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