If this appears to be an Illinois Terminal locomotive, well it is, sort of. This train has a pair of former IT units pulling it in Brewster in April 1982. That’s a long way from the service territory of the IT, but by now the Norfolk & Western has absorbed the one time Illinois Traction System. The two ex-IT units, Nos. 2963 and 2966 are SD39s, and two of six that IT had on its roster at one time.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
A northbound R.J. Corman train crosses the mainline of the Wheeling & Lake Erie near Brewster on May 19, 2021. The Corman train is on a former Baltimore & Ohio line that once went to Wheeling, West Virginia, and served the southeast Ohio coal fields.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
The wayback machine has landed us in Brewster on Sept. 3, 1980. This was Norfolk & Western territory then after having been in the domain of the Nickel Plate Road for more than a decade and of the original Wheeling & Lake Erie for several decades before that. Laid out before us is a nice array of N&W motive power of the early 1980s. Note that this was during the transition between N&W heralds.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Norfolk & Western No. 2149, a former Nickel Plate Road Fairbanks-Morse H12-44 sits outside the shops in Brewster in June 1975. The unit is worn and a little battered, but that comes with the territory of having been a hard worker for all these years on the railroad.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
A northbound R.J. Corman train crosses the Wheeling & Lake Erie at Justus just east of Brewster. The image was made on May 19, 2021. The Corman train is on a former Baltimore & Ohio secondary route.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Sometimes I forget just how large the Wheeling & Lake Erie/Nickel Plate/Norfolk & Western shops are at Brewster.
I haven’t been to the shops in nearly two decades, but on the Sunday afternoon of Nov. 3, 1968, I was there.
Permission for photography everywhere but inside the shops was quickly given and I went out to take photos.
I must have had my wide-angle lens on my camera to get so much (but not all) of the building in the scene. More than likely I was taking a photo of the locomotives (FM H12-44, EMD SD7 or EMD SD9, and Alco switcher) more than of the scene.
Looking at the shops then, I probably did not realize that the W&LE had built steam locomotives inside the shops. To find only three locomotives outside was a surprise since often five to seven would have been in this scene.
Memories brought on by images such as this make me remember how blessed I am.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Some days are grubby and you do your best with what you have. In this case it is high speed Ektachrome slide film push processed to ASA 400.
Thankfully, using modern photo editing software — in this case Lightroom and Photoshop used together — has resulted in the best this image has ever looked, considering the circumstances.
The late Mike Ondecker and I found Western Maryland Nos. 64, 414, and at least three other WM locomotives on the point of an eastbound Norfolk & Western train in Brewster Yard in mid 1972.
No, this photo won’t win any awards, but what a memory it brings back.
Article and Photograph by Robert Farkas
Norfolk & Western Nos. 1005 and 1003, both of which are Alco C425 locomotives, are on tracks radiating from the turntable in Brewster in October 1972.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Norfolk & Western Alco S-4 No. 2049 is framed by the turntable in Btewster in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The unit was originally on the roster of the Nickel Plate Road.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Norfolk & Western SD0 No. 2354 sits at the locomotive service area in Brewster yard circa late 1960s/early 1970′. The unit was built by EMD for the Nickel Plate Road so it must feel at home here.
