| N&W/VGN Modeler / N&W and Virginian Electrics - Frank Bongiovanni |
| N&W-NKP Odds and Ends / Some Interesting Photographs of N&W’s ex-Nickel Plate Diesels - Kevin EuDaly |
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What appears to be a routine shot of an N&W passenger train in Chicago in the late 1960s is anything but that. This is the final run of the Banner Blue on September 9, 1967, behind GP18 2708. The unit was one of 10 GP18s delivered to the Nickel Plate in June 1960 numbered 700–709. Before long ex-NKP units with steam generators will become freight locomotives.
(Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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It’s March 1967 at Bellevue, Ohio, and the days of Nickel Plate-painted locomotives are waning. The photographer climbed up on a former Nickel Plate RS-11 to get this photograph accentuating the Nickel Plate lettering that will soon be covered with a coat of N&W blue paint with blockstyle gold lettering and the half-moon, or hamburger, herald on the cab side.
(Jim Boyd photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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At first glance former Nickel Plate RS-3 2546 appears just like all the other RS-3s painted in the standard blue with gold lettering. Upon closer inspection, the number board has the “4” reversed — one of the mechanical guys must have had a bad day while getting this unit back out in service. The unit is working in Kansas City, Missouri, on May 7, 1967.
(Dick Kuelbs photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Standard procedure after the merger was to add 2000 to the Nickel Plate Number as seen here with Nickel Plate GP7 415 becoming 2415. The small “NYC&STL” lettering on the short hood was painted over and “Norfolk and Western” applied — at least theoretically. In the case of this GP7 at Bellevue, Ohio, in March 1967, the stenciling over the fresh black paint reads “Norfolk and Westepn” — either a bad day in the paint shop or a prankster at work.
(Jim Boyd photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Originally Nickel Plate 348, N&W SD9 2348 is heading west through Adena, Ohio, on March 22, 1976, on former Wheeling & Lake Erie trackage. The W&LE merged with the Nickel Plate in 1949. The short coal train is about to cross County Road 10 on the north side of town, passing the aptly-named “Railroad Inn.”
(Jim Boyd photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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With his left hand firmly holding the brake and his feet solidly planted on the ground, there is no temptation for this biker to risk his girl’s life and his own with GP9 2807 bearing down on the crossing in Lorain, Ohio, just west of Cleveland, on October 21, 1979. Though we’ve all seen people drive around the gates successfully, failure yields a very high price — usually another tick mark in the “road death” category. Both the crew and the cameraman are probably thinking the Harley looks best in one piece. Sitting at the gates — good move! The former Nickel Plate unit was one from the last order the Nickel Plate placed for GP9s, and was built in February 1959. (Frank Novak photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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N&W’s standard freight unit scheme as detailed by Paul Withers and Bob Bowers in N&W Diesels — Second Generation was scheme “F-6” from 1971 to 1981: “All black with block ‘NW’ on hood and smaller block “NW” on hood ends.” GP30 2905 (originally Nickel Plate 905) obviously didn’t get that paint scheme in this view taken on May 16, 1987, in Chicago, Illinois. Instead, it has “Norfolk and Western” spelled out on its long hood, as specified in the white band scheme “F-7” from 1981–1984 that was only worn by 4104, 4107, and 4129. “Norfolk and Western” lettering on the hood sides was also part of the standard switcher scheme “S-6” from 1981–1982.
