Vintage High Res Pictures Discussion

Arborway wrote:While at 27 I find it fun to be a railfan, I feel as though I've just missed something.

same here from another 20 something

From a 60-something, I'm missing something now.
When the Easter-egg F's and CN steam-cars began showing up, there was a sense that things would be getting better. It seemed that there would be a Commonwealth commitment to getting beyond black-painted PC power and not-yet-repainted Tuscan Red P70's and to transforming commuter rail into a source of civic pride, not just a conveyor belt. Thanks, as always, Fred Salvucci!.
What I'm missing now is that sense of progress and of improvement as being worthy and achievable governmental goals. Every operation runs into flat spots -- not just on wheels -- and the fiscal crisis is real, but there was, even if just for a while, the reality of legislature and administration searching for and realizing common cause for the Commonwealth, not in chalking scores for one side against the other. My nostalgia isn't for the non-existent good old days, but for the promise of better days ahead when the political odd couple of Governor Dukakis and House Speaker McGee actually worked in tandem.
If then, why not now?

Think push-pull started after Blizzard of 78, when the heavy snows really disabled a lot of RDCs and the thought came up of using locos to power the RDC trains.

Think also how weird the early push-pulls sounded throttling up in push mode: six run positions on the Budds v. 8 run positions on the EMDs until the Boys at Billerica came up with the solution.

Link to the full pic is at the bottom. Click on it's photo and it will enlarge.



http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa26 ... -09042.jpg

3rdrail... great pics so far... I'd love to see some station pics (interior preferebly) if you have any to post. Always interesting for me to see what the inside of the big terminals looked like post-profitability, but pre-rebuilding.

bmcdr wrote:The young fans today are missng out on something that was almost magical, not the antiseptic way things are done today.

I'm 32. I assume in 2027, I'll be telling the same thing to some kid born in this century.

Keep those pictures comin'!

-otto-

The thing that concerns me the most here is i fear Otto is correct...

Otto Vondrak wrote:

bmcdr wrote:The young fans today are missng out on something that was almost magical, not the antiseptic way things are done today.

I'm 32. I assume in 2027, I'll be telling the same thing to some kid born in this century.

Keep those pictures comin'!

-otto-

Does every look back in time have to result in a reflexive slam at today's world and a lament that things just aren't as good as they used to be? Don't get me wrong - the pre-renovation South Station definitely had its charms, and there was something neat about walking down the platforms on a cold day with clouds of steam billowing out from coaches still marked 'New Haven' - but one person's 'magical' is another person's 'neglect'. The system was in dire need of upgrading by the late 1970's and I am very happy that the MBTA has invested the millions they have into the system and brought it into the current era, even if it may feel 'antiseptic' to some who grew up in an earlier era.

I do miss the old days myself (late 1970's for me), but I also enjoy riding and railfanning today's modern passenger rail systems. There is something about visiting a busy terminal during rush hour and seeing the parade of trains coming and going, even if they are now pulled by MP36's or Genesis units instead of E's and GP's. I liked trains then and I like them now.

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa26 ... -09047.jpg

We even have the infamous Essex Hotel in this one ! Do you see the back of the Station's Dewey Square facade ? That's the back of the famous eagle up on top !

That photo just above looks like the lowe level of Today's Washington DC's Union Station. In that photo of South Station back then, you could have easily fit in a Superliner Train Set to Chicago, which they used for trains west of there but back then the LSL like today used single level equipment despite the low platforms.

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RailBus63 wrote:Does every look back in time have to result in a reflexive slam at today's world and a lament that things just aren't as good as they used to be?

I still go out railfanning and taking pictures of the present, and have a great time interacting with the younger guys. I also have respect for my grandfather's time and my father's era, both of them railroad men with the B&M, but please, let me have my memories without condemning me for it. I'm just saying that you young guys would have loved it in the 1950's and 60's, but until you've actually worked in today's railroad environment with its political correctness, quotas, and new hires that can't even hook up an air hose or put on their uniform without looking like an un-made bed, or the constant array of passengers and co-workers who can't wait to text message management because they felt offended by something you say or do, then you can tell me I'm the typical narrow minded old timer.

Here's a photo for you Paul, a genuine steam-leaking E-8 on a cold February day in 1981.

That's a beauty, David ! I can feel the vibrations inside me as I listen to that wonderful machine purr, smelling it's exhaust and fuel in my imagination. I love the E series. There was something about their unadorned brute look of power. I always thought that one pale shade of grey or black looked best on them as it accented that no nonsense personality that they had. Thanks for putting that up !

Is that gray a carry over of the Cambridge 7 Gray ghost ?