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Post by thespcaboose on May 23, 2008 19:59:53 GMT -5
Very nice photos by all!!
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Post by espeelover on Jun 3, 2008 10:35:10 GMT -5
A fine spring day see's SSW 9156 in command of an Eastbound manifest.Taken in May of 1978.
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Post by espeelover on Aug 10, 2008 17:04:55 GMT -5
The last regular SD45 that was purchased by Market Street was the 9155; was I surprised to find this pic from 28 years ago? You bet I was!
So please enjoy my cool find.Taken in September 1980 at Woodford siding in Tehachapi pass.
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Post by SSW9389 on Aug 22, 2013 18:00:38 GMT -5
This past weekend I found another unique Cotton Belt diesel while looking through a book that I've had for 12 years. It may be a one of a kind that has escaped detection for years. This stealth Cotton Belt unit has been on my search quest for some time, but had been wearing a cloaking device while hiding in plain sight. Sunday using a special Preston Cook supplied time travel template device the unit was spotted pulling a northbound through Texarkana in 1959. Here's a clue, we may need a modeler to build one to figure out how all the parts were fit together because this one is now long gone. Joe Strapac thought it was a stock unit. Mr. Percy, Mr. Sarberenyi and Mr. Signor are speechless, or they haven't got back to me yet. No one wants to admit that this one got away from all of them. Over the years hundreds of people have seen this photo and not one comment.
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Post by SSW9389 on Aug 27, 2013 11:42:12 GMT -5
Cotton Belt 921:2 appears to be an F7AM. This particular unit was built as the 920A on EMD Order #663-A. It was renumbered to the 921 by Cotton Belt in April 1949. On a foggy November 29, 1949 morning the 921 led a northbound freight into the Aurich, Arkansas siding and a head on collision with an L1 powered southbound. That was the end of the first 921. The remains of 921 were cut up and sent to Pine Bluff Shops for survey and then sent to LaGrange for either trade in or rebuild. I'm not really sure what transpired between Cotton Belt and EMD. A brand new 921:2 was delivered to the Cotton Belt sometime in 1950, I don't have an exact date. There is an R. S. Plummer photo of 921:2 on pages 40-41 of Steve Goen's Cotton Belt Color Pictorial. The photo shows 921:2 leading a northbound freight through Texarkana on June 3, 1959.
I had corresponded some years ago with A. J. Kristopans about the Aurich wreck. It was his belief that Cotton Belt 921 was one of the undocumented EMD Repair Orders in the 7000-7004 sequence. Author Joe Strapac concurred that the Pine Bluff Shops did not have the ability in 1949 to do an extensive diesel rebuild. There was also an unidentified FTB unit that was damaged in the Aurich wreck, that was also likely sent to EMD.
The photo of 921:2 shows what appears at first glance to be an FTA. On closer inspection and with the use of an as-built template from Preston Cook it is not a stock unit. Both trucks are mounted forward of the normal position on an FTA.
Comments?
Ed in Kentucky
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Post by SSW9389 on Oct 31, 2013 7:29:08 GMT -5
My Cotton Belt FT research article is now in the hands of SP Trainline Editor John Signor. I'm very hopeful that the article will be published in a future issue of SP Trainline.
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Post by SSW9389 on Dec 6, 2015 5:59:55 GMT -5
Another FT wreck rebuild was discovered in August of this year. On November 16, 1948 Southbound Cotton Belt 920 a four unit set of FTs struck a derailed Missouri Pacific train at Renault, Illinois. The collision and resulting fire from derailed cars of petroleum products sent all four units of the 920 back to EMD. The worst damaged was the 920D which EMD rebuilt on an F7 frame. Yes that makes two Cotton Belt FTs rebuilt on an F7 frame. The other FTA unit 920A got rebuilt in kind. Both units got a coat of Black Widow paint and may be the first Cotton Belt units in that paint. What is unknown at this time is the extent of the rebuilding of the FTB units 920B and 920C from the Renault wreck. A photo of an FTB unit at Pine Bluff shows a unit that does not match the EMD template as-built diagram for an FTB unit. So there may be one or more Cotton Belt FTB units that were rebuilt on an F7 frame. There is a semi profile photo of the 920D in David P. Morgan's "Fast Freight" article about the Cotton Belt p.48 November 1949 Trains magazine. Any photos you see of Cotton Belt 923 stating that it is an FTA are in error. Cotton Belt FTA 923 never existed. And FTA 921 existed for about nine months before it was destroyed at Aurich, Arkansas. Note how far forward the trucks are in this photograph of the traded in #923. It's on a longer F7 frame. espee.railfan.net/nonindex/f-unit_photos/0923_ssw-ft-rob_sarberenyi.jpg
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Post by SSW9389 on Jan 19, 2016 4:56:03 GMT -5
