Rail roads and their tracks.

   / Rail roads and their tracks. #1,771  
Those SD40-2s are/were real workhorses, built in the 70s and still being used.
There were more SD40s and -2s made than any other locomotives ever built, 5752 units.
 
   / Rail roads and their tracks.
  • Thread Starter
#1,772  
From

www.trains.com

Illinois grain facility acquires rare SD18M - Trains

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Grain terminal operator AgRail LLC is moving to replace its current locomotive with a rare six-axle EMD unit. Western Rail Inc. SD18M No. 1229 has arrived on the property of Bloomington-based AgRail to replace GP7 No. 35, a former Guilford/Springfield Terminal unit. The...
www.trains.com www.trains.com
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Illinois grain facility acquires rare SD18M​

By Steve Smedley | March 15, 2022

Unit will replace GP7 of Bloomington firm AgRail

White locomotive with green stripe, with gray and orange locomotive behind
A rare SD18M is now on hand for AgRail of Bloomington, Ill., to replace the company’s ex-Guilford GP7. (Steve Smedley)
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Grain terminal operator AgRail LLC is moving to replace its current locomotive with a rare six-axle EMD unit.
Western Rail Inc. SD18M No. 1229 has arrived on the property of Bloomington-based AgRail to replace GP7 No. 35, a former Guilford/Springfield Terminal unit. The six-axle, low-nose unit began its life with Minnesota’s Reserve Mining in May 1961.
The 1,800-hp locomotive was the third model in the Electro-Motive Division’s “Special Duty” line, after the SD7 and SD9, but only 114 were ordered. No. 1229 features the one-piece windshield and sloped nose that were spotting features of the more popular GP20.
The locomotive last saw lease service at the Western Milling plant in Goshen, Calif.
Side view of locomotive showing sloping short hood
The sloped nose of the SD18M is a spotting feature shared with the GP20. (Steve Smedley)
AgRail general manager Tyler Smith said replacing the Geep made economic sense. The locomotive, built for the Boston & Maine as its No. 1577 in May 1953, is suffering major mechanical issues.
‘’It is getting to the points where the traction motors are grounding out,” Smith said. “With a price tag of $100,000 to replace the motors, and finding water in the lube oil, it made sense to go with something a little newer. That thing [the GP7] has had a life. We plan to hold onto the Geep for four or five months just to make sure we like the new locomotive.’’
The 1229 is on a lease-to-purchase agreement with Western Rail Inc. of Airway Heights, Wash. Smith says the engine was rewired in the 1980s, and that AgRail has no plans to repaint the unit: “We are looking at pressure washing it.’’
AgRail opened in 1999. The high-speed rail grain terminal, which loads unit trains, is located on the former site of the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad’s engine house, on the west side of the Union Pacific’s current Bloomington Yard. AgRail is serviced by UP and Norfolk Southern.
 
   / Rail roads and their tracks. #1,773  
It's long gone but Grandin Missouri had a roundhouse. I also believe Willow Springs had one. The National Park Service NPS link has some info on how railroads came to the area for the logging industry. I think it was about the laate 90's and was dating a girl who went along on a camping trip. WE drove part of the old grade that a friend told me about but called it the tram road. Over the years as I dug into this I figured out this was an actual railroad even though there are rail beds for the logging trams through the Ozarks. The RR at Wlliow Springs is still used but the branch between there and Williamsville has been long gone. It went through towns like Mountain View, Birch Tree, Winona, Fremont, Van Buren, Elsinore with a spur going down to Grandin. There are still lots of small mills that produce nothing but RR ties in that area.
 
