Cable David - Rails Across North America

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by
Pen & Sword Transport
An imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

Copyright David Cable 2015

ISBN 9781473838055
eISBN 9781473858329

The right of David Cable to be identified as the author of this work had been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor by way of trade or otherwise shall it be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of Pen & Sword Archaeology, Atlas, Aviation, Battleground, Discovery, Family History, History, Maritime, Military, Naval, Politics, Railways, Select, Social History, Transport, True Crime, and Claymore Press, Frontline Books, Leo Cooper, Praetorian Press, Remember When, Seaforth Publishing and Wharncliffe.

For a complete list of Pen and Sword titles please contact
Pen and Sword Books Limited
47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England
E-mail: enquiries@pen-and-sword.co.uk
Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

DAVID CABLE OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Railfreight in Colour (for the modeller and historian)

BR Passenger Sectors in Colour (for the modeller and historian)

Lost Liveries of Privatisation in Colour (for the modeller and historian)

Hydraulics in the West

The Blue Diesel Era

Introduction

Between 1966 and 2008, I have had the opportunity to visit the USA on seventeen occasions, four of which were combined with visits to Canada (which are the subject of another book). In total I have photographed trains in thirty-nine states.

The first three trips were for business purposes, those from 1991 to 1999 with my wife, Glenda, and those subsequent either on my own or meeting up with a group of American train enthusiasts, a nice group of about fifty members calling themselves the WGRF the Worlds Greatest Rail Fans, although a number of people in the UK, Germany, Switzerland and Australia to name but a few would dispute that title!

The 1966 trip was an exception. I was due to fly back from Australia to England, following a two month project, and at the last minute was asked to spend a week with an associate company in Columbus OH. My plans to sightsee in New York City on the Saturday afternoon before my flight home, were scuppered when I became stranded in Pittsburgh Airport, due to the east coast being fog bound, no flights being able to get there. So I had recourse to going via the Pennsylvania Railroad in a train comprising three E8A locos, nineteen baggage cars and two passenger cars tacked on the back. I recall going round Horseshoe Curve looking across at the locos. But on this trip I had no camera with me.

All the other sixteen trips provided opportunities for me to photograph the American railroad scene, and this book contains a selection of what I saw.

The book is arranged in date sequence, and in the order of the visits made to the different locations in the course of each trip.

The first trip in 1975 was undertaken as a site selection visit for a major British company, a spectacularly exhausting trip with little opportunity to take photos, but my colleague and I, who had visited different states independently, met up in Washington DC one weekend, and our sightseeing encompassed the Union station. Later on, we both stayed in Asheville NC, where the loco shed was visited.

The 1986 trip was taken with three colleagues from Blue Circle Cement, when we visited the four US cement works owned by the company in Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma and New York states, which did provide for some pictures to be taken. One of the Blue Circle management also arranged for me to go round the loco shed at Selkirk NY, and also spend some time in the control tower for the hump yard quite an experience!

From 1991 to 1999, with one exception in 1997, all the trips were undertaken with Glenda. She was a very skilled patchwork/quilting exponent, and seized the chance to visit various centres and meeting groups associated with this hobby, as well as purchasing large quantities of materials! The trips were planned by examining catalogues, which showed where interesting events, which she would like to attend, were to be held and when. I would then check if there were any railroad locations fairly close by, and from that our itinerary, sometimes quite circuitous, was developed. So while she met up with her associates, I went off trackside, although there were quite a number of days when we shared our hobbies I would carry all the material and books she bought, and she would sit by the tracks sewing, and when a train came past, would take the numbers of the second, fourth, sixth etc. locos!

In 1991, we flew to Vancouver BC to stay with Glendas family, and with them did a round trip, staying initially in Vancouver WA, where we had a hotel room overlooking the Burlington Northern line east. I hired a taxi and said to the driver Take me to the engine sheds, whereupon he took me to both the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific facilities in Portland OR, and waited while I took my shots, quite astonished at my hobby!

The 1993 trip started by flying to Chicago and staying in Aurora IL, which involved shopping in Chicago, but also visits to West Chicago and Eola yard, which was accessible at both ends in those days. From there we travelled to Paducah KY, the headquarters of the American Quilting Society, but also the workshops of VMV in the old Illinois Central buildings! From there we went to Denver, including Palmer Lake, and a solo trip to Cheyenne. Quilting in Lancaster CA was next on the list, which also gave the means to go to Cajon Summit and Tehachapi for the loop. We then flew back to stay in Brunswick, MD, where I covered lines between Washington DC and Baltimore and various other locations.

We started off in 1994 at Providence RI. Various short lines in the area plus Boston commuter services provided a springboard to go across to the Hudson valley at Peekskill followed by Binghamton. Travelling on to near Lake Erie, the old main Pennsylvania line was photographed near Harrisburg amongst other locations. Our final US destination was outside Buffalo, where a wealth of photos was obtained in this busy railroad area. The trip concluded in Canada via Niagara Falls.

In 1995, my wife had booked to go to a conference in Houston in November, so we thought we would start off in Arizona, first in Tucson and then Flagstaff. In perfect weather, I got many shots on the SP Sunset route and the ATSF main line from Chicago to California, plus some nice short lines. A trip into Mexico was also undertaken. Arizona gave us the chance to do some sightseeing, which is something we always tried to fit in. In Texas, the weather had gone downhill, and I spent my days either trying to keep warm or dry, taking pictures in far from ideal lighting conditions.

The year 1997 started again by flying to Chicago, this time staying in Rockford IL. Whilst Glenda did her own things, I started off at Rochelle, standing in the middle of the UP and BN crossing, as happy as a sand boy with all the traffic. We visited a couple of locations in Wisconsin, before going to Grand Island NE, Minneapolis for the Mall of America (yuk!), Rapid City SD, the Alliance loco shed of BNSF, and on to Denver again from where we flew home.