(erielack) EL U33C picture and story

[The Jordans <jjordan_@_blast.net>]

This was posted to another list, but of interest to us ELer's.  Done by
Tim Wakeman <tmwake_@_warwick.net>

Another "not quite Susquehanna", but still interesting. Big ole' SD45s
are a common sight on the northern division ever since NYS&W has bought
them. Other six axle variations have made their way up the Utica branch
too. The E9s, F45s, an NS C40 and CP SD40-2s. Even before NYS&W, Conrail
allowed some SD45s on a couple of detour moves. They had an SD40-s
picking up scrap rail in 1982. But 6 axles on the Utica branch to the
Erie Lakawanna was a big "no-no". Why? The engineers, not the operating
engineers, claimed the circus on the line were too tight for the long
trucks and the bridge over the Chenango River south of Greene was too
frail to handle such big locomotives. From what I understand, a Boy
Scout troop train from New Jersey managed to slip into Oxford with a
pair of E8s back in the 60s, but that was it, until May 16th, 1974.
Al Gorney struck a pot of gold on this morning as he went by ELs Utica
West Yard. There sat the Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey Circus
train ready to go south. A U36C, SD45 and a GP7 will do the honors. How
the big power got there is in question. The PC must have handed the
train over to the EL right there with the two big units. The trains
original routing may have been to go over the Pougkeepsie Bridge, which
burned a few days before. The Geep was probably picked up off the
pit,(on the right), for extra horsepower to pull Paris Hill. Al, please
fill in some gaps for us with this one. Anyway, I think this shot may be
a first of 6-axle units to ride on the rails of the Utica Branch,
something that NYS&W never heisted to do.

Tim Wakeman
Photo by Al Gorney

http://webusers.warwick.net/~u1029964/index/agrbbbtrainutica51674.jpg

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