   / Rail roads and their tracks. #1,774  
ArlyA said:
From

www.trains.com

Illinois grain facility acquires rare SD18M - Trains

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Grain terminal operator AgRail LLC is moving to replace its current locomotive with a rare six-axle EMD unit. Western Rail Inc. SD18M No. 1229 has arrived on the property of Bloomington-based AgRail to replace GP7 No. 35, a former Guilford/Springfield Terminal unit. The...
www.trains.com www.trains.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Illinois grain facility acquires rare SD18M​

By Steve Smedley | March 15, 2022

Unit will replace GP7 of Bloomington firm AgRail

White locomotive with green stripe, with gray and orange locomotive behind
A rare SD18M is now on hand for AgRail of Bloomington, Ill., to replace the company’s ex-Guilford GP7. (Steve Smedley)
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Grain terminal operator AgRail LLC is moving to replace its current locomotive with a rare six-axle EMD unit.
Western Rail Inc. SD18M No. 1229 has arrived on the property of Bloomington-based AgRail to replace GP7 No. 35, a former Guilford/Springfield Terminal unit. The six-axle, low-nose unit began its life with Minnesota’s Reserve Mining in May 1961.
The 1,800-hp locomotive was the third model in the Electro-Motive Division’s “Special Duty” line, after the SD7 and SD9, but only 114 were ordered. No. 1229 features the one-piece windshield and sloped nose that were spotting features of the more popular GP20.
The locomotive last saw lease service at the Western Milling plant in Goshen, Calif.
Side view of locomotive showing sloping short hood
The sloped nose of the SD18M is a spotting feature shared with the GP20. (Steve Smedley)
AgRail general manager Tyler Smith said replacing the Geep made economic sense. The locomotive, built for the Boston & Maine as its No. 1577 in May 1953, is suffering major mechanical issues.
‘’It is getting to the points where the traction motors are grounding out,” Smith said. “With a price tag of $100,000 to replace the motors, and finding water in the lube oil, it made sense to go with something a little newer. That thing [the GP7] has had a life. We plan to hold onto the Geep for four or five months just to make sure we like the new locomotive.’’
The 1229 is on a lease-to-purchase agreement with Western Rail Inc. of Airway Heights, Wash. Smith says the engine was rewired in the 1980s, and that AgRail has no plans to repaint the unit: “We are looking at pressure washing it.’’
AgRail opened in 1999. The high-speed rail grain terminal, which loads unit trains, is located on the former site of the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad’s engine house, on the west side of the Union Pacific’s current Bloomington Yard. AgRail is serviced by UP and Norfolk Southern.
Click to expand...
I don't believe that old Geep owes then anything. The SD will do them a good job.

Edit: I just remembered my first HO scale locomotive was a GP7. They were and still are a railroading icon.
 
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   / Rail roads and their tracks.
  • Thread Starter
#1,775  
A UP 9000 series explosion explanation video. The 1st part is overly dramatic but talks about why steam locomotives tended to explode.

 
   / Rail roads and their tracks.
  • Thread Starter
#1,776  
When I was working for a RR car repair shop in 1980's some trains we worked on were owned by Detroit-Edison and they at that time, owned complete trains of "unibody" coal hopper cars that were rotatory dump and relatively new in construction. This new design had its problems and I'd guess subsequently failed and been scrapped. I looked and looked but can not find them via google search as to what happened to them. I can't even find a picture of them! This style is not the cars I'm looking for. Does anyone have any idea's as to what happened to them? :unsure:
20-97969.jpg
 
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   / Rail roads and their tracks.
  • Thread Starter
#1,778  
Might be this one but I can't see its details well enought. Uni-body means it has no center sill frame in it, as most gondolas do.
external-content.duckduckgo.com.jpg
 
   / Rail roads and their tracks. #1,779  
Snapped a few live shots of our tiny freight railroad today. 2 locos taking a day off. The cars have our world famous plate steel bound for the port of Wilmington or maybe Philly. They were made at Mital (formerly Lukens Steel).

1647732606079.jpeg

Im standing at the front corner of our local hardware store. A set of tracks ran through the buildings up until the 50’s. Behind the black pickup crossing the tracks on Route 926 is the old Pocopson Train Station.

Looking 180* in opposite direction is an enclosed hopper. It is probably flour bound for Tastycake in Oxford, PA where they make famous delicious cakes and pies, but thats just a guess. Guessing “ADMX” is Archer Daniels Midland

1647733057514.jpeg




I think freight engines are badazz

1647733015653.jpeg
 
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