There are Horses Involved in the History of this Railroad!!

The two locomotives on the front of this post card are both GP-9 units.

The paint job on the locomotives do look similar to the old New York Central livery. That is on purpose. The New York Central Railroad is part of the very long history of the Finger Lakes Railway; so are horses!! This history is taken from the Finger Lakes Railroad's own website: https://www.fingerlakesrail.com/history.html On May 1, 1834, the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad was incorporated by the State of New York, one of the earliest chartered railroads in the United States. Its mission was to connect Auburn with the Erie Canal at Syracuse, linking Central New York's agricultural heartland to the waterway commerce moving goods east and west across the state. The Railroad opened for service on January 8, 1838. In its earliest days, the line operated with horse-drawn trains. Steam power was not yet standard, and the track quality of the era made horse traction a practical starting point for passenger and light freight service along the route. On June 14, 1839, the railroad introduced its first steam locomotive, named the Syracuse. It was a turning point: steam power dramatically expanded the line's capacity, speed, and commercial potential, and marked the Auburn & Syracuse's transition from a novelty into a genuine freight and passenger carrier. The Auburn and Syracuse Railroad merged with the Auburn and Rochester Railroad on August 1, 1850, forming the Rochester and Syracuse Railroad. The combined line now connected Syracuse westward through Auburn to Rochester, a far more commercially powerful route, spanning the heart of Central and Western New York. In 1853, the Rochester and Syracuse Railroad was absorbed into the New York Central Railroad, the emerging giant of American rail. The NYC would grow into one of the most powerful rail systems in the world, and the former Auburn Road became a key link in its sprawling Upstate New York network, carrying passengers and freight for the next century. As passenger rail declined nationally and major railroads struggled financially, the corridor passed through Penn Central after its formation in 1968. Penn Central's collapse and subsequent bankruptcy in 1970, the largest in US history at the time, set the stage for the federal restructuring of northeastern rail that would reshape the corridor once more. The federal government created Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) in 1976 to absorb the bankrupt Penn Central and several other failed northeastern railroads. The Finger Lakes corridor, along with former New York Central, Pennsylvania Railroad, and Lehigh Valley Railroad trackage in the region, came under Conrail's umbrella, preserved as a functioning freight artery through difficult decades. On July 23, 1995, Finger Lakes Railway began operations as an independent Class III short line railroad, acquiring 150+ miles of track from Conrail across six Upstate New York counties. A corridor that had been part of corporate giants for over a century was now in local hands, operated by a team focused exclusively on the Finger Lakes region and the customers who depend on it. Today, Finger Lakes Railway operates 150+ miles of track across Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Ontario, Schuyler, and Yates counties, moving more than 18,000 freight cars annually with a fleet of 13 locomotives. The 76-mile main line from Syracuse to Canandaigua still follows the general alignment first surveyed nearly two centuries ago. The names on the locomotives have changed. The mission has not.

The photo was taken by Thomas Trencansky. He was a very active and popular railroad photographer. He died on June 19, 2012. There are many tributes to him at this website: https://railroad.net/tom-trencansky-has-passed-t98503.html and the post card was published in 1996 by Mary Jayne's Railroad Specialities, Inc.

Not "The City of New Orleans" but Related

In the picture on the front of this post card, the GP-9 locomotives numbered 9080 and 9198 are passing through Tolono, Illinois in August of 1967 pulling Train Number MC-1. You can see the diamond logo of the Illinois Central Railroad on the sides of the locomotives. This Encyclopedia Britanica website gives us some history of the Illinois Central: https://www.britannica.com/money/Illinois-Central-Railroad With its charter in 1851, the Illinois Central Railroad (IC) was the first of many railroads to receive a grant of land upon completion of its line. In 1856 the line from Chicago to Cairo, Illinois, was opened, thereby earning the company 2.5 million acres. At Cairo passengers and freight transferred to Ohio River steamers for further travel until a bridge across the Ohio was opened in 1889. While it was expanding, the IC absorbed more than 100 smaller railroads, including the Waterloo, Cedar Falls, and Northern Railroad in 1956. In 1962 the Illinois Central became a component of parent company IC Industries, a holding company that eventually acquired interests in soft drink bottlers and auto parts companies, among others. In 1971 all passenger service was assumed by Amtrak, which retained the City of New Orleans train route made famous by folksinger Steve Goodman’s song of the same name. After a merger in 1972 with the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio, the newly renamed Illinois Central Gulf Railroad provided service from Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico and linked 13 states. Its tracks extended from Chicago in the north to New Orleans, Louisiana, and other gulf ports in the south and from Indianapolis, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky in the east to Omaha, Nebraska, in the west. IC initiated piggyback (truck trailer) service in 1975 as a means of competing with the trucking industry. The railroad, returning to the name Illinois Central in 1988, was eventually spun off from IC Industries and in 1990 continued operations as a public corporation, the Illinois Central Railroad Company, until its 1999 merger with CN. The IC logo was eventually phased out in favor of CN branding, although it remained on much of the former railroad’s rolling stock for a number of years.

