PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR UNLESS NOTED
MCMINNVILLE,TN; MAY, 2000 Rubber tires meet steel rails Modern maintenance equipment can run on both roads and rails/David Lustig T
rain watching used to be so much easier. Remember the days when a station agent would tell
you there was nothing coming for eight hours, only to watch one speed by as you were getting back in your car? Or you could stand on public property and enjoy the passing parade of trains? How about spotting a headlight on the horizon and knowing a train was com- ing? Ah, the good old days. Today, it’s almost impossible to find a
The added versatility of having equipment that can run on both highways and rails, such as this Caney Fork & Western dump truck (above) and Union Pacific pickup truck (right), is much appreciated by railroaders. Retractable wheel assemblies (below) are used to guide the vehicle down the track.
DALLES, GARLAND & NORTHEASTERN R.R. PICKUP TRUCK; DALLAS, TX; JUN, 2000
standing station, let alone an open one. Now when someone finds out you’re waiting to photograph a train they might ask, “Don’t you know it’s ille- gal?” Which, of course, it isn’t. And now the worst insult of all. That headlight on the horizon. There’s a good chance it is not a train, at all, but a couple of railroaders in a high-rail pickup truck or other conveyance heading to their next assignment or checking for irreg- ularities. Is nothing sacred?
DONNER PASS, CA; MARCH 1, 2010
Well, as far as anything rolling down the right of way with a headlight on it that is not hauling tonnage is con- cerned, there are logical reasons. And they’re all good ones: progress, efficien- cy, safety, and economics. Once,
conventional thinking was that only a railroad car or locomotive could do the maintenance-of-way work necessary on a railroad. Think about it. Look at yesterday’s typical work train. The good points are
76
MAY 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100