farlymac
PF McFarland
New Years Day, and it's quiet down at the Schaeffer’s Crossing rail yard in Roanoke, VA. Only a skeleton crew is working to get engines ready for the next day of business. Meanwhile, excess rolling stock is stored on tracks that were once busy with the making up of trains, no longer done at this facility. Auto racks waiting for business to pick up. Idled locomotives being held in reserve, or waiting for repairs. Grain cars that need to be cleaned out. An intermodel double stack waiting for a crew.
And then there is the dead line, reserved for the engines deemed no longer economical to repair. These may be sold off for scrap, or go to a rebuilder who can fit them with updated internals, returning them to the rails with new model numbers. So they may live on after all, working on a short line somewhere, hauling smaller trains over less distance. Sort of like semi-retirement.
But eventually, like all things metallic, they return either to the smelter to be reborn as new steel to be shaped into its many uses, or as rust to the earth.
PF
Quiet Yard by br1078phot, on Flickr
Linked by br1078phot, on Flickr
Run No More by br1078phot, on Flickr
Convergence by br1078phot, on Flickr
Sleeping by br1078phot, on Flickr
Storage by br1078phot, on Flickr
And then there is the dead line, reserved for the engines deemed no longer economical to repair. These may be sold off for scrap, or go to a rebuilder who can fit them with updated internals, returning them to the rails with new model numbers. So they may live on after all, working on a short line somewhere, hauling smaller trains over less distance. Sort of like semi-retirement.
But eventually, like all things metallic, they return either to the smelter to be reborn as new steel to be shaped into its many uses, or as rust to the earth.
PF
Quiet Yard by br1078phot, on Flickr
Linked by br1078phot, on Flickr
Run No More by br1078phot, on Flickr
Convergence by br1078phot, on Flickr
Sleeping by br1078phot, on Flickr
Storage by br1078phot, on Flickr
gb hill
Veteran
The 5500 series of GP38-2 are going back to the leaser. I heard all the 5500 series will wind up in Roanoke so the radio's, etc will be stripped out before being returned.