SLRR E29A / E25D / E47D / E29B, all ex-MILW GE Motors, glide southbound towards Clear Creek, WV, seen here near Bentree, WV on April 23rd, 1972. It's the first fully electrified train on the railroad, having undergone extensive rebuilding over the past two years. Their rebuilding was a questionable decision, seeing as the motors were all very worn out by the end of their service life on the Milwaukee in 1970, but with no modern electric to suite the needs of the Silver Lines, they went for something a little older. So far, it's proving itself worthwhile, but only time will tell for these 1915 motors. Echoes of the PRR heritage on the West Virginian division are seen in its signaling.
Two years later, the complete EF-5 E29ACDB set gets a helping hand from some of the new SD40-2s that arrived just last year. Next year, E29ACDB and her 35 remaining sister Boxcabs will all be renumbered from E1 to E13 and re-compiled into permanent groups to make up their EF-1 to EF-5 class ratings.
Six years earlier, on May 19th, 1968, the first inspection/MOW train arrives in Colcord, WV, near the southern end of the division. The sale of the 230 mile rail line was closed just the day before with the Penn Central, although the deal actually began under the Pennsy. Colcord was the site of a small yard and a coal mine, although the mine closed in 1959 due to a slew of accidents, including a number of collapses in the underground mineshafts. The yard has acted as car storage ever since, and the remaining coal hoppers were written off by the PRR and subsequent PC as scrap, and were included in the sale of the line. Nearly all will be scrapped in the coming months.
Cheers,
SM