(John Benson photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Two days before Christmas in 1966 the N&W rolled out RS-3 2551 in glistening paint at the shops in Decatur, Illinois. It wears the standard N&W paint scheme of the mid-1960s, officially in place from 1966 to 1970. (Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Built as an AS-16 by Baldwin in June 1954, this locomotive was rebuilt by EMD with a 16-567C engine in September 1959. On January 16, 1967, it was renumbered from Nickel Plate 322 to N&W 2322, and then in July 1970 was renumbered to 7902. By the time this photograph was taken at Euclid, Ohio, on February 6, 1977, it was nearing the end of its days. Why the number has been pasted together from several number styles and put on a lighter blue background is likely lost to time, but within a year it will be sold to Naporano Iron & Metal and scrapped at Newark, New Jersey. (Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Multiple layers of paint show through from at least three paint schemes on RS-11 2569 in August 1977. The original Nickel Plate striping shows through, as does Nickel Plate Road lettering on the long hood and the small NYC&STL lettering on the short hood, as well as red primer. The N&W blue scheme shows up along with its disk “hamburger” logo under the cab window, and finally, the large white “NW’ logo shows from the later N&W black scheme. What a mess! (Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Once its useful life was done, Alco RSD-12 253 was cut down into a slug in December 1981, designated an RP-A6, and renumbered 9922. This started out as Nickel Plate RSD-12 328, was renumbered N&W 2328 in January 1967, then renumbered N&W 252 in 1970, and finally converted to a slug. About all that’s recognizable are the louvers and the RSD trucks at Norfolk, Virginia, in June 1984.
(Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Among surviving Nickel Plate diesels is GP9 514, which was renumbered 2514 in February 1966 after the merger. In April 1985 it was donated to Steamtown, and the process was begun to turn it back into Nickel Plate 514. It’s almost made the complete circle back to 514 in this view in November 1985 at Steamtown in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The top half of the locomotive and the nose have been painted black, Nickel Plate yellow lettering and striping added, and the cab-side number changed back to 514. The number board still shows its heritage as N&W 2514.
(Jim Boyd photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Another preserved ex-Nickel Plate diesel is RSD-12 329, which was donated to the Mad River and Nickel Plate Museum in Bellevue, Ohio, on January 13, 1983. In between its birth as NKP 329 and cosmetic restoration, it wore N&W 2329 and 254. It was photographed at the museum on static display in August 1996. (Jim Boyd photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
| The N&W Beyond the Appalachians / The N&W in Buffalo - Dave Hyer |
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N&W westbound Train Apollo 3 is on Delaware & Hudson rails and is stuck at a hotbox signal at Linden, New York, in a driving snow on January 27, 1978. Apollo 3 was an intermodal TOFC (Trailer On Flat Car) train from Mechanicville, New York (north of Albany), to Chicago. By 1979 it was cut back to Bellevue, Ohio. Linden is on the former Erie Lackawanna Southern Tier line about 35 miles east of Buffalo in a region well-known for tremendous lake-effect snowstorms. Behind lead GP35 238 in this all-N&W power set are GP9 821, SD40-2 6080, SD45 1751, and SD35 1564. (Devan Lawton photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Train DN90, a Detroit-to-Croxton manifest delivered to the Erie Lackawanna, curves into Bison Yard from Fort Erie, Ontario, on February 7, 1971, behind a trio of F7s led by 3659. Note the automobiles on an autorack immediately behind the lead boxcar. Auto traffic was a significant contributor to freight hauled through Buffalo on the N&W.
(Mike Tedesco photo, Ed Painter collection) |
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RS-11 2566 and two GP35s back down into the south departure yard to pick up their outbound train at Bison Yard in Buffalo on June 16, 1973. Often found on the Bison Yard hump, the newer Alcos were used on through freight when necessary. Another Alco can be seen under the bridge at left.
(Ed Painter photo) |
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This 1964 Nickel Plate Road track map shows Buffalo Junction Yard immediately before the merger with N&W. The actual Buffalo Junction is the EL connection on the left where the DL&W city branch ran overhead. There was another EL (DL&W) connection within the yard. This chart shows the NKP’s sharp Erie wye connection that was removed for the new double-track connection to the EL at FW, which someone has sketched in.
(courtesy John Benson) |
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N&W RS-11 2573 has picked up some EL cabooses and is headed to the Bison Yard caboose tracks under the Harlem Road overpass on October 12, 1968. (Ed Painter collection) |
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Tifft Yard is shown in this 1964 Nickel Plate track diagram. It also shows the location of the Pennsylvania Railroad FY block station, which was still used to clear departing PRR trains bound for the Chautauqua Branch. FY also operated the crossovers under the Tifft Street bridge and related signals.
