Far From Home Without Your Glasses. Former Chicago & North Western Railroad, No. 4073C was painted as Lehigh Valley 576 (sister unit C&NW 4087C/NJT 420/LV 578) on behalf of the United Railroad Historical Society of NJ as part of a lease agreement with Metro-North Rail Road. The engines ran excursions on New Jersey Transit before finding a home on the Cape May Seashore Lines. A lease to the Iowa Paicifc controlled Piedmont & Northern Railroad (and transfer to the San Luis and Rio Grande Railroad [SLRG]) was purportedly for a dinner train, but the engines appeared only briefly in freight service before being stored and near saw passenger cars in revenue service. Ultimately they were found in Canton, Mississippi on the Grenada Railroad, another IP property, where this photograph was recorded on the night of December 15, 2019.
Railfan & Railroad Magazine posted this update today (April 9, 2021) that these units may be sold, along with other equipment as part of the reconciling of Iowa Pacific holdings and the relationship with URHS:
http://railfan.com/iowa-pacific-deal-leaves-historical-group-on-the-hook-for-repairs-moving-costs/
URHS History to late 2016, the year they were leased to SLRG:
http://www.urhs.org/roster.html#lv576
"NJ Transit acquired this locomotive from the Chicago & North Western Railroad in 1983 as No. 417 and utilized it primarily in commuter service from Hoboken to Dover and Waldwick. It was retired in 1985, stored and donated to the museum collection in 1991. In May 1991, URHS leased the 417 to Metro-North Commuter RR for service in NY State with the proviso that it be restored and returned to NJ in dependable operating condition. It was overhauled and repainted to represent a Lehigh Valley RR locomotive of the same type that once ran through New Jersey. Currently operated by Cape May Seashore Lines."
A continuously growing album of photos that IMHO reveal the awesome and seldom-seen beauty of the railroad world from the dimming of day to dawn's early light! From dusk to dawn, trains roll on! (I'm still finding gems of sunset-to-sunrise surprises!)
