Time Machine

by Steve Eshom

BN’s ‘Highball’ crosses one of the many wood pile trestles found in the Palouse region of Washington and Idaho.

In a comment to my post about reflecting the times Bryce Lee asked “Your favourite subject no loner exists???”.  I had to stop and think about that because I really didn’t have any specific things in mind when I wrote “Sure, I am saddened my favorite subject of the past no longer exists, but since I still enjoy trains and railroad photography so I adapt and find a new interest.”

So what are the things I miss?  What are my favorite subjects of the past?  As I assembled the list below and began making my annotations I noticed how few things are totally gone.   It seems my historical passion for these subjects was based on some aspect of them that doesn’t totally exist today.  Take mountain grades for example.  The hills are still there and the trains still claw up them but it seems they are less of an obstacle.  Modern reliable power makes the effort to conquer the hill much easier.  Gone are the days of 7 unit consists scratching up the hills with all the engine room doors open and smoke pouring out.

Since my favorite aspects of these items aren’t the same I’ve moved on.  Instead of seeking out 567 powered locomotives I search for the last of the SD-40-2s, in Montana instead of the NP and BN I enjoy the MRL, and instead of manned helpers I get a kick out of DPU trains.  I do love change despite what it does to my favorite subjects.  Such are the times we live in….

My favorite subjects of the past (in no particular order):

• Palouse rail lines (not the Watco remnants today but the fragile branches that served elevators and were run by NP, GN, BN, and UP)
• Manned helpers (these aren’t completely gone and do reemerge now and then like the current operation on Stampede)
• Mountain grades (not modern, high horsepower locomotives breezing upgrade, but rather the all out battle of first and second generation power clawing away at the hill)
• NP/BN Sandpoint to Laurel (MRL isn’t the BN or the NP but they are closer to the them than something like corporate giant BNSF)
• Stampede Pass (in its second life it is still good, but the semaphores and early diesels made it better)
• BC Rail (the rail bed is still there but the trains and the personalities of the employees are not the same)
• 567 powered locomotives (ugg, not many left)
• Milwaukee Road western extension (too young to get a real understanding of it)
• F units (too young to photograph these in service)

These are my favorite, ‘long gone’, subjects.  I’m sure everyone has theirs…

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2008 at 4:39 pm and is filed under general info. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.