The post card was published by www.Railcards.com about whom I know nothing!!

Gone, But not Forgotten

The orignial blog post below has been critiqued and Chris Schanbacher of Pennsylvania has added this as a correction: The Tioga Central did operate on the line from Owego to Harford beginning in the mid 1980s. They originally operated out of Flemingville, NY and ran a small fleet of Alco RS-1s. They did at one point run a small steam engine but I forget what it was. They ceased operations there in the early 90's and moved to the Wellsboro & Corning Railroad out of Wellsboro, PA. The Tioga Scenic was operated by the Owego & Harford Railway who replaced the Tioga Central in 1992. They did operate a tourist operation under the Tioga Scenic Railroad, the TSRR. They ran excursions between Owego, NY and Newark Valley, NY. The Tioga Scenic operated until 2005 when the passenger equipment was sold off and now the line is freight only. What is pictured here is OHRY no. 151 a former Quebec, North Shore & Labrador engine. This is at Owego, NY with the former Lehigh Valley depot just out of the picture to the right. This is the original blog that is being corrected: The locomotive on the front of this post card is a GP-9 developed by the

General Motors Electro-Motive Division. The picture shows it operating on the Tioga Scenic Railroad in Owego, New York. This website: https://familyfunpa.com/directories/tioga-central-railroad/ tells us the following about the railroad: Tioga Central Railroad operated scenic excursion trains over a right-of-way which in part dates to 1840. The section between CP CORN (a location just south of Corning, New York) and Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, was part of the Tioga Railroad, opened in 1840 to connect Blossburg, Pennsylvania, with the Chemung Canal at Corning. The Tioga Railroad was renamed the Blossburg and Corning Railroad in 1854. The section between Lawrenceville and Wellsboro Junction, Pennsylvania (with the exception of the ten-mile section along Hammond Lake built in 1977) was completed in 1872 as the Wellsboro and Lawrenceville Railroad. This line extended south from a connection with the Blossburg and Corning Railroad at Lawrenceville through Wellsboro to the coal mines at Antrim, Pennsylvania. And our friends at Facebook tell us this about the same railroad: the Tioga Central Railroad was a heritage railroad that was formed in 1984 to operate seasonal passenger excursions on former Lehigh Valley Railroad track owned by Tioga County between Owego, Flemingville, and Newark Valley, N.Y. The operation later relocated to a portion of the Wellsboro and Corning Railroad between Wellsboro, Pennsylvania and Corning, New York. During the tourist season, which lasted from June to October, it operated excursion trains on a sector of this line, from Wellsboro, Pennsylvania to Tioga, Pennsylvania. Due to COVID-19 capacity restrictions, the line suspended passenger operations during 2020 and 2021. In 2022 the railroad was reported to have permanently closed and its website was offline.

The photo is courtesy of Thomas Trencansky of the Cornell Railroad Historical Society. Mary Jayne’s Railroad Specialties published this post card in 1994.