(courtesy John Benson) |
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This Wabash track map shows the ramps Wabash built in 1960 at East Buffalo. Chesapeake & Ohio and Lackawanna (EL) had their own ramp tracks. It was all outside joint EL-NKP property upon which Bison Yard was constructed. The coal chute shown was that of the DL&W and stood derelict into the 1960s.
(Dave Hyer collection) |
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This 1966 N&W map shows the N&W (NKP)-PRR joint track west from Buffalo. It was included in the N&W’s Erie Lackawanna merger study.
(Ed Painter collection) |
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A transfer from the Erie Lackawanna yards near Republic Steel south of the Buffalo River pulls into the west end of Bison Yard on the day after Christmas in 1970. Even though the crew came from the former DL&W City Branch, they have N&W power for the run on this day — GP7 2486 and RS-3 2555 — both ex-Nickel Plate units. (Mike Tedesco photo, Dave Hyer collection) |
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Timetable |
The Buffalo District timetable page from Timetable No. 1 dated January 15, 1967.
(Dave Hyer collection) |
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This 1930s-era map has been partly updated to about 1968. It reflects the N&W’s merger with the Nickel Plate, the Penn Central merger, and the construction of Bison and Frontier Yards, as well as railroad lines and locations referred to in the text. It also shows some freight houses, side tracks, passenger stations, yards, and tracks that were no longer in use by 1968, or gone altogether.
(Dave Hyer collection) |
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Sharing power from the two operating roads, eastbound AP-2 (Apollo 2) rolls across the trestle over the Delaware River at Phillipsburg, New Jersey, in April 1976. In the lead is N&W GP9 2452, originally Nickel Plate 452. Trailing are a pair of D&H GP39-2s, 7604 and 7603. In this era Apollo 2 was a Chicago to Oak Island, New Jersey (Newark area), TOFC train delivered via the Lehigh Valley. (Jim Boyd photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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GP35 228 leads an N&W eastbound train at William Street headed inbound at Bison Yard on May 16, 1977. The tracks on the left were originally the westbound receiving tracks of the Erie Railroad’s East Buffalo Yard. The train is on the former Erie main, having passed FW Tower and the SK Yard. (Dave Hyer collection) |
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Power from Erie Lackawanna, N&W, and C&O all reside at the engine facility at Bison Yard in Buffalo on May 28, 1972. C&O 8134 is a renumbered U25B, N&W 2570 is a former Nickel Plate RS-11 (originally 570), and N&W 2490 is former Nickel Plate GP9 490. (Bob Hines photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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There was always plenty of power at Bison Yard, and usually a mix of power from the roads that were involved with operations at the yard. On March 18, 1979. N&W C30-7 8010 in maroon stands out on the service tracks among Conrail blue, Union Pacific yellow and gray, and N&W locomotives in black. (Devan Lawton photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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This map shows Bison Yard as of May 1972. The planned connecting track from Bison to Frontier was apparently not constructed until after Conrail. Note how the former DL&W city branch crossed over the Erie main on a truss bridge at William Street, heading to Buffalo Junction and the lakefront. (Dave Hyer collection) |
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GP30 558 was at Bison on February 18, 1974. It was an N&W original built in August 1962 and was sold on May 29, 1992, to Transdynamic and was still in service on the Nebraska, Kansas & Colorado at Holdredge, Nebraska, as of May 2005. (Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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N&W 3659 and two sisters are entering Bison Yard off the EL Black Rock Branch in the rain on June 16, 1973. Judging by the auto parts on the head end this is probably DN-90 with a hot EL connection for the Ford plant in Mahwah, New Jersey. (Ed Painter photo) |
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N&W U30B 8493 is crossing over at Prospect Street in Binghamton, New York, from the Conrail Southern Tier line to the D&H Buffalo Runner track with Delaware & Hudson trackage rights grain train on March 9, 1977. The power is two N&W run-through units and two ex-Lehigh Valley C-420s. (Larry Moss photo, Dave Hyer collection) |
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Delaware & Hudson crews change on westbound Apollo 1 (AP-1) at Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, on May 26, 1976. The train is on Conrail’s former Erie main line and has just climbed up the Lanesboro connection from the D&H proper. This mongrelized consist of older units is typical of the power N&W ran through on the D&H while the D&H was offering newer locomotives acquired from Lehigh Valley and brand new GP39-2s. (Roger Pugh photo, Dave Hyer collection) |
