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Moved Into Memory

Canadian Pacific was the last operator of mainline steam in the state of Maine, and also the last operator of rail passenger services until VIA Rail took over. The yard at Brownville Junction served as a mid-point between Quebec and New Brunswick, also acting as the exchange point with the Bangor and Aroostook. The town of Brownville Junction swelled around the two railroads, being a hive of activity for the movement of pulpwood, finished paper, potatoes, grain and fuel.

To accommodate the needed motive power, there were coaling and watering facilities, not to mention a large roundhouse with a metal shop and an electricians shop. Anything that required service or repair between Megantic and McAdam, whether it involved a broken tamper or butchering an unfortunate moose at trackside, fell to the men at Brownville Junction. Blackflies in the summer, sub-zero temperatures in the winter, and always in the most remote region for the season.

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Talking Pictures – Episode 2

In this episode of Talking Pictures, our guest is artist Charlie Hunter. Join us for a lively and informal conversation about his wonderfully evocative paintings of railroad subjects.

Talking Pictures is a video podcast that features artists and photographers in a discussion of their own images, or pictures that they find inspirational or meaningful. The focus is on the images, not on the technical aspects of photography.

Edd Fuller, Editor

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Spirit of the Old West

There is nothing as American as the mythological old west.  A staple of the silver screen since the dawn of cinema, the wide-open spaces and big sky are as much a part of Americana as baseball and apple pie.

Even in this day and age of wireless communications, superhighways and urban sprawl, the spirit of the Old West of the American mythos can still be found.  The descendants of the railroads that pushed an advancing nation into the west are still as much a part of the scene as they were when pioneering photographers such as William Henry Jackson first trained their lenses on a smoking 4-4-0.

The Southwest Chief on Raton Pass – Wooten, Colorado

Standing at the summit of Raton Pass on the Colorado / New Mexico border, the southern Rockies can look almost as untouched by western civilization as they did a century and a half ago.  Almost, in this view, but for the former Santa Fe mainline at Wooten, Colorado.

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Talking Pictures

In this first episode of Talking Pictures, our guests are photographer Oren Helbok, along with Ross Gochenaur, who is a working steam locomotive engineer and fireman. They share their experiences and discuss Oren’s photographs of Ross going about his work at the Strasburg Railroad.

Join us as we discuss photography, steam railroading, the daily work of a hostler, and the importance of connecting with the people and places we photograph.

Talking Pictures is a video podcast that will feature artists and photographers in a discussion of their own images, or pictures that they find inspirational or meaningful. The focus is on the images, not on the technical aspects of photography.

Edd Fuller, Editor

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Learning to Become an Engineer

When I was eleven years old, I was very lucky to have many engineers from the New York Central take me in the cab with them for train rides. Going east I rode the head end from North White Plains to New York City and went west as far as Chatham, New York in Duchess County. Today I can talk about it because none of the men I rode with can get fired for letting a kid in the cab. Sad to say, many of them have passed away and have gone off to Heaven where the trains never break down, all signals are clear and all the jobs work days with weekends off. Some of the jobs even pay overtime.

However, my story today is not about those men that were great to me as a kid. It’s about a special engineer that I fired for on the New Haven line. Back in 1973 I was lucky enough to be the firemen on NU-2, UN-1 with Norris Myers. We had a very good train crew. John Molyneux was the conductor, Bernie Sullivan was our head end brakeman and Eddy Sapinski was our flagman. Without a doubt they were one of the best crews I had the privilege of working with. This train crew could really make the best out of one work-horse of a job.

We reported at 8:00 P.M. at Cedar Hill engine house. We would go out and put our grip on the power and I would check out to make sure everything was ok on our three units. After a call to the yard master we would head for our train in the “departure yard.” While we were pumping air for our break test, our conductor would be making his calls. When we left, we knew just what we would do at all our stops the rest of the night. I mention this because later I worked with train crews that left much to be desired.

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The Laboratory 
and the Outhouse

Back in 1980, the member railroads authorized the Association of American Railroads (AAR) to conduct testing of locomotives to study diesel exhaust emissions. The Research & Test Department was allocated a budget to develop a mobile testing lab that could be taken to railroad facilities to measure fuel and air flow inputs and emissions and power outputs of locomotives. Our test plan was to select locomotives that had recently been overhauled and compare their emissions of nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide to locomotives of a similar make and model that were at the end of their useful lives, just prior to overhaul.

The R&T Department had offices in Washington, D.C., where I was located, and in Chicago on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology. The Chicago office conducted a great deal of testing in support of the AAR’s Mechanical Standards and had much useful equipment available. We converted a motor home they had into the new mobile lab and worked with a contractor that was experienced in measuring emissions from fixed facilities like power plants. Bench-work and equipment racks were designed and installed, measurement equipment purchased, computers acquired, (which we had to learn how to use—remember, this was 1980), and an array of other equipment obtained and outfitted. This is a little story about the creativity and ingenuity of some of the railroad people who actually made it work.

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