Hodgepodge Mixed Train

The wording on the back of this post card tells us that on the front of this

post card is New Hampshire & Vermont GP9 Number 669, ex Norfolk & Western, with a former Main Central box car bearing LVRC reporting marks, crosses a Stream near Whitefield, New Hampshire in October 1993. It was extremely difficult to find out any information about this railroad on line. I finally found a chat room that helped clear the muddle. The words below come from this website: https://railroad.net/new-hampshire-and-vermont-rr-twin-state-t74474.html This information is taken from "The American Shortline Railway Guide" by Edwin Lewis (5th edition, published 1996) The New Hampshire and Vermont (NHVT) operates freight service from a connection with the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad at Groveton NH, to Waumbeck Junction and Woodsville, 60.3 miles. The railroad has trackage rights over ST Rail System from Woodsville to White River Jct. VT, 40.5 miles, where interchange is made with the ST (B&M). A branch line runs from Waumbeck Jct. to Berlin, 19.7 miles. Additional connections were made with the Twin State Railroad at Whitefield and the Berlin Mills Railway at Berlin. By 1995, Most of the line between Berlin and WRJ was out of service. The NHVT was owned by CSF Acquisitions and is affiliated with the Lamoile Valley and Twin State railroads. The NHVT had three locomotives, an Alco RS-11 #405, GP9 #669 and a GP38 #3800. This information is taken from "The Rail Lines of Northern New England" by Robert M Lindsell published in 2000. The NHVT discontinued operations west of Littleton in 1995 and received permission to abandon the Woodsville-Littleton and Waumbek Jct-Berlin segments in 1996. The NHVT discontinued operations between Whitefield and Littleton around 1997. The sections between Coos Jct. and Groveton and from Whitefield to Waumbek Jct. were operated by the NHVT to service a (paper) mill in Gilman VT until the fall of 1999, when the mill closed.

The photo is courtesy of Tim Franz and was shared by the 470 Railroad Club with Mary Jayne’s Railroad Specialties, who published this post card in 1996.

It's a Mystery to Me

The words on the back of this post card: “MINNESOTA VALLEY TRANSPORTATION CO. Minnesota Valley’s Unit Number 281, an EMD GP-9 Unit, built in 1959, is viewed on January 5, 1985 while making a test

run on the Indiana Harbor Belt prior to being delivered to her new owners at Morton, Minnesota.” I have searched and searched for the Minnesota Valley Transportation Company and have found nothing with a direct reference to it. I cannot share any information, because I do not have any. One would think that something big enough to have train tracks and a locomotive would show up in a search. I got crickets; it is a mystery to me!!! The Minnesota Valley Transportation Co. is the new owner; I could find some details about the previous owner: The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad. The information is taken directly from their own website; they still exist!! https://ihbrr.com/about-us The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad (IHB) was established in 1907 from several smaller systems operating around Chicago, with its earliest predecessor being the East Chicago Belt Railroad, which began operations in 1896. Following the loss of a lease by the Chicago Junction Railway in 1907, the East Chicago Belt acquired interests in the Chicago, Hammond & Western and Terminal Railroads, forming the foundation of the IHB. Today the IHB is the largest switch carrier in the United States, featuring 54 miles of mainline track—24 miles of which is double track—and 266 miles of yard and siding track. We offer a diverse range of services, including industrial switching for 160 customers, resulting in 170,000 carloads annually. We interchange daily with 16 other rail carriers in Chicago and operate a growing fleet of approximately 1,400 freight cars, primarily serving the steel industry.

The photo on this post card was taken by Thomas J. Golden and the card was published by Mary Jayne’s Railroad Specialities. We have seen many of her published post card in this blog site.

Funny-Nose Circus Clown

Continuing our blogging theme from the past several weeks, today’s picture is of a GP-9.

It belongs to the Western Maryland Railway. That company was not enamoured by the high hood on the front of the locomotive so they put this one through their home shops and did a “nose job” it. They lowered the nose on many of their GP-9s. The paint scheme was well-liked by some, earning the nickname of “Circus Colors”. This view of the engine was taken in 1976. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Maryland_Railway The Western Maryland Railway (reporting mark WM) nicknamed the Wild Mary was a small American Class I railroad that operated from 1852 to 1983 in 3 Mid-Atlantic States, Maryland (Western Region), West Virginia (Eastern Region), and Pennsylvania (Southern Region) across the Allegheny Regions of the Appalachian Mountains with its headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. The Wild Mary was primarily a coal hauling and heavy freight railroad, with a small passenger train operation up until 1958 when the WM discontinued all of its passenger service. The WM later became property of the Chessie System holding company along with the B&O and C&O in 1973. Although despite being a holding company the Chessie System allowed the WM to continue independent operations up until May 1975 after which many of its lines were largely abandoned in favor of parallel Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) lines. In 1983, the WM was fully merged into the B&O, which later was also merged with the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) into the Chessie System in 1987. The Chessie System then merged with the Seaboard System to form CSX Transportation later that year.