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Timetable |
The Cayuga Subdivision timetable page from CN-N&W Timetable No. 18 dated April 25, 1965. (Dave Hyer collection) |
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N&W westbound CN-91 picks up at Buffalo Junction Yard on August 26,1984, using Conrail’s former Buffalo Creek Railroad main tracks and drawbridge. It is likely that only the two C30-7s brought CN-91 from St. Thomas. N&W’s own Nickel Plate drawbridge over the Buffalo River on the left is permanently raised and is out of service. The new trackwork is from removal of N&W’s running tracks north of BC Junction, converting it from diamonds to connection switches. (Doug Eisele photo, Dave Hyer collection) |
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This map is from N&W’s new Lake Erie Division Timetable No. 200 dated April 25, 1965. (Dave Hyer collection) |
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A Buffalo to Mechanicville freight rolls eastbound northeast of Schenectady at Pierce Road in Ushers, New York, on the D&H on February 9, 1980. Power includes SD40 1610, Union Pacific C30-7 2412, and an N&W Geep. (John Bartley photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Table |
Table 1: N&W’s Ex-Nickel Plate Manifest Trains at Merger |
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Table 2: N&W’s Ex-Wabash Manifest Trains at Merger |
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On February 19, 1979, Apollo 3 rolls westbound at Campbell Road in Rotterdam, New York, headed toward Buffalo and beyond to Bellevue, Ohio. AP-3 originated in Mechanicville, New York, and is on D&H rails at this point in its journey. In the lead is SD40 1588 followed by SD45 1799 and a GP35. (John Bartley photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Three ex-Wabash Canadian F7s curve eastbound off the Black Rock Branch approaching the northwest corner of Bison Yard, led by a freshly-washed N&W 3657 on January 8, 1972. Those look like Fords behind the units, so this is likely train DN-90 arriving, due in around noon. (Mike Tedesco photo, Ed Painter collection) |
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Table 3: N&W’s Buffalo Manifest Trains mid-1965 |
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Table 4: N&W’s Buffalo Manifest Trains January 1966 |
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The N&W’s Sales and Marketing Department used this map to sell the service, and it’s unusual in that it shows the EL and D&H which were not operated by the N&W, although owned by its Dereco subsidiary. It also shows the N&W line from Buffalo west through St. Thomas, Ontario, to Windsor. (Dave Hyer collection) |
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Three-month-old black hi-nose N&W GE U30Bs 8493 and 8483 at the Bison Yard service facility on December 23, 1970 haven’t made it very far from Erie where they were built. With EL and C&O also using Bison Yard it was unusual for N&W power to dominate the service tracks. (Mike Tedesco photo, Dave Hyer collection) |
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Three former Wabash locomotives, F7s 3667 and 3661, along with N&W’s only GMD-built GP7, 3453, lay over in a pocket track near the west end yard office on the north side of Bison Yard on January 8, 1972, near the N&W ramps. They are awaiting their return train to Canada, which by 1972 could only be ND-91, a transfer cut back to Fort Erie for interchange, or the odd extra train of empty auto racks to Talbotville. (Mike Tedesco photo, Ed Painter collection) |
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In the early 1970s Alcos frequented the Buffalo trains, as demonstrated by RS-11s 374 and 379 rolling westbound (geographically southeast) on the D&H at Maxon Road in Schenectady, New York. The bridge the train has just crossed is over the Mohawk River. (John Bartley photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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N&W GP35 1306 gives away its heritage with its low nose — it was ordered by the Wabash but delivered to the N&W after the merger, thus it never wore Wabash colors. It leads a Mechanicville to Buffalo freight on January 13, 1980, at Ushers, New York. The bridge in the background is I-87. (John Bartley photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Table 5: N&W’s Buffalo Manifest Trains April 1973 |
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This and the following photos illustrate the N&W’s ex-Wabash connection from Buffalo to Windsor, Ontario, which can be seen on the map on pages 34–35. Three units clank off the International Bridge with a westbound St. Thomas Division train led by F7A 3725, which retained the gray upper nose of its original paint scheme until the end. The CN operator is handing up a clearance card for the Canadian mileage ahead during the summer in 1971. (Ed Painter collection) |
