Grande Days on the Wheeling
BY FRANK KELLER/PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
S A DEVOTED RIO GRANDE FAN living in Colorado I took advantage of every opportunity to photograph what little remained of the Rio Grande after the Union Pacific merger in 1996. As time marched on less and less of the Rio Grande image remained. The last bastion for unpatched of Rio Grande SD45T-2 “tunnel motors” at Helper, Utah, was decimated by 2006. Eventually the last unit still adorned in Rio Grande
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paint and lettering was retired, so what was a Grande fan to do? Fortunately not all was lost. The Wheeling & Lake Erie had a very Grande-like paint scheme; in fact they had even purchased a few ex- D&RGW Geeps and a couple of tunnel motors to operate on the Wheeling. I fully expected the Wheeling to repaint these units into its corporate scheme, although most shortlines don’t consider new paint a priority. I hoped that was the case with
these units, since I was counting on the chance to photograph them in service on the W&LE prior to re-painting. Once placed into service, the two former Rio Grande tunnel motors, Nos. 5391 and 5413, received a small “WE” on the cab, but other than that were left in original Grande paint. I kept an eye on the Wheeling, and
when an opportunity to attend the annual Summerail show in Cincinnati
OPPOSITE: No longer conquering the Colorado Rockies, ex-Rio Grande SD45T-2 No. 5413 has just crossed the Maumee River and continues north on a circuitous route through the sprawling city of Toledo, Ohio, on August 13, 2007. ABOVE: D&RGW Nos. 5413 and 5391 make quite a pair as they curve off the old Akron, Canton & Youngstown mainline and onto CSX at New London, Ohio, with a loaded coke train for Detroit.
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