This is a first in a series of 6 Articles about the old TV show “Rescue 911”
Who does not remember the show “Rescue 911?” The show was one of my favorites growing up in the 1990’s, usually 3 segments per 30 minute episode. Hosted by William Shatner, the show focused mainly on Emergency personal rescuing people from dangerous situations, and also normal everyday people doing the same thing. The show ran from April, 1989 to August 1996, with 7 seasons, 182 episodes and 2 specials. Currently, the only place to view the episode segments is on YouTube, since no channel is currently airing the show. The following is from 5 segments that were ran in different episodes.
Season 1, Episode 2, Segment 3 “Conrail Train”
In Ramsey, New Jersey, the Prichard family lives in a Cul-de-Sac, 300 yards away from the active Conrail/NJT mainline. 3 year old Tod, and 1.5 year old Scott had just come back from the store with their mother, and being the trustworthy parent she was, she let the older child watch his younger brother play outside. Knowing they were not allowed anywhere near the tracks, today, for some reason, the children made their way down through the woods and started to play on the right-of-way. While playing on the tracks, a train appeared. The engineer of the Conrail Freight (In this episode, portrayed by Morristown and Erie #18), noticed something moving on the tracks. The Engineer applied the brakes when he noticed it was the children. At this time, the conductor, Anthony Folsom, ran out of the cab and climbed down the step, trying to wave the children off the tracks. With the Horn blaring, the mother, inside putting away groceries, heard the commotion and had a bad feeling, and immediately ran outside. With the train slowing, the children were not noticing the train fast approaching. When the train was nearly upon hitting the children, the conductor jumped down and forced them down to avoid being hit.
Morristown and Erie C424 #18 portrayed the engine in the re-construction
When the train passed over the children, the 1.5 year old Scott was hit in the head by the pilot of the Locomotive, necessitating medical treatment. When the train finally came to a stop, the engineer jumped off the locomotive and ran back to see if everyone was ok. the conductor, told him to call the dispatcher and get an ambulance out there right away. The mother arrived shortly after, and when she saw the injury, she too ran back to her house to call 911. After 6 stitches on the head and 7 on the chin, the boys were released without a trip to the hospital. Neither of the boys sustained serious injury due to the incident….
The locomotive used in the reconstruction of these events was Morriston and Eastern ALCo C424 #18. The locomotive was built in September 1964 by the American Locomotive Works in New York. She was outshopped for the Toledo, Peoria and Western Railroad as #800. The Locomotive worked for the “Tip-Up” until the railroad was bought outright by the Santa Fe Railway in the early 1980’s. After the merger with the Santa Fe, the Locomotive was sold to the Morriston and Erie railroad, and she has been in active service with the M&E ever since.
Welcome to the 2nd part of The CineTrains Project of the special report of Train in Music Videos. In part 2, we will take a look at 2 more music videos from the Country music Genre!
Lets get right to it!
Train Wreck of Emotion – Lorrie Morgan
CSX GP38-2 #2523 in Lorrie Morgan's "Train wreck of Emotion"
Just like R.E.M.’s “Driver 8”, Lorrie Morgan’s video of her song “Train Wreck of Emotion” has an opening shot of Classic EMD power. In this case, it is CSX GP38-2 #2523. By the looks of the location, and a brief glimpse of CSX GP38-2 #2523. She was constructed by EMD in La Grange, IL with Frame #72785-24 in early 1973, not even a year after EMD introduced the GP38-2. When built, she was built for the Seaboard Coast Line, a South-Eastern United States carrier, as SCL #523. The locomotive spent the first 14 years of its life as SCL 523. By 1985, the SCL had become part of the Family Lines(SCL, L&N, Georgia, Clinchfield), witch, in turn, had become part of the Seaboard System. In the mid 1980’s, the Seaboard System and its competitor, The Chessie System (B&O, C&O, WM) to form today’s CSX Transportation company. After the merger, the locomotive was quickly patched to become CSX 2523. She is currently in local train service on the CSX to this day.
In the background of the band, there are a couple of CSX end cab EMD switchers, and I can not make out the numbers on them, here is a screenshot. Both appear to be EMD SW1500’s, one in the CSX YN1 Blue and Grey scheme and the other still painted for the Seaboard System.
