RailPictures.Net Photo: SOU 6144 Southern Railway EMD FP7 at Bristol, Virginia by Charles Knox Freericks (estate)
  

Link to this photo: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=217611

- Send this photo as a Postcard! -

- Add to your Favorite Photos -





Locomotive Details Location/Date of Photo
» Southern Railway (more..)
» EMD FP7 (more..)
» Bristol Train Station (more..)
» Bristol, Virginia, USA (more..)
» August, 1952
Locomotive No./Train ID Photographer
» SOU 6144 (more..)
» SOU 41 (more..)
» Charles Knox Freericks (more..)
» Contact Charles Knox Freericks
Remarks: A brand new Hudson Hornet crosses in front of Norfolk & Western/Southern train #151/41, "The Pelican," while the N&W J that brought it into town retreats in the background. FP7 #6144 was delivered to the Cincinnati New Orleans & Texas Pacific in the Fall of 1950. The unit behind it is an F3(B). "The Pelican" was a New York to New Orleans train.
Photographer Profile  Detailed Photo History


This photo has been viewed 8,378 unique times since being added to the database on January 03, 2008.
This photo has been favorited by 9 members.




  User Comments (9) [Hide Comments

Posted by Ron Flanary on January 3, 2008

This is a wonderful shot, and it brings back many memories. The N&W K2A Mountain (which sometimes substituted for the normal power on these runs--the class J 4-8-4s) brought the train in from the last engine change point, Monroe, Virginia (north of Lynchburg). This is indeed train 41, the westbound Pelican (to New Orleans). The Southern FP7A-F3B set was very typical power for this time. Notice the freight already "cabbed" on the right (N&W)---ready to leave for Roanoke. The station has been restored, but there are only two tracks today----but it's still a busy line for NS (and still a crew change point).

Posted by Doug Bradley on January 3, 2008

Thanks for posting this old picture. I love to see how it was back in the day. This was taken 4 years before I was born. These are also great reference shots for model railroaders.

Posted by GEORGE REDMOND on January 3, 2008

Good Shot, I miss the good old days.

Posted by Charles J Freericks on January 3, 2008

Received this terrific information on the train from Dr. Frank Scheer - posted with his permission. The first car behind the locomotive appears to be a Railway Express boxcar, perhaps one of their mechanical reefers. There are three additional storage mail cars, with a 60-feet Southern Railway heavyweight RPO. Even though the train ran over the N&W between Lynchburg and Bristol, the Southern Railway provided the RPO equipment used on this train. This is what the usual consist was for train 41 over the N&W in 1954. From what is visible, it appears to be similar to train make-up in 1952. CONSIST OF TRAIN NO. 41 LYNCHBURG TO BRISTOL Effective March 15, 1954 Storage Mail Car (A) (B) Greensboro to Cincinnati Storage Mail Car (B) Greensboro to Cincinnati Storage Mail Car (Sealed) (C) Washington to Birmingham Postal Car Washington to Chattanooga Baggage Car Washington to New Orleans Partition Coach Washington to New Orleans Coach Washington to New Orleans Dining Car Roanoke to Birmingham Sleeper (10 Sec 1 Compt 1 DRoom) Washington to Roanoke Sleeper (10 Sec 1 DR 2 Compt) Washington to Shreveport Sleeper (10 Roomette 6 DB Room) New York to New Orleans Sleeper (10 Roomette 6 DB Room) New York to Knoxville Sleeper (10 Roomette 6 DB Room) New York to Bristol Sleeper (10 Roomette 6 DB Room) (D) New York to Williamson Sleeper (12 Sec 1 DR) (E) Richmond to Bristol ALL CARS OPERATE DAILY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED Notes: (A) Daily except Monday from Sou at Lynchburg. (B) From Sou Train 12 at Lynchburg. (C) Daily except Monday and Tuesday from Sou at Lynchburg. (D) To Train No. 15 at Roanoke. (E) From Train No. 15 at Roanoke. Lynchburg to Roanoke Roanoke to Bristol 11 Cars - Mon 10 Cars - Mon Tues 12 Cars - Tues 11 Cars other days 13 Cars other days A note about the first two storage mail cars, operated from Greensboro and Cincinnati. One might expect that they would have been taken off at Roanoke and put onto an N&W train from Roanoke to Cincinnati. However, that does not appear to be the actual routing. Since this was primarily a Southern Railway train, I suppose the storage mail cars continued to Chattanooga, the were attached to a CIN & CHATT train operated up the CNO&TP to Cincinnati. This seems to be a very circuitous routing. However, the Post Office Department's Postal Transportation Service ordinarily looked at what train arrangement advanced the mail. That is, distance was secondary to the overall transit time. If Greensboro to Cincinnati via Lynchburg and Chattanooga yielded the shortest transit time when compared to other routings, that was a justification for using it. Dr. Scheer is open to further questions at f_scheer@yahoo.com.

Posted by Jonathan McCoy on January 3, 2008

Great shot of what railroading in Bristol looked like in the 50's! The March 2004 issue of Trains Magazine features a short article in the Railroad Blueprint section about railroading in Bristol during the 40's and 50's.

Posted by trainmaster611 on January 4, 2008

This is so wonderful.

Posted by chris davis on January 5, 2008

I was born in 1952. Definitely a good year!! Chris,UK

Posted by Erick Anderson on January 9, 2008

Shots like this are almost like having a time machine.

Posted by Cliff Cessna on January 10, 2008

Thank you very much for posting this! A very historic photo, indeed! I would give anything to take a time machine back to 1952 Bristol... see sights like this, take a trip on the nearby N&W Abingdon Branch, as well as a ride on Southern's branch through Mendota.

- Post a Comment -
(Registration is no longer required to post photo comments.)


EXIF Data for this photo: [What's this?]

This image contains EXIF headers - Click Here to show the data.



Photo Copyright © 2008 Charles Knox Freericks. All Rights Reserved. Photo Usage Policy
This website Copyright © 2002-2009. All Rights Reserved.