A Nickel Plate Fairbanks-Morse switcher and three Norfolk & Western Alcos are sitting on the tracks radiating from the turntable in the engine facility in Brewster in mid-1967. Today this facility belongs to the Wheeling & Lake Erie.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Norfolk &Western Alco RSD-12 No. 2332 is in Brewster in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The unit was built for the Nickel Plate Road in May 1957. It would later serve Norfolk Southern.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Norfolk & Western F7A No. 3703 is between duties at the Brewster Yard engine facility in the late 1960s. It had been built in January 1952 for the Wabash Railroad, which N&W acquired in 1964.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
A pair of Norfolk & Western locomotives are shown working at the coal loading facility in Huron. Notice the hopper pushers to the left of N&W 2961. The top image shows the full scene while the bottom image is a closer crop.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Here’s an example of why not to always trust the software. First, I used Epson Scan 2. There were hundreds of small white air bubbles visible in this defective negative, so I thought I’d try Epson’s dust removal function.
At first it removed some of the air bubbles. On first glance it looked good, so I ran the image through Lightroom and Photoshop. That took about half an hour.
Then I had a “Bah Humbug!” moment. The Epson 2 dust remover had also removed the nose herald on the second F-unit.
Now I’m certain that there are other unwelcome surprises that are as yet undiscovered.
Anyway, here is the imperfect image of locomotives around the Norfolk &Western turntable in Brewster in 1967-1970.
My advice is “Pay close attention! Don’t end up like me.”
Article and Photograph by Robert Farkas
Jim Bacon, Paul Woodring and I found Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 No. 611 in Bedford, Virginia, on Sept. 6, 1982. It was pulling an Independence Limited excursion from Roanoke to Alexandria, Virginia. The J class locomotive had made its inaugural runs after being restored to operating condition the month before.
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
akronrrclub.wordpress.com 