The post card was published by Railcards.com

Another One for the History Books

The back of this post card tells us that the locomotive is an Erie Lackawanna GP-7 waiting at Essex Fells, New Jersey to interchange freight

with the Morristown & Erie Railroad. It says, "Shortly, the GP7 will meet an M&E Alco, exchange freight and both will be on their way. June 26, 1965." This website provides us with some history of the Erie Lackawanna Railroad: https://erielackhs.org/railroads/ Here is an excerpt from that website: The Erie-Lackawanna Railroad was formed by the merger of the Erie Railroad with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western on October 17, 1960. (A minor renaming occurred in late 1963 when the hyphen was dropped.) The new railroad took after its parent Erie; the largest amount of Lackawanna influence seemed to be paint. Both of EL's parents entered the merger after a couple of years of deficit operations, and EL continued their record, except for 1965 and 1966. EL quickly consolidated its passenger services, with most trains following the ex-Lackawanna route east of Binghamton and the ex-Erie route west. Long-distance passenger trains were gradually cut back during the 1960s, and the last Hoboken-Chicago train was discontinued in 1970, leaving EL with a single daily commuter round trip between Cleveland and Youngstown and its extensive New Jersey commuter services. In 1967 the state of New Jersey began subsidizing the service and in 1970 began to acquire new cars and locomotives for the trains on the ex-Erie routes and the non-electrified Lackawanna lines (the Lackawanna electric cars would continue running until 1984). The Cleveland-Youngstown train lasted until 1977. In 1960 Chesapeake & Ohio began acquiring Baltimore & Ohio stock, and in November 1961 New York Central and Pennsylvania announced their intention to merge. In 1964 Norfolk & Western teamed up with Nickel Plate, Wabash, Pittsburgh & West Virginia, and Akron, Canton & Youngstown. Erie Lackawanna was suddenly surrounded, or thought it would be, when all the mergers were approved, and asked to be included in the Norfolk & Western system. In 1965 Norfolk & Western and Chesapeake & Ohio announced their merger plan, which would include EL and several other smaller eastern railroads, to be held by a wholly owned subsidiary holding company named Dereco. The N&W-C&O merger didn't take place, but on March 1, 1968, Dereco and the Erie Lackawanna Railway were both incorporated. Dereco exchanged its shares for Erie Lackawanna Railway's 1,000 shares. On April 1, 1968, the Erie Lackawanna Railway merged with the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. Stockholders of the Erie Lackawanna Railroad received Dereco shares. To put it in simpler language, Norfolk & Western bought the Erie Lackawanna at arm's length. Hurricane Agnes hit the East on June 22, 1972. After estimating that damage to the railroad, principally between Binghamton and Salamanca, N. Y., amounted to $9.2 million, EL filed for bankruptcy on June 26, 1972. During the reorganization of the eastern railroads, it was thought that EL might be able to reorganize on its own, and there was a proposal by Chessie System to buy a portion of the EL. However, Chessie canceled the agreement and EL asked to be included in Conrail. Consolidated Rail Corporation took over EL's operations on April 1, 1976. Conrail's map excluded most of the former Erie main line west of Marion, Ohio. The Erie Western was formed to operate the 152 miles from Decatur to Hammond, Indiana, with subsidy from the state of Indiana. The road operated for a brief period in 1978 and 1979, but the subsidy was withdrawn and on-line traffic wasn't sufficient to support the operation. Other shortline operators have taken over various parts of EL with more success; they are listed in the entries for the Erie and the Lackawanna. As an odd valedictory for EL, parent Norfolk & Western donated its 1,000 shares of Erie Lackawanna stock and the corporate records to the University of Virginia in 1983.

The photo on the post card was taken by Carl H. Sturner the founder of Audio Visual Designs, the company that published the post card. Audio-Visual Designs originally focused on providing railroad post cards and reel to reel audio tapes of trains in action. That is where the “Audio” of their name came from. This website provides more information about this still-standing company: https://www.audiovisualdesigns.com/about