Recent Digital Photos
by Mike Condren

51 Years of Railroad Photography
1960-2011

July 22, 2011

In less than an hour on my way to Tahlequah from Memphis, I shot a 4-way meet and a pass at Stilwell, OK.

I shot this KCS GP40 at the south end of the station in Stilwell, OK. I then restarted my trip to Tahlequah. However, over the next hour I will shoot a 4-way meet involving this unit and 3 trains, 1 northbound and 2 southbounds.

When I got to the junction of US59 north and State 51 west, the scanner crackled. I turned around and headed back toward the station only to meet the GP40 headed in reverse toward the north end of the passing track where it stopped at a red signal.

After less than 5 minutes, a southbound freight appears with a "Retro Belle" on the point. Meet 1.

In the meantime a welded rail train has pulled up to the State 51 east crossing and stopped. The southbound then meets this train. Meet 2.

Next I spot on the DPUs on the southbound freight.

The DPUs on the southbound are then seen meeting the welded rail train.

Ten minutes passed and neither the GP40 or the welded rail train moves. Then I find out why. This southbound company train of gondolas. Meet 3 and then meet 4.

After a few more minutes the GP40 gets a "proceed" to leave the passing track north. However, when he gets clear of the switch, it stops.

After the GP40 moves south into the clear, the welded rail train starts north. and passes the GP40 sitting on the main. Four meets and a pass. A record for me.

The crew of the GP40 gave the welded rail train a rollby inspection and reported one problem. When the welded rail train got fully on to the mainline, it stopped and analyzed the problem as the brakes on one car had not been properly released. After a few minutes the welded rail train departed. After several minutes, enough time for the preceeding train to clear one block, the GP40 got a signal but does not move. It is very hot! so I decided to leave a little less than an hour in Stilwell with a 4-way meet and a pass.

July 26, 2011

I caught this UP general freight as it pulled up even with a loaded unit coal train in Van Buren, AR. This freight remained in this spot for at least 2 hours over lunch as I drove back past, and it was still there, as seen below.

This loaded unit train sat on the mainline at the South 28th Street end of the Van Buren Yard.

After lunch I discovered this ex-CSX unit, now a lease unit.

Here we was that same UP freight sitting after lunch.

July 29, 2011

I had an opportunity to go to Tulsa from Tahlequah so I decided to check on an inconsistency I had observed with the SLSF 4500. The photo I shot on June 10, 2011 of the engineer's side of the engine showed the valve gear in forward motion. The photo I took of the fireman's side on July 16 showed the valve gear in the reverse position. I decided to shoot both sides of the engine on the same say and see where the valve gear was positioned. It turned out that sometime between June 10 and July 16, they had moved the valve gear to the reverse position as shown the photos below.

Engineer's side	Fireman's side

I then headed to the 17th Street crossing area and found this train entering the yard as I arrived.

This Herzog work train was sitting at the end of a train in the departure yard. The locomotive was positioned against the train. It is called the Multiple Purpose Machine, MPM. There is a very interesting video on Herzog's web site showing this train in action. The on-board crane can pick scrap metal with an electro magnet, used ties with the "claws", ditch with the "back hoe" attachment, etc. The cars can then haul all of this material away from the work site for proper disposal.

The mobile crane can move on tracks from its resting spot up and down the 6 material cars of the train. The car below acts as its resting place and also the storage location for all of its attachments. This car can also act as the control cab when this "train" is working.

August 2, 2011

When I got to Stilwell, I discovered that the KCS had been busy replacing ties. There was a huge pile of them at the west OK 51 intersection. As I haeded south on US 59 I discovered a crew replacing the grade crossing for OK 51 east.

A little further south this ballast regulator was working with dust flying everywhere.

Here we see the tamper/alignment machine working near the Stilwell, OK station.

In Van Buren, AR these lease units were switching the yard shared with the Arkansas and Missouri.

This train was sitting on the mainline at the South 28th Street crossing at the east end of their yard.

Aug. 3, 2011

This R J Corman unit was sitting in the industrial park that once was owned by the Frisco and is just off Raines Road across Lamar Ave. from Tennessee Yard.

After shooting the R J Corman unit, Kenny Young and I continued on to the warehouse where 6 model railroads layouts are located. The following are a few scenes on the HO modular layout.