J night shot at Columbus Union Station

[NW Mailing List]

R.H. Smith retired (if my memory serves correctly as to exact date)
on March 31, 1958, Stuart Saunders took over as President. The
dieseization of passenger service was obviously a priority for
Saunders, as he ordered the GP9 passenger units almost immediately.
When EMD told N&W it would be a delay due to a large number of
orders, Saunders had Motive Power arrange to lease RF&P and ACL E
units in July to cover the major trains. There was still enough need
for the Class J to be kept in standby use and secondary train service.

There was still occasional use of the Js in passenger service, for
several reason; the diesels do break down, traffic sometimes picks up
(like holiday times) and the further from Roanoke and the executive
office, the more likely a J would be used in passenger service. I
know of photos of Js in regular passenger service as late the end of
December 1958. Link's photo of a J leaving Williamson on a rainy day
was made very late December 1958, flying green flags. Probably
running an advance section of No. 16, the Cavalier, with heavy
holiday mail and express. Of course, the 611 was used on several
excursion trains in 1959, culminating on October 24, 1959, running
from Roanoke to Williamson and return.

This photo, only dated as November, could easily have been close to
Thanksgiving, accounting for heavy traffic.

Ken Miller

On Aug 23, 2007, at 11:16 PM, NW Modeling List wrote:

--- NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

 > Not sure if any of you browsed the Columbus
 > Railroads Sandusky District link I sent the other
 > day, but here is another great shot & story from the
 > site also:
 >
 > http://www.columbusrailroads.com/pom-jul2007.htm
 >
 >
 > Whit
================
Thanks!

Interesting story - especially for November 1958. I
thought Smith yanked all the steam off the passenger
trains that summer.

Mark Peele
Catonsville, MD


================================
N scale has a beautiful J but no N Scale N&W Passenger Decals?



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