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Table 6: N&W’s Buffalo Manifest Trains April 1975 |
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F7A 3666 works a local freight shuffling cars at Tillsonburg, Ontario, in August 1975. Trailing the 3666 is ex-Wabash GP9 3453 and F7A 3671, also an exWabash unit. The GP9 was the only Geep N&W owned that was built in Canada to Canadian standards for operation on the line from Buffalo to Windsor. Another view of this train at Tillsonburg can be found in The Arrow Vol. 31:2 (2nd Quarter 2015) on page 39. (Jim Boyd photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Table 7: N&W’s Buffalo Manifest Trains April 1, 1976 |
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F7As 3660 and 3657 roll eastbound across a large steel trestle on the west side of St. Thomas, Ontario, just east of Talbotville in August 1976. The two Funits were built in December 1950, and the 3660 was retired in 1978 while the 3657 was retired in 1977. The soccer field (football to all but U.S. folks) is still in place to this day. (Jim Boyd photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Table 8: N&W’s Buffalo Manifest Trains July 1, 1979 |
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F7 3661 and GP7 3453 set off auto parts cars from Detroit/Windsor at Major Line Road just west of St. Thomas, Ontario, for the Talbotville Ford plant in the early 1970s. The cars must be “hot” as a Canadian National crew is waiting in the clear to snatch the cars back to the plant. (Ed Painter collection) |
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Table 9: N&W’s Buffalo Manifest Trains June 1982 |
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Back-to-back F7As led by the 3660 roll auto parts cars eastbound through Glencoe, Ontario, in August 1976. In later years the depot was moved slightly away from the main line and re-oriented with the trackside face of the depot now facing primarily north instead of southeast. (Jim Boyd photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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Table 10: N&W’s Buffalo Manifest Trains June 1984 |
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On December 31, 1977, F7As 3661 and 3657 are switching finished autos and auto parts cars in the yard at Tecumseh, Ontario, while a CN switcher works in the background. The train crews on the St. Thomas Division were employed by the N&W. All supervision in the field was by CN, and CN crews did all the yard switching (often using Wabash engines at Windsor and St. Thomas) and most of the “local work,” defined as anything beyond setting out blocks of cars as was done by N&W trains at Welland Jct., St. Thomas, and other places. (Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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The 3660 gets some attention in Windsor, Ontario, with the Detroit skyline in the background across the Detroit River on a hazy day in August 1976. (Jim Boyd photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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F7A 3659 is bracketed by CN units in the yard in Windsor, Ontario, in September 1972. (Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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In June 1968 N&W F7A 3662 leads a four-unit set working at Windsor with a CN RS-1 in the background. The CN unit is loading or unloading the car float — note how the car float is listing to the right with unbalanced loads during the process. There were a lot of multi-level autoracks hauling automobiles on the car floats that moved between Detroit and Windsor before improvements to the Michigan Central tunnel increased clearances for that traffic. The N&W floated high-wide loads and multi-level autoracks for other railroads. Multi-level equipment moving via the St. Thomas gateway were equipped with 33" wheels to comply with clearances. The car floats, two tugs and four barges, were joint facility accounts, with CN, CP, and N&W divvying up the expenses. Prior to suspension of the car floats the railroads were charged about $27 per car for a trip between Detroit and Windsor — loaded or empty. (Jim Boyd photo, Kevin EuDaly collection ) |
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The 3657 was photographed in August 1976 (the same day as the photo on the top of page 46) with a Canada Steamship Lines freighter in the distance in the Detroit River. (Jim Boyd photo, Kevin EuDaly collection) |
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N&W C36-7 8507 heads a transfer cut out of Fort Erie, Ontario, toward the International Bridge and Buffalo on October 10, 1986. Norfolk Southern has made its appearance in the form of C36-7 8540 as a trailing unit. While the same model, the locomotives are from different orders. (Ed Painter photo) |