Here is the music video:
Long Black Train – Josh Turner
TVRM 610 in Josh Turner's Long Black Train
The Tennessee Valley Railway Museum has been featured in several films, and this Music Video. Starring Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton 2-8-0 Consolidation type steam locomotive #610. She was constructed in 1952, near the end of the steam age, and was assigned builders #75503. She was constructed By BLH for the United States Army for use by the 7th Transportation Battalion in Fort Bragg and was given the class of S160A by the Military. She was used on the base to switch incoming cars and to help assemble out going troop trains and military equipment trains during the Korean War and the Vietnam wars. By 1972, she was worn out, and was retired by the US Army and declared surplus. When retired, the US Army donated the locomotive to the Wiregrass Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS). With no place to store her, the locomotive was then re-donated by the chapter to the Tennesse Valley Railway Museum. She sat around on the grounds, only cosmetically restored, however, in 1990, the museum restored the 610 to operational use. Right away, the locomotive was borrowed by the Norfolk Southern Corp. to fill in for another ailing NS Steam locomotive, the N&W 1218. This would have been the first time the locomotive ran under its own power on a mainline train at mainline speeds, since her entire military career consisted mainly of switching the yard in Ft. Bragg. Since then, the locomotive has been used by the TVRM on its tourist railroad in the Chattanooga, TN area. In 2010, the locomotive was sidelined by the museum when its flu time ran out. The locomotive is waiting to be put into the shop at the TVRM for boiler work and boiler re-certification.
Special thanks to Jeff Hunsaker of Knoxville, TN for help on clarification on this article.
Again, I hope you enjoyed the latest installment of The CineTrains Project! I hope that you keep on coming back and reading more about trains in the movies and on Television! If you have any ideas you want to pass along to me, just find out out to contact me in the Submitting Ideas section of the page! Happy Railfanning!
This article will cover 5 music videos that I enjoy that all have a locomotive in them that is identifiable and that I really enjoy! Lets start!
Hardhat and a Hammer – Alan Jackson
Terminal Railway of Alabama State Docks #803 in Alan Jackson's "Hardhat and a Hammer"
Alan Jackson in released this song about the working man, and has footage of Railroading, Logging, Mining and trucking. The locomotive featured in this song is Terminal Railway of Alabama State Docks MP15AC #803. She was constructed for the TASD by the Electro Motive Division of General Motors in October 1980 with Frame #806003-1, with an unknown Serial #. She has worked for the same railroad since she was delivered, and is still in everyday use, working the State Docks in Mobile, Alabama.
McCloud River SD38-2 #39 in Aerosmith's "Living on the Edge"
Aerosmith’s 1980’s music video “Living on the Edge” has a spectacular shot of McCloud River #39. The scene in witch this shot takes place is the same location that was seen in the movie “Stand By Me” that was already covered by The CineTrains Project. The locomotive was built for the McCloud River in August 1974 by EMD with Frame #74623-1, with an unknown Serial #. The unit stayed on the McCloud River until 1997, when the unit was traded to the Union Pacific railroad in exchange for 5 end cab switchers. When she was released for service by the UP in late 1997, the locomotive became UP 2824. She kept this number until the UP had to put all yard power into the new UPY reporting marks, where she became UPY 824. She is currently in service as a hump locomotive in Southern California.
Conrail 7841 in "Little Pink Houses" by John Mellencamp
Little Pink Houses by John Mellencamp has two different trains in them, first is this quick shot of Conrail GP38#7841, still in Penn Central paint. The locomotive was built by EMD in May 1970 for the ill-fated Penn Central, as PC #7841. When PC and 7 other railroads merged to form Conrail, she became Conrail 7841. She was retired from the Conrail roster in 1985, after spending 2 years in Conrail blue paint, and was sold to National Railway Equipment, who stored the locomotive until she was eventually sold to the BNSF railway in 1998. There, she became BNSF #2169, and is currently in everyday service on the vast BNSF system.
The next train we see is Chessie System (B&O) GP40-2 #4310. Built by EMD in March 1978, she carries the Frame #777051-2, and was delivered in the beautiful Chessie Paint scheme. When the Chessie System and the Seaboard System merged in the mid 1980’s, she became CSXT 6209, and is today, currently in service under that same number.