After more research and looking at scanned photos on a 23" screen it appears that the two FT booster units from the Renault, Illinois wreck were rebuilt on longer frames. This would have been the 920B and 920C, that were renumbered to 922 and 924. It can be proven photographically that these two booster units were not rebuilt as stock FTs by EMD. The Vanceville, Louisiana photograph taken by H. K. Vollrath shows three of the four Renault FT wreck units as rebuilt. The Vanceville photo is dated March 15, 1950. If you have Fred Frailey's Blue Streak Merchandise book the Vanceville photo is at the top of page 28
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Post by SSW9389 on Jun 27, 2016 9:44:16 GMT -5
After more research and looking at scanned photos on a 23" screen it appears that the two FT booster units from the Renault, Illinois wreck were rebuilt on longer frames. This would have been the 920B and 920C, that were renumbered to 922 and 924. It can be proven photographically that these two booster units were not rebuilt as stock FTs by EMD. The Vanceville, Louisiana photograph taken by H. K. Vollrath shows three of the four Renault FT wreck units as rebuilt. The Vanceville photo is dated March 15, 1950. If you have Fred Frailey's Blue Streak Merchandise book the Vanceville photo is at the top of page 28 And after further review, no the 922 and 924 were not rebuilt on longer frames, but they did get some new internal electricals. See the Cotton Belt FT article to be published soon in the Summer 2016 SP Trainline. Joe Strapac provided a photo for the article which shows the four rebuilt #920 FTs at Pine Bluff in the Spring of 1949. The current focus of a unique Cotton Belt diesel is the backwards B unit. It to has been hiding for more than 60 years. Ed in Kentucky
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Post by SSW9389 on Aug 16, 2016 3:41:11 GMT -5
The backwards B unit is another stealth unit. This particular B unit was rebuilt, very likely at EMD in reverse order from a stock FT B unit. See page 18 of the Summer issue of SP Trainline. At the bottom of the page in the middle of an ABA consist is the backwards B unit. This photo also appears in Cotton Belt Locomotives at the bottom of page 166. So the photo has been in the public realm for close to 40 years without this unit being properly identified for what it is. But what is it? In the backwards B unit the lead cooling system air intake is over the overhang end of the booster unit. Then the engine room air intake and the rear cooling system air intake. The fifth porthole position is also exactly reversed. The pattern of the backwards B unit is exactly opposite of a stock FT booster unit.
What can it be? The pattern fits a rebuilt unit and a one of a kind rebuild. My current thinking on this is that the backwards booster unit is the rebuild of the booster unit wrecked at Aurich, Arkansas on November 29th, 1949. And that it is the #918 booster. There are fewer data points on the #918 than any other booster unit. That makes it mysterious. The backwards booster unit is also mysterious. Could it be that they are one and the same? The Pine Bluff Filling Station photo posted to Train Board and to Facebook show a booster unit with dynamic brakes stacked over the fuel tank. This is an earlier photo, pre 1955 Pine Bluff rebuild program era. You can tell because of the lettering on the other units in the photo. This is the earliest photo of this pattern of dynamic brakes over the fuel tank, but you cannot clearly see the trucks. The Pine Bluff booster rebuilds of 1955-56 repeated this pattern of dynamic brakes stacked over the fuel tank and that suggests that they were following EMD's earlier pattern on this earlier rebuilt B unit. The search is on for a clear profile view of this backwards booster unit. My belief is that it was rebuilt in early 1950 at EMD. There is one Aurich photo that shows that severe damage occurred to the carbody of this booster unit. And that its frame took a severe shock as well.
Ed in Kentucky
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Post by SSW9389 on Mar 26, 2017 11:44:52 GMT -5
The latest news on Cotton Belt's Unique Diesels is that two VO1000s were repainted in Scarlet and Gray. It has long been thought that no VO1000s were repainted in those colors before retirement. Photos exist of these two, and there may be an article being worked up on the Cotton Belt VOs.
Ed In Kentucky
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Post by SSW9389 on May 4, 2018 9:03:23 GMT -5
Just recently another Aurich wreck photo turned up on Facebook. The photo shows additional details of the damage done when A unit 921 landed on the rear of the booster. The booster unit involved in the Aurich wreck is a 1945-built booster. That means there are only four possibilities: 916, 918, 922, or 924. The 916 is out because there is a Folio 725 page showing it was rebuilt at Pine Bluff. The 922 and 924 are less likely to be the booster at Aurich, because they had been previously rebuilt at EMD from the Renault wreck. And that leaves the 918 as the most likely to be the booster that was wrecked at Aurich and rebuilt at EMD in early 1950.
Ed in Kentucky
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