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Distinctive diesels
Pretty good! this covers some of the lesser-known builders as well as the big ones.
Growing up in southern West Virginia, I lived in Oak Hill in 1957.
My Granddad Lilly was a Road Foreman of Engines, and later Trainmaster on C&O’s Allegheny Subdivision from 1947 till 1960, and my Great Grandfather Mastin, who was born during the War Between the States was an engineer on the New River subdivision out of Hinton.
So you can assume that I had more than a passing interest in railroading. I soon discovered that the Virginian Railway Mechanic came to Oak Hill every weekend to service and supply a pair of locomotives stationed there. I would go down to the servicing area every weekend, and the mechanic befriended this 11 year old boy. He would let me “help” him by letting me start the locomotives when he was done. I renenber him telling me to " push this button and hold it in till the blue light goes out. Which I did.
Little did I know then just what I was starting, they were a pair of Fairbanks Morse Trainmasters with that wonderful sounding opposed piston engine. What a piece of Railroad History, and a wonderful childhood memory.
I would like to see profiled, at some time in the future,the distinctive one-of-a-kind Baldwin experimental centipede diesel, the one that had only 4 engines installed, instead of the originally planned eight.The Diesel Spotters Guides give very little info on this unit.Are there more photos and additional info available concerning this diesel?
My father used to take me to the B&O depot in Clarksburg, WV to see passenger trains come in from Parkersburg or Cincinnati. One day the engineer of a short train with two baggage cars(probably carrying US Mail) and three coaches stopped and he invited the seven year old train lover up into the cab. I believe it was a F7. I got to turn on the bell and he showed me the diesel electric motors, as they sat in idle in the station. Great memory. The line was taken up in 1985 about 1.3 miles west of the Clarksburg station, but I did ride to Washingon DC Union Station and to Cumberland on the trains before passenger trains disappeared from my hometown.
Excellent collection, could do a magazine just on this list!
I got to ride in a “geep” on the Miss. Export RR around 20 years ago. We called it the “peanut express”. The round trip took around four and a half hours. The engineer let me run the throttle for about 5 miles. These were great locos with a lot of power for their age. I love the old geeps and Es and Fs. That was really the “good old days”.