Copper Basin Railway 208 in 1000 Miles from No where
Dave Yoakam’s 1000 Miles From No Where was filmed in 1994 on Arizona’s Copper Basin Railway. The locomotive used in the film is Copper Basin Railway GP9 #208. She was built by EMD in June of 1954 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy as their #279. Built with Serial #19163 and frame #5354-5, she was the 5th unit of the Burlington’s 1954 GP9 order. She stayed with the Burlington until 1970, when the CB&Q, Northern Pacific, Great Northern and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle railroads all merged to form the Burlington Northern. The BN retired her from active service in December 1985 and she was sold to NRE in Silvis, IL, where she had her high short hut lowered and was sold to the Copper Basin Railway. She is still there, lugging copper concentrate out of the mines and to an online smelter for copper production.
UPDATE AS OF 7-7-2013! The Locomotive used in this music video is no longer owned by the Copper Basin Railway. The CBRY traded all their GP9’s in to Metro East Industries in East St. Louis, Missouri in March, 2013. This includes the 208. The units were traded in for several ex-Iowa, Chicago and Eastern GP40-2’s. Metro East Industries has since re-sold the locomotives to Foster-Townsend Rail Logistics (FTRL, aar FTRX). The 208 was last reported at MEI’s Ex-Manufactures Railway Shop in St. Louis, Missouri for shopping and repainting into FTRL’s Orange and Brown scheme. According to an inside source, the Locomotive will be working on FTRL’s Cleveland Terminal Operation in Ohio once shopped.
So far on The CineTrains Project, we have talked about trains that have appeared in Movies and Television shows. But in this post, we jump into a genre that we have never discussed before, Music Videos. We will be discussing each Music video in the same format that you have come to expect, however, each post that is about a music video, will also have the video embedded into the post as well.
“Driver 8” was the second single from the 3rd Album released by the band R.E.M. in September 1985. The Album, Fables of Reconstruction, reached to #28 on Billboards top 200, however, the song itself, made it into the top 25, reaching #22 on Billboards Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart. However, with the somewhat popularity that the song got in the United States, it was never released to the European market. The song is about a passenger train, The Southern Crescent, that was operated by the Southern Railway until 1979, when the train was handed over to Amtrak. Even though the song was about the Southern’s most famous passenger train, the trains featured was the Chessie System, and the video was mainly featured, Railfan style, in and around the Clifton Forge, Virginia area, including inside the locomotive shops there. We will be discussing only a few of the locomotive seen in the film, and those are the ones that are featured prominently in the music video
Chessie System SD50 #8558 at the start of the Video
The video is mainly Black and White, with a few bits of color footage in it. The video starts with a wonderful sweeping shot of a a pair of then nearly new Chessie SD50’s. Only 1 of the locomotives is identified, and that is the lead locomotive, C&O 8558. The locomotive was constructed by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in February of 1984, about 6 months before the footage was shot. Released from the EMD factory with Frame #837057-6 (Serial # unknown), the locomotive was released in, what I think is the best looking paint scheme every imagined, the Chessie System Family colors of Yellow, Orange and Vermilion (Very Dark Blue). The Chessie System was not long for the world however, and in 1986, the year after the video was released, the Chessie merged with Seaboard System to form CSX Transportation. After the merger, the Unit became CSXT 8558. Not much more history remains with unit, however, in 2009, the locomotive was rebuilt by CSX into what it calls “SD50-2”, however, when the rebuild took place, the locomotive kept its number. The 8558 is still working hard today for CSX, nearly 30 years after being built by EMD.
Chessie System (Baltimore and Ohio) GP40-2 #4329 is the next unit we will cover. She is only 5 years younger than the 8558 that we discussed above, constructed by in February, 1979, the locomotive was released by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors with Frame #787227-8 (Serial # unknown). The Unit, also released in the magnificent Chessie System paint scheme, the unit toiled around, as part of Chessie’s back bone fleet. After the CSX merger, the unit became CSX 6228, and today, she remains part of CSX’s fleet of local road power.
