From 05/25/1985 at Opelika AL, tonnage moves south on former Central of Georgia track behind a U-23B and GP-30s, while a GP-38-2 looks on. The former Western Railway of Alabama main crosses at the station.
Back in the 50s and 60s there was a community called White Stone, just north of Cedar Park, Texas outside of Austin. Visiting there you would see little shanty houses along the highway and out across the railroad track. All the houses were white. Not necessarily painted white, but covered in white dust. The scrub oak trees were all layered with a white dust. It was hard to believe that those houses were habitable, but there were people coming and going with kids playing in the yards. Farther west, it would become evident where all the dust was coming from. The White Stone White Lime Plant would be billowing white smoke like dust out day and night. After proceeding another 1/2 mile towards Jonestown, everything would turn back to a normal looking landscape. There was a yard engine, pictured below, that would always be there ready to pull hopper cars down to the main line along the highway. As well as lime, the quarry also produced lime stone cladding with fossil sea shells embedded in it. On many high rise buildings around Texas and as far away as Washington DC, this type of stone cladding has been used. It’s fossilized appearance gives it a very distinctive look. It has been used for decades on schools, museums, office buildings and monuments. It is mostly referred to Cordova Fossil Stone, a trade-name. It seems to be mostly all quarried out now, with other types of stone taking over.
There's a place near here in Barberton, Ohio, where they once mined limestone, and was, in fact, one of the largest limestone mines in the world. It closed long ago and have sought many different uses for the underground caverns they mined out, but they've been remediating what must be hundreds of acres of mine tailings for decades since then.
That's one Bad Ass looking caboose. I have never seen this design before. Does anyone know the manufacturer or Bayline's official model designation for this car? Thanks
CP 6304 North(SD60-3) pulls a loaded CWR Train through the small hamlet of Fairport, IA. He had a nice Nathan P3. February 21, 2024 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
With that sort of barn style roofline evident in the picture, I'm guessing that the beautiful ACL 4-8-4 was captured at Fayetteville, NC. [11/15/1992] The new R-1 4-8-4s were delivered by Baldwin in 1937, but the ACL was displeased with their running qualities at speed. These were later demoted to lower speed freight service when the ACL dieselized its passenger trains.
Fayetteville NC it was. You might imagine that by the late 1930s Baldwin would have had the design of steam locos rather well sorted out. Apparently, the R-1 was a good steamer, but maybe it didn't need 80" drivers. It seems as though its top speed was about 100mph, and a N&W J could exceed that on its 70" drivers. More intriguing though, is that, after the teething troubles encountered with the R-1, Baldwin supposedly proposed to ACL a streamlined 4-4-4-4 loco - something like a PRR T1 wheel arrangement, but with PRR S1 styling, along with a 14-wheel pedestal-type tender. This link has a sketch of the loco by Otto Kuhler: https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/pkwpil/after_the_balancing_issues_atlantic_coast_line/ Now that would have been a sight to see.
Oh my gosh, have never seen that before. I can see the Baldwin salesman, hoping to move the ACL's attention away from the troublesome R-1s to a futuristic new 4-4-4-4 that would most certainly be better in every way.
I never saw a purple coach, I never hope to see one, But I can tell you, anyhow, I’d rather see than be one! (Apologies to Gelett Burgess.)
