Kansas City Southern
Scanned Slides
SD40-2s

by Mike Condren

This photo was taken from the cab of SD40 #639 due to the kindness of a engineer friend of mine.

This northbound stopped at Page, OK to set out a "hot box" and the fireman, John "Sarge" Locke, came over and visited.

The going away shot shows the wreck that involved a tank car of ethylene oxide which lit up the sky when it exploded upon the derailment, melting the supports of the upper decks of the auto rack.

This was the first uuit to receive the gray paint scheme.

Note the twisted rail left over from a derailment at the south end of the Page siding.

The tracks can not even be seen from US 59 at this location due to a growth of trees.

Here is that first unit coal train arriving northbound in Heavener, OK.

The northbound is the first unit coal train that I had seen on the KCS. It was bitter cold that day. I decided to grow a beard to keep my face warmer. It was shorterly thereafter that Jan and I had our first date, dinner at Pizza Hut in Clarksville. We see the meet of this coal train and the Bi-Centinental of the KCS in a scheme suggest by a kid, 13 colors.

I chased the unit coal train to the Redland, OK bridge where I got this shot of the train on the approach to the bridge. A print of this photo hung in my in-laws den until they sold the home. Note the abutment for the old bridge.

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