The next locomotive that we will cover is now a Museum piece. The locomotive, Chessie System (Baltimore and Ohio) GP38 #3802, was, in the early 1980’s, named TRAINS MAGAZINE “ALL AMERICAN DIESEL” and after the announcement was made, the locomotive was automatically tapped at the event, for placement at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum outside Baltimore. where she would forever be preserved as a “Typical American Locomotive” for all to view. She was released from the EMD La Grange, Illinois plant in October 1967 as B&O 3802. When released, she was painted in B&O’s then standard Dark blue paint scheme. When B&O’s owner, the Chesapeake and Ohio formed the holding company of Chessie System, the unit was painted into the standard Chessie Colors, along with other railroads that were in the fold (TORCO, B&O, C&O and Western Maryland). In the early 1980’s, the locomotive was named TRAINS MAGAZINE’S ALL AMERICAN DIESEL, and a plaque was dedicated onto the front of the locomotive, which was subsequently stolen and never found. All the railroad do was stencil the lettering that was on the plaque where the plaque was. When the Chessie System merged with Seaboard System, the locomotive was renumbered from B&O 3802 to CSX 2002. She carried this number until the mid 1990’s when she was pulled from regular service, and put into MOW service, and was repainted into a solid Orange scheme and renumbered to CSX 9699. it is interesting to note, this locomotive never wore any of the official CSX road-service paint schemes, until she was repainted all orange for MOW work. In the early 2000’s, the locomotive was finally retired and donated to the B&O Railroad Museum for public display.
The next, and last locomotive that we will cover is Chessie System (Chesapeake and Ohio) B30-7 #8289. She was constructed by General Electric Transportation in their Erie, Pennsylvania plant in March of 1981. She carries serial #43266, and was one of the last B30-7’s delivered to the railroad. Being a GE, the locomotive was minority on the railroad, since this was a time before GE dominated locomotive building, and the GE products were still not as reliable as EMD products. When the Chessie/Seaboard System merger took place in the mid 1980’s, the locomotive was renumbered to CSXT 5571. She remained on the active CSX roster until 2002, when she was involved in a wreck that slightly bent the locomotive’s frame, a fatality to a locomotive. She has not yet been scrapped, and can be seen in the CSX deadline in Waycross, Georgia.
Now, as promised, I am going to embed the music video into this post:
I hope you enjoyed this first venture The CineTrains Did about music videos! As always, if you have any suggestions, click the “Submitting Ideas” tab under the banner. All leads are investigated! HAPPY RAILFANNING!
When released by United Artist’s in 1967, Racism was a critical issue. This was during a time of integration of the American Black community into the rest of American life, without segregation, that had reigned supreme since the end of the Civil war, nearly 100 years before. In the Heat of the Night is about an African-American detective from the north coming to Sparta, Mississippi to assist in the solving of a murder. The movie, however, was filmed in the more understanding North, in the small community of Sparta, Illinois, a small town about 50 miles south/southeast of St. Louis, Missouri. However, the film was also filmed in the small river town of Chester, IL. You have to remember, the producers did not want anything to harm the African-American actors at a time in American History, was so violent towards the community. Filming in Illinois was much safer than filming in either Mississippi, Alabama or Georgia, where racist’s would kill a man, woman or child just because of their skin color.
In the film, two railroads, both on lines out of St. Louis, were used in the filming. Those railroads are the Missouri Pacific Lines, and the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad. Unlike the Missouri Pacific, a railroad that we already discussed twice in two previous posts, “Things are Tough All Around”, a Cheech and Chong Movie, and “End of the Line”, a Wilford Brimely movie, the GM&O had not been in any other films that we discussed
Lets get on to the trains in the film.
GM&O appeared at the Start and the End of the movie, using GM&O E7 #103
The locomotive that the GM&O used in the film is an old EMD E7A. Built as Alton Railroad E7A #103A, the locomotive carried Serial #2006, and Frame #E544-A4. She was born in March 1945, a time when World War II was coming to a close. She helped the Alton, and later, the GM&O haul the influx of returning soldiers. The unit spent her entire career on the Alton and the GM&O, never straying away from her home territory. I am sad to report, however, that GM&O 103, was sold for scrap in March, 1975, and was cut up shortly after that.
