Random Ramblings -- Unspectacular

East Broad Top; Rockhill Furnace, Penn.; October 2002

We're entering October, and traditionally that would be a time for a staple of heritage railroading -- the East Broad Top Fall Spectacular in Rockhill Furnace, Penn. The Fall Spectacular replaced the Winter Spectacular in the 1980s when winter operations became too hard on the machines and men needed to run the railroad. Since the change, hundreds of the narrow gauge faithful would descend on Rockhill Furnace (a suburb of Orbisonia) each Columbus Day weekend.

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Over the years the number of locomotives in service for the Spectacular dwindled. From four in the 1980s heyday down to three, then down to two. Finally, for the last few years, only 2-8-2 No. 15 has answered the call. This year, no steam will operate. Nonetheless, the Friends of the East Broad Top will still be around and the folks across the street at the Rockhill Trolley Museum will still be running almost everything that runs. Even though there is no steam in the Aughwick Valley, if your travels take you near the area during the holiday weekend stop in and take a trolley ride and see the improvements being made to the EBT by the Friends. It'll still be worth your time.

In the meantime, let's go back to the days of yore (actually October 2002, and in full disclosure mode I'll tell you that this was actually shot shortly after the 2002 Spectacular during a charter organized by Carl Franz). EBT 2-8-2 No. 14 works its way through the shop complex at Rockhill Furnace, with the sand tower on the left. What's spectacular about the Spectacular is its absolutely unspectacular scenes -- this was just a plain ol' everyday occurrence in the 1940s and 1950s. Sometimes a steam engine going to work in the morning is spectacular in its own little way.

Cool Chromes

Author's Note: We're adding a couple of new recurring topics to the blog. In addition to the trip travelogues, we'll be doing a weekly (or so) review of random slides I recently picked to scan (such as below). I shot slides from the mid-1970s until May 2006, so the Cool Chromes will come from that timeframe. In addition, we'll be doing a quick-hit review of one shot from a recent trip where we'll discuss technique, bad or good luck, or just the story behind the shot. Now on to this week's Cool Chromes.

Coming off the scanner this week we have the following four shots. Let's start off with Alcos on the Arkansas & Missouri as we see a trio of C420s lead a train out of Springdale, Ark., crossing over U.S. 71 on April 9, 1993.

Arkansas & Missouri; Springdale, Ark.;

Next up, we're off to Soledad Canyon in southern California where a Metrolink F59PH pushes a westbound commuter train from Lancaster towards Los Angeles near Canyon Country in April 2002.

Metrolink; Soledad Canyon, Calif.;

I remember riding the famed Brill "bullet" cars on SEPTA's ex-Philadelphia & Western between Upper Darby and Norristown. The bullets were all retired by 1990, with many scattered to museums. It was a lot of fun to encounter bullet No. 205 at the Rockhill Trolley Museum and do a night run in June 2003. The bullets were capable of 100-m.p.h. running, and routinely did 80 m.p.h. or more in regular service.

Rockhill Trolley Museum; Rockhill Furnace, Penn.;

And, finally, let's finish with MLW (Montreal Locomotive Works, the Canadian equivalent of Alco) power on the isolated Cartier Railway in Port Cartier, Quebec. A trio of M636s runs around their train at the processing plant at the south end of the line near Port Cartier in September 2001. Located eight hours northeast of Quebec City and with no rail connection to the rest of the world, the railroad is one of the most isolated in North America; it serves Quebec Cartier Mining (now Arcelor Mittal) with a 260-mile railroad from the mines at Mont Wright to the processor.

Quebec Cartier Mining; Port Cartier, Quebec;

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