#gp9

[eltristan]

This was railroading!

Southern Pacific No. 5603 SF commute train 112 pulls out of 3rd and Townsend station in San Francisco, CA. February 7, 1957

[coolthingsguyslike]

[eltristan]

The SDA&E was basically the coolest transnational semi-transcon railway that we never had. Called the "Impossible Railroad" for the impassible terrain and the challenge of zigging and zagging between the US and 1906 México, it was to bridge from the Pacific Ocean (San Diego) to the Colorado River (Yuma, Arizona) and develop a port there to the Gulf of California — that was contemporary with the Salton Sea disaster (when the Colorado River ran backwards). The Colorado River today basically doesn't reach the ocean at all, and no one really needed a way to circumvent the Baja California peninsula anyway, but it was the early 1900's Gilded Age of the eccentric and über-wealthy industrialists so no one thought it was particularly strange. It ended up just being a back door into the California's Imperial Valley.

Eventually it became part of the Southern Pacific (and Mexican subsidiary, Ferrocaril del Sur) and that's the Southern Pacific Common Plan standard trestle you see here. Because of the insanely dry weather, and the creosoted 100% old growth redwood (yes!), the trestle at Goat Canyon is still there nearly 100 years after it was built in 1932. Surprisingly, it is also accessible and from what I hear a nice hike

https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/hike-to-the-worlds-largest-wooden-trestle-bridge-right-here-in-san-diego-county/

Somehow I've never gone out there, something I'd like to fix someday but hey here I am poking out a post on Tumblr with my thumbs and putting it in the queue to remind me to go to this shrine of the glorious Southern Pacific... *poke*

[eltristanexplicitcontent]

SP Anaheim Local w/ GP9R 1987

[onepiecefanz]

Are you being serious asking why the members of cp9 are being promoted? They were a highly skilled assassination unit. And during the time skip I'm sure they were still if not even better after enies lobby. Lucci and Kaku became part of cp0 after that. And it wasn't cause they felt bad for them? The strawhats beat them but that doesn't mean they were bad at what they did. They may not be the threat they used to be but don't act like they weren't ever a legitimate threat.

Look, I'm surprised none of them got fired after what happend on Enies Lobby! Just take a moment and see it from a marine perspective right.

- The most dangerous woman in the world escapes

- A secure/important government island gets destroyed

- BY A TINY ASS pirate crew no-one heard about

- All agents get their asses kicked

- They ran off with the giants (they used as slaves)

- The weapon blueprints get burned

Basically their entire mission they worked for years for completely and utterly fails. Someone has to take responsibility for that. The Marines need to explain this to the world government right...

And we all now how forgiving they are, when it comes down to failures that makes them look weak....

All I'm saying is, it does not matter if they are strong now or strong then.. They failed a mission. As a super secret spy that usually means death.

[briansolomonauthor]

The Legacy of Buffalo & Pittsburgh 207

Here’s another example of tying the threads together. A few days ago, Wayne Duffett sent me a photo of a bridge on the Buffalo & Pittsburgh that he’d inspected some years back. In his story about the bridge (that was involved in a fire) he made mention of B&P GP9 number 207 that later was sold to the Finger Lakes Railroad, becoming its 1751. About a dozen years ago, Conway Scenic traded a pair…

[eltristan]

Bookends

Illinois Central’s Iowa Division

This is a westbound train on the Illinois Central line that runs from Fort Dodge (Tara) to Sioux City, Iowa. These two images were taken just east of Storm Lake—on Radio Road.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken during the summer of 1979.

[eltristan]

[eltristanexplicitcontent]

GP9 #1601 is screamin as it switches cars in Cochrane. 9/18/1996

[graintrainbrain]

Wrecked CNR steam locomotive No. 5115 sits nose-to-nose with NAR 202 after a head-on collision near Carbondale, Alberta, that led to a tank car explosion, the destruction of the nearby train station, four deaths, and nineteen injuries, 1959. Photo from the Provincial Archives of Alberta, via the Carbondale Railway Station

[eltristan]

That PRR GP9B!

Western Pennsylvania coal train bound for Edison's River Rouge power plant near Detroit, Michigan, led by PRR GP9 7253, PRR GP9B 3818 and Detroit, Toledo & Ironton GP9 990 rolling through Oroville, Ohio on November 11, 1967. Photo by W.D.Volkner

[catenary-chad]

I can be laughably inconsistant in how I portray Electra’s build besides “somewhat to very short and denser than you’d expect”. On one hand, it makes sense for an electric train to be very lean because they notably don’t “store” anything fuel-wise irl (unless they have a battery or are a dual-mode electo-diesel). On the other hand, it’s a running joke that Americanized versions of European engines have to be waaaay heavier than the originals for crashworthiness reasons (other countries just have better signaling/fewer road crossings to begin with) so modern-day Electra being heftier checks out. Also not immune to making stupid jokes about how electric locos often have issues with being too light irl and making them heavier can be a GREAT thing for freight service since it reduces wheelslip and lets them pull more.

[untoterxhund]

rain? usually cold and wet. rain after weeks of natural (an one unnatural forest-fire because of one whack-job in Nova Scotia) forest-fires? y u m. anyhoo, how're y'all today?

[railwayhistorical]

Bozeman, Montana

I was shocked today to see an image of the Bozeman passenger station falling into disrepair. I have two images of the station in better times—when Amtrak's North Coast Hiawatha still ran.

In my shots here we first see an eastbound Burlington Norther freight on the former Northern Pacific line, and then the Amtrak passenger trains arrives. I would ride the NCH between Bozeman and Milwaukee.

[Being a locomotive geek, I see that the BN GP9 on point is a former Northern Pacific engine, running on home rails, built in 1957. The power for the passenger train is a relatively new F40PH built in October of 1977, just shy of two years old.] It should be said that this Amtrak train was named in honor of earlier passenger trains on both the Milwaukee Road and the Northern Pacific—as its long journey would use the tracks of those two railroads. The train operated for Amtrak between 1971 and 1979. Again, sorry to see the station falling into disrepair. I hope it is saved and that passenger trains return to the line. Two images by Richard Koenig—made in August of 1979.

[eltristan]

3194 did end up with the GGRM at Brightside, California. Not sure about current status.

SP 3194 (GP9) in Brisbane, CA at the east end Bayshore Yard in March 1981 by Marty Bernard Via Flickr: A Roger Puta Photograph

[eltristan]

Thomas Coulombe Flickr Train WA-2 rumbles across Lithgow St. in Winslow, Maine, heading west for the capital with a bulkhead of steel for Civies, and two covered hoppers for Gold Star. Fittingly, Pan Am's Maine Central heritage was leading on this day, as the line used to be one of Maine Central's two mainlines between Waterville and Royal Junction, and the favored one for westbounds. Unfortunately, what was once a 40 mph mainline is now all Rule 98 track, and the 52 has been sold to Heber Valley in Utah.