An interesting tidbit that I learned from a Union Pacific engineer. All the passengers on the train are actually GM&O Employees! The engineer friend of mine worked with the Fireman on the 103 during Filming of the film. I should also point out that the GM&O’s line through Sparta, IL was torn up in the late 1980’s by the GM&O’s successor, the Illinois Central Gulf.
A brace of MoPac EMD's lead a fast manifest during the Jail Break scene
The brace of EMD locomotives during the Jail Break seen are a set of Missouri Pacific EMD GP35’s. The GP35, at this time, was Missouri Pacific’s fast freight locomotive. Even though the more popular EMD GP40 had not yet taken hold on the MoPac Roster, and the even more popular SD40 had just been introduced that January. The locomotives in the film are MP GP35’s 615, 660 and 622.
Missouri Pacific GP35 #615 was built in February of 1964 for the Missouri Pacific. She was built with frame #7706-8 and serial #28930. Unlike most of the other locomotives featured in The CineTrains Project, Missouri Pacific 615 had a short life. She was fatally wrecked in Cotulla, Texas in March 1971, at the Age of 7.
Missouri Pacific GP35 #660 was built in July 1964 for the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railway as C&EI #252. Between the time the Locomotive was built and delivered to the time of the filming, the C&EI was split up between the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Missouri Pacific, so both railroads could reach Chicago. The unit was built with serial #29543 and Frame #5668-3. The unit was renumbered to MP 2557 during the 1970’s renumbering of Missouri Pacific Locomotives, the unit was given the number 2557. She kept this number for the rest of her life. When the Union Pacific Railroad took over the MoPac in 1982, the locomotive lived on for another 7 months, before retiring in February of 1983. In 1984, the locomotive was sent to EMD as a trade in for new Missouri Pacific SD50’s. She was scrapped by the Pielet Brothers in Chicago later that year.
The third and Final locomotive in the lashup is MP GP35 #622. Built by EMD in February of 1964, the locomotive carried the frame number 7706-8 and Serial number 28930. She was built as MP 622 and carried this number until the 1970’s MoPac locomotive renumberings, when she got the number 2520. The locomotive carried the number until she to was retired in February of 1983. She, along with 44 other locomotives (Included the mentioned MP 660) was sent back to EMD in May of 1984 to be traded in for credit towards brand new EMD SD50’s that the MoPac ordered. She was cut up for scrap by the Pielet Brothers in Chicago in early 1985.
While this scene has 2 locomotives in it, I was only able to get the 2nd locomotive. The unit is an EMD GP18, #457. The locomotive, also an EMD product, was constructed in 1962 as Missouri Pacific 457, with the Frame #7623-11 and serial #27238. At the age of 9, the unit was damaged in the a-for-mentioned Colutta, Texas wreck. However, unlike the ill-fated MP 615, that was seen earlier, this unit was not a total wright off and was rebuilt, and continued to serve the MoPac for a number of years. In the In70’s locomotive renumbering, the locomotive was given the number of 1955. She carried the number for the rest of her service lie on the MoPac. She was sent as trade in to General Electric in the early 1980’s, and was cut up for scrap by Scrap Service of Joliet, IL. This was all the info I could locate on this particular locomotive.
SORRY, NO KNOWN PHOTOS OF THE MP 457/MP 1955 HAVE BEEN LOCATED. If you can provide a photo, please inform me ASAP.
I hope you enjoyed this latest post by The CineTrains Project. If you have any suggestions, please look into contacting me ASAP by looking at the “Submitting Ideas” tab under our banner. Watch out for more, from The CineTrains Project. HAPPY RAILFANNING!
