Horsehead in the morning, Possum in the afternoon

[E.M. Bell]

ITs a sad fact of life that some of us must work on the weekends, myself included, and today was no exception.  I didnt have to be in untill 1030 or so, and would be off early in the afternoon, so took the camera with me..sounded like the right thing to do.

NS T19, the Lawrenceburg (KY) local had a Whitefaced GP38-2 rebuild this week.  I managed to stop and grab a few roster and detail shots on the way to the boneyard.  I believe this is one of the units rebuilt from a Southern GP50, a sad fate for a highhood, but at least they turned it into something decent looking.. Anyone know what number this unit was before it got the Altoona chop??  

NS 5576 at Lawrenceburg KY..hey, looks like Shack got some AC  





I kinda like this shot for whatever reason.. makes a dandy wallpaper shot. Drop me a note if anyone wants a copy.



After spending a few hours at the office, I started to make my way back to the JREB international HQ and heard a parade of Eastbounds on the radio around Waddy, on the Louisville District. Having no idea what any of them had for power, I figured I would wait a while around McBrayer and see if I got lucky. The first train was NS 111...and no, luck was not with me.. I shall included this shot just to appease the GE huggers out there... BTW if you look in the background of this pic, you will see one of them infernal new fangled solar powered flange greasers that are popping up all over the place...someone is gonna have to come up with a PS filter to get rid of those things!



Next up, and running right on 111's bad blocks was NS 167. As I stood and listened to them blowing for crossing West of me, I figured it was 'furrin" power. Soon, the sound of EMD's could be heard as they worked up out of the Salt River bottom...I figured a UP SD70m would soon show itself, but alas..I got lucky..kinda.  A SD70Mac of the BNSF variety, dressed in "Possum" paint was leading...and the front door was propped open as the crew got some old fashion AC at 35mph..



I must say at this point that I hate BNSF power, atleast in the clown paint these modern day punkins wear. The old BN green is better, but I am rather fond of this short lived scheme that was on this unit. Even better, this had a rare thing going for it.. it was almost clean! Not satisfied with the   open door, head on tele I had, i quickly wagered on getting it again at a better location. This would mean fighting my way South on 127 in the awful traffic of the dreaded 127 yardsale. I fought my way through the throngs of left lane hoggin blue haired bargin hunters and got down to my old standby shot at Vanarsdale (KY)...you know, the old white fence shot that I have done to death... Hey, at least I tried a different variation of this shot..

[stillbre]

Good looking shots as always Emmet.  I love that "Executive" scheme as well.  Really looks sharp on thos big EMDs.
The T19 power is a rebuilt Conrail GP38 of some sort.  All the 5500-series are rebuilt from 38s.  The 5800-series are the bastardized GP50s that have been neutered.

[Michael Knight]

NS 5576, rebuit from NS (SOU) GP38 2753. A nice looking unit indeed.