Oh, probably the X2000 electrics that Amtrak borrowed for a short while (only two, one on each end, were ever in the Western hemasphere).
I did see a Conrail “Super 7” U-boat some time ago on a local switcher. I remember being quite shocked at seeing EMD blombergs under a GE loco.
The rarest production locos I have seen are the HHP-8’s on the NEC. I think there is only a dozen of these…
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
I think that my rarest sighting would have to be UP 144 a General Electric B23-7 from what I can gather. I think that this might actually be the same engine that was pictured in Trains June '04 pgs. 46&47. The date on that picture is 1968. You can e-mail me if you want to see a picture that I took of it.
That whole consist was odd. I think that it was a power move since there were eight engines on a train of perhaps 25 cars. It was also in this consist that I saw the only CSX engine (#7711) that I have ever seen in Denver.
Scott
Driving on Hwy 41 alongside what-used-to-be the Wisconsin Central line through Appleton, WI, I have seen a B-B road switcher labeled “GEC-Alstom.” Is this just a leasing arrangement of a conventional North American loco, is this some kind of European exotic, or is it one of these repowering deals?
Wildwood Florida, in 1960, on the Seaboard Airline, I photographed a train leaving the yard with four Baldwin centipedes on the point. For the benefit of you younger members, the Baldwin centipede was a monster covered wagon with two 8 cylinder 3000 hp engines under the hood and a 2-d-d-2 (4-8-8-4) wheel arrangement, 96 wheels in all. Considering the reliability of these notorious units, two were probably adequate for the train while two more were neened for redundancy.
Today a pair of SD-45s rolled onto my service tracks. Not that unusual… exept that they were’nt WCs one CEFX in UP paint and one SP #8648 bloody nose, speed lettering etc.
Randy
Utah Railway F45 9013 at Granite City, Illinois.
Saw the Amtrak Turbo Train in Richmond, In, way back when, saw 8 brand new GE’s for NdeM (pretty!!) on NW line outside of Muncie ,In. also back in the 70’s, an EMD re-engined Alco RS at ConRail yard in Marion, In, and 2 small steam engines on flat cars on Penn Central in Anderson In.
Nowadays, you just don’t see as many oddballs. Well, I mean oddball engines. Too bad.
A CN GMD 1, CF7, ALCo C430.
(really want to see an ALCo RS-27)
San Luis Southern d-500 or a whole flock of ex-BN NW-5’s in Eastern Colorado in service (Kind of EMD’s answer to the RS-1)…
I saw the EMD demo set of GP-35 DD35-DD35-GP-35 in EMDs red & white demo colors.I also saw two SD-45 demos on an SP freight.Saw an NW-5 in Portland.
for me it would have to be ATSF 7200 the only SF30b ever made close second though would have been 6936 the big DD40x on the old SP between Sanata Rosa and Vaughn NM in 1997 only engine on the trains pulling roughly 75 cars not a bad sight though[2c][:D]
Illinois Northern s alco S-4(?) dead in the bn yard at western ave/ in the mid 70s road was a small switching line on chicagos west side ATSF took over and now is some kind of shortline with an sw-1200 for power
I saw 2 MBTA budd rdc’s on a spur in somerville, mass. They’ve been there for ever!
Just today an H1 BNSF B40-8 behind a UP SD70M on a Manifest coming through Blair.
Oh boy more & more BNSF Power is becoming around here[:)].
I tell you what that BNSF Power sure looks good with the UP Yellow…Damn good looking Power.
Oh one more thing…It sure would be nice to see a UP & a BN C30-7…Like Ha Ha.
You know the Shell oil refinery in Hartford, IL? Once I saw several Utah Ry. engines on what I guess was a ready track; kind of odd to see that many locomotives from a regional line several states away…
My rarest sighting of all things would be a KCS SD45T-2, tells you I haven’t seen a whole lot, doesn’t it…[;)]
My rearest sightings, at least in the past year, are both remaining DRGW SD50s, a SP SD70M, and a BNSF SW1500(?).
back in 1993…sighting a norfolk southern trio m.u. of locomotives on an eastbound
freight for west virginia one saturday afternoon about 2 p.m. then the following
saturday afternoon, one week later, at approx. same hour, seeing the same trio of
n s locomotives in the same number order on a westbound southern pacific train
for houston. i was trackside in downtown beaumont, texas. it was believe it or not.
the first sighting was in columbus, ohio, where i live.
theo sommerkamp crosstie@wowway.com
Amtrak #27 the former New Haven Roger Williams Budd RDC with a cab like an F Unit. Got a cab ride in this one back in 1981. Mass Central NW5 just a few days ago. An Alco C424 and a former Alaska RR F-Unit hauling 1 mile of double stack in Palmer, MA in 2000.
Rarest locomotive sighting-Speno Rail Serivce F38-2M’s? They were a hybrid locomotive built for Speno to use on their rail grinders. Popped up in Edwardsville, Il once. Anything low nosed on the N & W and the Amtrak 44 tonner used at Beech Grove. Beech Grove used to host quite a bit of interesting stuff, mostly old Amtrak cars, but lately, the west yard has been pretty empty.
A UP C44-9w & a CPR H1B 4-6-4 all in the same day in Toronto ON.
Gordon