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Bill Louis et al..RE Bill B's. comments. In the post steam days there was a mainline local which ran from Creston over to Red Oak and served the "north branch"..(Griswold Line) and that train always had a GP. See Steve Holding's article "OS CRESTON"... BB 23 (Trains of the Gods and Goddesses) my all time favorite BB effort....as to how those branches were served. A steam engine handled the train from Creston to Red Oak then went "down" to the enginehouse at Red Oak where the crew changed to one of the 44 tonners and made the turn to Griswold, returning to Red Oak where they changed back to the steam engine for the return trip to Creston. I don't know whether, "post steam" that Creston based local changed engines at Red Oak for the north branch which would have necessitated a GO going down to the "lower yard" The North and South branches out of Hastings were served by a steam powered local out of P Jct on alternate days.
All this to say that there would have been no "physical restriction" for a GP not being down at the Red Oak enginehouse, but, as has been pointed out there was no turntable at Red Oak.
Just as an additional piece of trivia. There was, probably into the 50's an assigned Red Oak switcher. And 44 tonners were sometimes used on the south (Hamburg) branch..see BRHS calendar IIRC 1992, Corbin Photo of a 44 tonner with motorcar trailer at Essex IA. Prior to the mail being removed from branch line trains in about 1952 the south branch made two daily turns to Hamburg.
Pete
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From: William Barber clipperw@gmail.com [CBQ] <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> To: CBQ <CBQ@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Mon, Dec 14, 2015 9:23 am Subject: [CBQ] Re: Help In Identifying Photograph Louis,
Unlike modern six axle power, the SD7 and SD9 series were designed for light rail / light axle loading applications. Most only weighed between 309,000 and 330,000 lbs or about 50000 to 55000 lbs per axle. They were intended for branch line operations where higher tractive effort was required Only later, in the mid 1960s did the six axle locomotive morph into main line road power. Modern six axle locomotives weigh between 396000 lbs and 430000 lbs or around 70000 lbs per axle which is near the limit for most main line rail in service today. Though the early SDs looked massive, they were lightweights compared to today’s power. So, operating on the branches out of Red Oak was quite feasible, but I don’t know if the traffic on those lines warranted such power.
By the way, SD9 no. 373 was only five years old when it slipped into the pit at Council Bluffs, IA.
Bill Barber
Gravois Mills, MO
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