In the early days of Conrail, there were a number of small, barely profitable branch lines all over New Jersey. On the Ishpanozzing Branch in Thidwick County, CR managers calculated that it was more economical to service the GP-38-2 that worked the branch, at Lud Kissel’s Texaco than to keep the small engine house staffed at Ishpanozzing. Here we see the crew tanking up with some Fire Chief, and picking up some Chiclets and a bag of ice.
Lee
A fairly common phenomenon on the once-ubiquitous 762mm gauge feeder lines in Japan was the use of a semi-portable fuel tank with a glass-bowl pump (The kind seen in photos of very early gas stations in the US) to fuel the diesel ‘critters’ and rail busses that replaced the little teakettle tank locos on those lines. Most of them were stenciled for the local POL distributors, so I presume they were rented to the railroads as part of the contract to provide fuel.
I wonder if anything similar was done on some of the, ‘Two, men, a dog and a Whitcomb,’ mini-shortlines in the US.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with a 762mm gauge logger that runs diesels)
very cool pic
Wonder how much they charge for an oil change. lol
…and they’re also waiting for their windshield to be washed? [:-^]
Good one Lee. [(-D]
Wonder if they get a discount for buying in volume?
I smell an attempt at an April Fool’s joke…all of the fuel hoses appear to be resting in their holder on the pumps…go ahead and Google (Topeka) Ishpanozzing - the only link you’ll find is this one and the 4 replies over on the Atlas forum…
Don Z.
Nice try but you’ll have to do better next April 1st.
Hey, I got one of you clowns to Google Ishpanozzing! That’s good enough for me!
See you next year…
Lee
I still want to see a cop pull an engine over for running a red-light in Street running
And a few years ago, there was a modeling mag, I dunno the name of the mag or the article, or the road, it was a port road in the North West.
Anyway, one of the angles of the streetrunning looked for all the world like a GP38 was in the drive through at McDonalds. I know crews have eaten there on breaks, but THAT’s service.
Yeah, too bad we don’t have a Thidwick County! Or an Ishpanozzing!
If I weren’t from Jersey, I MIGHT have fallen for it…
So nice to know that you view the other forum members as clowns…the fact that I Googled Ishpanozzing doesn’t mean that you succeeded in your lame attampt at an April Fool’s joke…it means that it was so lame, it took all of 3 microseconds to bust. Next year, leave the April Fool’s Jokes to the professionals.
A fellow clown,
Don Z.
The fun part about April Fools is it’s supposed to be fun, Don. Lighten up.
For the record, the photo was shot in Inwood, West Virginia in December of 1982. This is on the Cumberland Valley Winchester Branch, former PRR, PC and Conrail, now operated by the Winchester and Western. The train was comprised of the GP-38-2, a couple of covered hoppers, and an ex PC transfer caboose.
Enjoy your holiday weekend!
Lee
Geez,
I am glad that I did not try to Google it.
When I worked on the PRR it wasn’t uncommon to stop on a urban industrial branch line and go to McDonald or BBF(a fast food restaurant) if it was near the track.One favorite stop was a Mom & Pop grocery store that made sandwiches…Their fried Bologna and Cheese sandwich featured a 1/2" thick slice of Baloney and melted cheese whiz…This sandwich and a bottle of pop cost a whopping 45 cents!!
I can’t imagine a more plebeian sandwich.
Mark
But it sounds kinda yummy, in a you’re-going-to-die-5-years-earlier kind of way.
Ed
in Oil City, PA, theres tracks that go within a few feet of a McDonalds. Pretty sure the drive thru is on that side too.
Excellent pic, I made the link “live” for you:
Mark,What other type of sandwich would you expect in a industrialized area? A Boston Market?[(-D]