An Illinois Terminal SW1200 swings out onto street-running in Monticello with a freight headed for Decatur in August of '59. Particularly bizarre was that IT ordered their SW1200s with solid (friction) bearings in the Flexicoil trucks. A serious cheapskate move.
A first-gen Thunderbird dodges SW1200 #777 as it heads down the road at Monticello, IL
When N&W took over the IT, they rather tastefully patched the SD39s with N&W lettering and assigned them to working the eastern end of the old Wheeling & Lake Erie, particularly coal drags out on the Adena and AC&NA branches. I imagine that handling a coal train with these SD39s, which weren't equipped with dynamic brakes, took some skill.
Illinois Railway Museum has preserved IT GP7 #1605, one of five or so surviving IT diesels, one of only two in a musuem, and the only one actually restored.
IT SW1200 #781 has been saved by Monticello Railway Museum but is in need of overhaul and restoration. It also lost it's Flexicoil trucks for standard AAR Type A trucks off of an NW2 at some point.
Seeing all the shiny paint makes me wonder how many man hours does it take to clean a modern locomotive? Far less than any steamer, but the old carbody shapes had to clean quicker than today's open access engine rooms. Clearly why nobody liked the light turquiose is it looked dirty day 2! Sure looks good now. Also why my local N/S uses black and never cleans anything. I see their ROW crews frequently in "white" trucks.
You'll need to log in to post.
