Junk Rescuing Junk

[ccaranna]

Made a one-day road trip on Sunday, and it turned out to be ho-hum until I decided to head home.

Marion, OH was the destination.  Got there a little late, and didn't see a whole lot.  First train was the shortest 287 I've ever seen in my life...3 auto racks behind an ex-CR dash 8-40CW.  Next up was westbound 17M, with new SD70M-2 #2651 third in the consist.  Finally, 851 came through with a spartan dash 9 in the lead.  

The excitement came on the way home, however.  Around MP 26, which is about halfway between Columbus and Marion, I heard the dispatcher in communication with westbound 319 which had a disabled loco.  The plan was to obtain an extra unit off of 305.

I pulled off the road and sat and watched the maneuvers which resulted in 319 snagging NS SD40-2 #3293 from 305 to add to their stunning lashup of weatherbeaten NS GP50 #7005 and broken NS D8-32B #3526.  It made me wonder what the crew on 319 did in a former life to deserve such a punishment as to have a lashup whose 3 units combined ages are old enough to receive social security.

305 continued on solo with UP 4641.    
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Here are a few shots of the events...(pardon the somewhat below average quality on most of them; the light and shadows were horrible.)

Please click on pic for full-size image:

First, 218 smoked by and cleared-

305's head unit pulls off and clears out of the way-



319 just clearing the switch to back onto the spare unit on 305-
(on the second shot you can see the UP unit on 305 waiting in the distance)





And finally 319 pulling up with the extra unit from 305 to back onto its train.

[/list]

By the time everyone was situated and back on their respective manifests, I had already left.  It was getting a bit dark at this point, and I wasn't going to be able to get much more in the way of photo ops anyway.

Thanks for looking, and YES, that's a female conductor!  Incidentally, she asked me if I was having fun as she passed by; to which I replied with an emphatic "YES!"  

[Scooterb]

Looks like the thumbs are working great for you.

The second pic, UP needs work stays as small thumb and links to a different pic.

enjoyed the series keep em coming

[ccaranna]

Thanks for letting me know, Scooterb- I fixed the problem!  

Chuck