My Dad Joe Farkas accompanied me to take railfan photos only rarely. This is one of his photos.
Norfolk & Western Alco RSD-12 No. 2331 EMD SD9 No. 2349 and Alco S-4 No. 2080 (ALCO are coupled together in Brewster in the late 1960s. The nose of N&W 2146, a Fairbanks-Morse H12-44, is visible to the left.
Photograph by Joe Farkas
It’s strange to think how common these Norfolk & Western Fairbanks-Morse switchers were in the Brewster/Gambrinus (Canton) area in the late 1960s/early 1970s. Until around mid-1974, a trip to Brewster or Gambrinus could usually produce at least one of them. Then all of a sudden, they were gone. How sad. Shown is N&W 2155 (FM H12-44) in Gambrinus in March 1974.
Article and Photograph by Robert Farkas
This is from one of my earliest scans, but it has been redone for higher quality. Akron, Canton &Youngstown Fairbanks Morse H16=44 No. 202 in Akron in December 1966 or January 1967. While the H24-66 was called a Train Master, and the H16-66 was nicknamed a Baby Train Master, to my knowledge the H16-44 had no nickname.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
It is July 3, 1972, in Brewster. I had just purchased my first single lens reflex camera, a Nikormat by Nikon, and was taking my first few rolls of Agfachrome slide film. In less than a year, I would move on to Kodachrome.
Back then a release was easy to get, and Brewster was filled with locomotives built by Fairbanks-Morse, Alco and the Electro Motive Division of General Motors.
I took this slide and have looked at it perhaps two or three times since 1972.
A few days ago, I discovered this slide in one of my boxes. Now I can appreciate the scene. It is not a far away FM H12-44 image as much as a portal into my past.
I’m looking east. The big building in the background is the Norfolk & Western office building which was built by the original Wheeling & Lake Erie and is now used as the main offices of the modern W&LE.
As long as I did not cross tracks, go into the shops, or wander into the yard, I was free to photograph where I wanted. I even had permission to cross tracks to photograph in the engine facility.
Such freedom is almost unheard of now. I can truly say that I have been blessed.
Article and Photograph by Robert Farkas
The wayback machine has landed us in the late 1960s at the Norfolk & Western engine facility in Brewster. Around the turntable can be found EMD F7As, EMD SDs, Fairbanks-Morse switchers, and a single FM road switcher. Second generation power can be seen behind these treasures.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Here are two views of vintage Norfolk & Western motive at Gambrinus Yard near Canton. In the top image is the 2152, a Fairbanks-Morse H12-44 captured in February 1973. In the bottom photograph a pair of N&W locomotives await their next assignment on Oct. 11, 1980.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
If locomotives could talk, what would they talk about? The hard pulls they had to make? The engineers who abused them? Their favorite engineers? The places they’ve seen? The close calls at grade crossings?
They would probably discuss all of that and more.
This image was made in late 1968 or early 1969 at the Norfolk & Western engine facility in Akron.
There is still a mix of N&W and Akron, Canton & Youngstown locomotives to be seen, including three Alco switchers, two Fairbanks-Morse road switchers, and an EMD geep.
All too soon the FM’s would go on to other locations and any AC&Y lettered locomotives would be re-lettered or repainted into an N&W identity.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
It might have been a grubby day in Brewster in early 1973, but the opportunity to photograph a Fairbanks Morse locomotive was not one to be missed. Norfolk & Western H-12-44 No. 2140 is shown in the top photograph working in Brewster Yard. The locomotive was built for the Nickel Plate Road in March 1957.
In the bottom image, No. 2149 is also shown in Brewster. Built for the NKP in April 1948, this image was made in the late 1960s or early 1970s.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Mike Ondecker and I found Chicago & North Western No. 1697 (FM H16-66) in Escanaba, Michigan, on June 12, 1974.
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
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