Driving home from Tacoma yesterday afternoon, I swung by Ceeco, and there is a GP9,(former SP with the light package intact), lettered for the "Albany & Eastern". Awesome looking loco, decked out in Western Pacific "California Zephyr" paint!! All silver down to the trucks, with a sherbert orange band. And wouldn't ya' know it, no camera in hand!!:realmad1up:-grrrrr
You mean THIS 3859? Bet it looks better than this: The 3859 on the AERC back in December 2006 at Lebanon, OR. Notice the "WVR" stenciled on the side below the cab. Personally, I'd rather see it in the Black Widow scheme, but Mr. Root (the owner of the AERC) didn't ask my advice, so there ya go.............. Still, can't wait to see the old Geep in its new colors.
Yep, she's a real beautiful gal now! It's one of those things where your driving by and looking at all the stuff in there,(including an ex-SP SD45, in gray and red still!), and almost locking up the brakes when I saw her!mg: You can still smell the paint from the road!:teeth: Oh, and the ex-Milwaukee Road E9 is there too.
I don't know about the SD-45, but the MILW E9 looks brand new UP yellow w/all lettering intact! A real beauty!
The group that was operating those trips with steam, etc, which had the E unit, seems to have faded away. At least I have not heard a word about them in many months. So I wonder what will happen to the Milw engine... Boxcab E50
Mr. Root no longer owns the Albany & Eastern. He sold it a couple months ago to Rick Franklin, who has a yard in Albany for his railroad contracting business. The pictures I've seen of the unit show it to be basically in the same scheme as the GE's that Rick has. Jeff Moore Elko, NV
I knew Rick Franklin owns or owned several GEs, but during my time in western Oregon I was never able to see them. The AERC diesels (if they're still on the property) look pretty sharp, as do the Willamette Valley GP35s on the other Root brother's line. (Ive seen pics on Brian McCormick's website, and I agree- the GEs look sharp. Did Franklin sell them, or were they leased out elsewhere?)
I have to correct myself- Rick Franklin's yard is in Lebanon, not Albany. Franklin did sell all of the GE's off, but just bought two of them back largely because they still had his name splashed down their sides. The GE's arrived back on the AERC a couple weeks ago and are back in service. The two GP38's are still on the property, although one of them has been on lease to the Klamath Northern for the last several months while they get some major wheel work done on their GE 125-ton. The Root brothers had some sort of a major falling out a couple years ago. Their joint Willamette Valley had run everything together, but after the split Mike formed the Albany & Eastern to take over that operation, which left Dave to run the "other" line as the Willamette Valley. Hence the WVR lettering in your picture above. Jeff Moore Elko, NV
I knew the Roots had a parting of ways. I also saw both the GP38s and the GP35 on the AERC, as well as the two GP35s on the WVR. All looked to be well taken care of. The sole exception was that raggedy SP Geep on the AERC in Lebanon. Come to think of it, both shortlines would make great model railroads.
