plans put in place, some done long ago. Just awaiting the appropriate moment and funding. Boxcab E50
Waiting to see if IL will be the next site for High Speed Rail. Chicago-St. Louis Corridor, I hope it happens. Not only is High Speed Rail more enviromentally friendly, but the magic of a train ride is slowly becoming lost to history and that is something we cannot let happen.
On the subject of regional rails and the Rails-to-Trails program, which I know nothing about. Is the intent of that Program to preserve the ROW so the government can reclaim it by emminent domain if the need should ever arise or in the event of a National Emergency? BTW, 1385 is homesteaded near what I believe is the most south-eastern terminal of the Frisco. I remember seeing the Frisco yard in Pensacola 30-40 years ago when it was very active...may still be for all I know. Lovely loco, and great photo, Thanks!
For any glitches it has, RTT keeps the right-of-way from reverting back to the adjacent land owners. In theory holds the r-o-w available for eventual conversion back to rail use. Boxcab E50
In my area, RTT has been used to preserve intact rights-of-way when the tracks have already been ripped out. I think it is critical to preserve as many intact rights-of-way as possible if we are going to have rail service, unless we start converting lanes of highways. Who knows. a lot could happen in the next fifty years. Just look at what's happened in the last fifty.
Ref: A tired ole girl... It's amazing the changes I've seen 'her' undergo through the years that I lived in Pensacola. Everytime a hurricane would come through and beat up her paint, the good folks who take care of 'her' would go back and restore yet again. It always made my heart 'smile' when I'd drive by that Ole Girl ;o) I lived in Pensacola from mid-summer of 1992 to the fall of 1997.
Welcome to TB, x-FriscoEmployee! Where did you work on the system, and do you currently work for the Big New Super Frisco? Anyone have a broadside pic of this grand old lady?