In 2009, Johnny Depp starred in a action thriller called “Public Enemies.” The movie is about one of the FBI’s first most wanted men, John Dillinger. Set in Chicago during the great Depression, one of the scenes in the movie is at Chicago Union Station. During this scene, theres a moving steam train, and this blog is all about that locomotive. The locomotive is the Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 #261. Owned by the Friends of 261, and previously, the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Milwaukee Road 261 in Public Enemies
Milwaukee Road 261 was born in June 1944. She was constructed by the American Locomotive Company in their shops in Schenectady, New York. Built with the builders number 71974, the locomotive was shipped to the Milwaukee Road via the New York Central to Chicago, where she was sent over the Indiana Harbor Belt for delivery to the Milwaukee at the yard in Bensonville, IL, where she was placed in service. The 261 was part of a group of 4-8-4 locomotives that were designated the “S3” class by the railroad. They were used system wide, from Seattle and Portland all the way to Chicago. The locomotives were mixed use, so they were used interchangeably between freight and passenger service. The 261 had a relatively short service career on the Milwaukee. Exactly 10 years after the locomotive was built, the 261 was retired in favor of diesel locomotives. The same year, the locomotive was donated to the then new National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin as the museums first major piece. The locomotive arrived on the property sometime in 1958, after the grounds were set up. From 1958 until 1992, the 261 sat at the museum. In 1991, the North Star Rail group approached the museum in hopes to restore the locomotive for excursion use. The museum and North Star Rail managed to hammer out a 10 year lease on the locomotive, and that lease was eventually lengthened another 20 years to 2011. The locomotive was shipped out of the museum in September, 1992. She was delivered to the GE Shops at Humbolt yard in Minneapolis, MN, where the group had leased space for the engines restoration. Work began right away on bringing the engine back to life.
The locomotive was chosen on a bunch of different factors that helped kept the restoration costs to a minimum. These factors were as the following….
Remarkable Boiler shape : only 10 years of use
Asbestos already removed
Wheels were in accordance to FRA standards
Minimal rust through-out the locomotive
95% of the parts were still on the locomotive, so minimal parts replaced
With all those contributing factors, the locomotive was quickly restored. In less than a year, the locomotive was test fired for the first time, in March 1993, and in September 1993, 1 year after the locomotive arrived in Minneapolis, the restoration was completed. After passing the mandated FRA inspection, the locomotive made its first public moves. The engine double headed over the Wisconsin Central Railroad for its first public excursions to happen on September 18-19th, 1993.
The biggest outing for the 261 after restoration was a year away from home. In 1995, the locomotive was invited to the Steamtown National Historic Park in Scranton, PA for its Grand Opening. The locomotive spent 5 days on the road, deadheading to the event. For over 5 days, the locomotive was the largest operating locomotive at the park. During the stay, the locomotive appeared in a film as the “Lackawanna 1661” and even made its first double header excursion (1 train, two steam locomotives) with the much Smaller, Chinese Built NYS&W 142. On the return to Minnesota after the year long stay, the locomotive made its first moves over the newly created Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company. The merger happened when the locomotive was in Scranton.
In 1998, the BNSF tapped the Friends of the 261 to handle the groups biggest undertaking yet. Powering the BNSF Employee Appreciation Special. Even though it was only a summer event and not a year long event like Steam town, the engine traveled greater Distances. During the specials, the Locomotive traveled over BNSF rails in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. To end the EAS trains, the locomotive was displayed at the Topeka Railroad Days in Topeka, Kansas, before going home to Minnesota.
In 1999, major changes came about for the engine. With rising insurance costs, the group could no longer afford to run excursions. Instead of calling quits, the group teamed up with Amtrak to run excursions. With Amtrak being Self-Insured, the costs were much more affordable to the group, who is in this field to make a profit. She became only the 2nd steam locomotive to become Amtrak Certified. The first excursions while under Amtrak, was in 2003 when the locomotive returned to home rails between Minneapolis, MN and Winona, MN, a river town along the Mississippi River. Every year, these excursions have been repeated.
In 2006, the locomotive was part of a major celebration in Rock Island, IL. The Iowa Interstate railroad had purchased a Pair of Chinese Steam Locomotive, both QJ types, and the railroad had requested use of the Milwaukee Road cars that the Friends of 261 owned. Instead, the group decided not to only bring the cars, but the 261 as well. On September 15th, 2006, the locomotive was part of a rare Triple Header (3 Steam locomotives, one train) that ran from Rock Island, IL to Bureau Junction, IL and return.
After one last excursion down the Mississippi, the locomotive entered the Humbolt shops again for the mandated FRA 1,472 day rebuild. During this time, the Friends of the 261 and the National Railroad Museum had re-entered into negotiations for extending the lease on the locomotive. The NRM was firm on their price to extend the lease, and the price was way to high for the group, considering the locomotive was also being completely rebuilt. It was decided that the group would not extend the lease, and instead, search for another locomotive to rebuild. There was a large outcry from the railfan community about how the NRM handled the negotiations. However, instead of putting the locomotive back in its museum, the Museum instead put the locomotive for sale via Sterling Rail Services. In May 2010, the 261 was finally purchased outright from the museum for a final total price of $225,000. That’s cheaper than a Rolls Royce Phantom!
