Through the Black Fog We Will Deliver

Interesting the mentions of electric engines. In the US quite a few railroads in the 30s-60s built massive electrification on their lines, most notably the Milwaukee Road. Their investment, primarily because of regulation and other laws, ended up biting them in the keister and they ended up bankrupt. When they sold the lines that other railroads actually wanted were snagged up, and the massive electrification (about 600-800 miles between Seattle and Chicago) were torn down because at the time it wasn't validated by ROI. Now of course, it might pay for itself but still isn't considered a safe investment because of the FRA/Other entities that regulate the railroads and the stock holders are against anything that puts too much capitol like that at risk...

...makes for very interesting research IMO though. :)

...and oh yeah, awesome shot!

Just spend a week at Odell Lake ... nice area for fishing, camping and loco watching. I'll post my picture of a southbound UP I caught Friday night on my blog soon.

Steve

What a dramatic photo. I cannot imagine what it must be like in the cab of the lead engine when going through a tunnel. What can the quality of cabin air be like?

Good eye, when the photo was taken that locomotive was actually 6 years younger than it is now. This photo was take on 6/22/2002 at 11:25am.

That locomotive is getting old... when was the photo taken?

Hard working diesels and tunnels don't work well together. From the second unit on the engines are taking in less and less cool fresh air and consequentially the combustion isn't as clean as when they are in the open. The smoke ends pours out of the tunnel for quite several minutes after the train has passed. Electrics solve that issue but obviously aren't widely used in the U.S.

Wouw. The picture looks a bit scary for me, but I'm happy there is no fire! I see the difference to trains powered by electricity like here in Switzerland. There is only smoke, when a steam locomotive is on the rails.