Trackside Vol. 188 voting begins. Comment here!

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

Please vote for a winner for Trackside with Trains.com Vol. 188, End-cab switchers in their element:

http://trn.trains.com/Trackside/2012/07/Vol%20188%20End-cab%20switchers%20in%20their%20element.aspx

Also, let us know what you think of the photos.

Thanks and have a great week!

2

I don’t see any difference between any of the photos…no vote this week from me!

3

I see a difference…we have one in the railroad’s main line service, one at the shop, one in a yard, and one switching an industry. Guess which one of those I figure as being “in its element”: Bravo, Ed Blysard!

4

It was either Tom Nanos’ Amtrak duty or Ryan Rackley’s feed mill job…and I landed on Ryan’s submission. The reason I excluded the other two was that it seemed to me that because of the topic, the “end cab” ought to be prominent in the photo. Ryan finally got the vote because it just seemed more likely for a lonely end cab unit to be working a feed mill in South Carolina than a cushy assignment for Amtrak. Make any sense? Oh well…I’ve never been accused of that anyhow.#### Tom in Nashville

5

I have always been interested in the freight operations of interurbans. Most fell by the wayside but a few remained in business by providing switching service to on line industries even to this day. Most use Diesel power, the Iowa Traction being an exception, and until it shut down, the Texas Transportation Co. in San Antonio also used electricity for power and operated freight motors that just refused to wear out because they received a lot of TLC.

Ilinois Terminal remained in the freight bizz big time, Dieselizing with first generation models they even graduated to second generation power until a takeover by a Class One carrier. The CRANDIC not only Dieselized its operations but has since expanded in the region. A Sucess Story of how a Properly Managed former interurban railway survived the times and created jobs at the same time by providing superior service to its customers!

When I hired out on the Santa Fe in Dallas in 1968 we switched the Hormel facility which had formally been located on the Texas Electric Railway. TE had had quite a bit of freight bizz and after it shut down in the late 1940s the ATSF built a connecting track off of the Dallas-Cleburne line to reach and switch Hormel. It was a switchback affair and to spot reefers at the dock the switchers had to run on some former TE track including the track on the dock. Born too late to ride the interurbans I did get to “ride” TE rails at last if only a switching movement.

Joe Toth

The Trinity River Bottoms Boomer

6

i loved seeing older generation diesel power in full operation. I hpoe to see more in the future. Maybe you can ask for pictures by model and or make. Such as EMD SD7. GP-9. Gp-30, etc…

great forum when including short lines and industry served.

thank you for this feature.

7

Gee…can I split my vote a couple ways? I’ve been thinking about this for a couple days now…still undecided.