Since the group now owns the locomotive outright, the group is steadily getting the locomotive rebuilt, and to get her running again. As it stands now, the group is estimating that the engine will be back on the rails in 2013 or 2014, pulling excursions like she had. Its also interesting to note that the locomotive has been operating longer in excursion service under private hands (15 years) than it had for its original owner, the Milwaukee Road (10 years).
If you wish to make a donation to the 261, or to get information on becoming a member of the friends of the 261, the group has a website where one can be kept up-to-date on the proceedings to getting the 261 back into operation. That website is www.261.org.
I hope you enjoyed this latest blog from the The CineTrains Project. As always, if you have any suggestions, be sure to check out the “Submitting Ideas” link under the CineTrains banner! As always, HAPPY RAILFANNING!
This post was requested by the IlliniRail Yahoo! Group!
This article was requested by the IllniRail YAHOO! Group and the IRMlist YAHOO! Group members! ENJOY!
Who does not know the famous Dennis the Menace? Always causing Mr. Wilson trouble, even if he is trying to help out. In 1994, the lovable comic strip character and Cartoon Character came to live. Shot in the Greater Chicago area, one of the final scenes is Dennis, unknowingly, defeating a thief who had stolen Mr. Wilsons valuable coin collection. The scene, witch takes place under a bridge that covers a stream, was shot outside the Elgin, IL area. The tracks on the bridge belong to the recently fallen flag of the EJ&E. “The J,” as it was better known, was more than happy to supply a locomotive for this shot. We will take a better look at the locomotive in bit. The Line the crosses the bridge is part of the EJ&E mainline, however, in 2006, the EJ&E was bought from its owner, US Steel, by the ever growing Canadian National Railway, with a huge out cry from some neighborhoods the J ran through. They lost their battle, because they feared that having 20 more trains go through their towns would ruin their home values, and the merger took place in 2007. Today, this location is OFF LIMITS as it is on Railroad property, and Canadian National has a very strict No Trespassing rules that are always enforced.
EJ&E 661 in "Dennis the Menace"
The locomotive seen near the end of the movie is Elgin, Joliet and Eastern SD38-2 #661. The 661 was built by the Electro Motive Division of General Motors in January, 1975. The units was built in the Chicago Suburb of La Grange. So for petty much of its entire existence, the locomotive has stayed in the Chicago Area. The locomotive was delivered in Late January by the Indiana Harbor Belt to the J in Gary, Indiana. By crossing New locomotives across a state line into either Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana, Iowa or Kentucky, the railroads did not have to pay an enormous Sales Tax on the locomotive. The locomotive was one of the J’s many SD38-2’s. The EJ&E bought 13 SD38-2’s brand new from EMD, and that tied with 1st place for the most owned, the other railroad being the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad that also owned 13. Only 88 SD38-2’s were ever built, and the production ran from 1972 to 1979. However, the Models sister unit, the 4 axle GP38-2, sold 2,222 copies.
The 661 is still in everyday use on the EJ&E’s new owner, Canadian National. Still in the Bright orange paint of the J, the unit has been used on local trains on the CN in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and has even made it down to Fort Worth, Texas! With the purchase of the J by the Canadian National, a-lot of the locomotives that CN got in the deal, have left the Chicago Area, but they usually turn back up, since the J is only a subsidiary of the CN, and they still own the locomotives. Keep your eyes out, because you never know when a EJ&E locomotive might turn up on your local CN line!
I sure hope you enjoyed this study on the EJ&E and the EMD SD38-2. Keep your eyes out for trains in the movies, you never know what might pop up! It may be a rare locomotive, like this SD38-2 (Only 88 built), or it could be something that might be from your area! As always, if you have any ideas, check out the “Submitting Ideas” tab under the CineTrains banner to find out how to contact me if you have anything you want me to look up!And remember, HAPPY RAILFANNING!
