Hello, steemians, and welcome to my page, eh!
So, for this episode of railroad pictures, I'd like to show you some photos of several different engines owned by the Escanaba & Lake Superior RR. These are engines that are no longer in use on the railroad due to ICC regulations that banned the use of friction bearing trucks on the railroads that had interchange traffic.. This happened in the mid 1990s.
The first engine we're going to look at is E&LS #101, a Baldwin manufactured DS 4-4-660. The designation basicly means that it is a diesel switcher engine with 2 axle trucks and 660 horsepowwer. This engine was built in 1947 for the E&LS, it was the second diesel engine acquired by the railroad. The first picture is a scan of a film picture I took in the 1990s when it was still in service. This picture was taken in Iron Mountain, MI.
These engines were used mostly for pushing cars around in the rail yard, or sometimes for shortline duty on sidings with light rails or poorly maintained branchlines. These engines didn't weigh as much as the bigger ones, so they were less likely to have problems with lighter rail.
This is what the engine looked like in 2012, sitting on a siding at the rail yard in Wells, MI. At this time, it was just being stored. Apparently from what I've read, the DS 4-4-660 is a fairly rare engine.
The next engine we'll take a look at is E&LS #207, a Baldwin built RS-12 This was a 1200 horsepower road engine, used mostly for pulling freight cars. Here it is in 2012, having suffered the same fate as the #101.
This particular engine had been leased by the Nicolet Badger Northern RR in the 1980s to move railcars along a stretch of formerly Chicago & North Western trackage In north east WI. The NBN RR was based at Laona, WI, and operated south to Wabeno, WI, and north to Tipler, WI. It's main focus was on logging, but it also operated an excursion railroad for a time during the 1980s. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it from that time period.
The E&LS had several other RS-12s, all of which are now on the dead line and in storage in the yard at Wells, MI. These pictures were also taken in 2012.
It seems like a sad ending for some classic Baldwin built locomotives, but I guess everything wears out eventually.
Well, that's all I have for you for this post, I hope you found it interesting!
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my post, eh!
If you would like to see the other posts in this series, click on the following links.
https://steemit.com/photography/@amberyooper/some-of-my-railroad-pictures
https://steemit.com/photography/@amberyooper/some-of-my-railroad-pictures-part-2
https://steemit.com/photography/@amberyooper/some-of-my-railroad-pictures-part-3
As always, feel free to leave a comment or a question if you would like.
May the Steem Force be with you!