I Found Another Lookout Mountain Photograph

When I wrote the article and sent a photograph of observation car Lookout Mountain, I was thinking the photo was the only time had I have captured that car.

While preparing for some upcoming stories, I found I had photographed Lookout Mountain one other time and gotten better images.

I attended the 1984 National Railway Historical Society convention in Cincinnati with Marty Surdyk, Bill Sudyk, Robert Surdyk and John Surdyk.

We rode two trips and chased the trip Sept. 2 trip that Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 pulled on the ex-Chesapeake & Ohio mainline along the Ohio River.

The trip originated at the ex-Southern yard in Ludlow, Kentucky. The train had to back over the Southern bridge over the Ohio River to Queensgate yard in Cincinnati to get to the C&O route.

The first three photographs were made on the Cincinnati side as the train is reversing, with a good shot of the Lookout Mountain.

The next three images show the train on the C&O crossing the river into Covington, Kentucky.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Steam Saturday: My First and Only Photograph of Observation Car ‘Lookout Mountain’

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After seeing the article and photograph of the ex-Southern Railway (Iowa Pacific) passenger car  Lookout Mountain being transported to the Reading & Northern it prompted me to search through my archives.

I knew it was the tail car of two Southern excursions I rode in 1979 and 1980 behind Royal Hudson ex-Canadian Pacific No. 2839.

I for sure remember it being at the 1983 National Railway Historical Society’s Richmond Convention.

It was a special outing since it was my introduction to Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 No. 611. My first excursion behind it was the trip on the ex-Chesapeake & Ohio from Richmond to Balcony Falls, Virginia.

My very first photo ever of the Class J 611 was the first photo runby. The image is not great at all but it is the first.

The second and third images are from the second runby the latter being my only photo of the Lookout Mountain.

I do remember riding in it on the return trip along the James River. I do have footage from riding in it on the 8 mm movies I shot.

My photography improved at the runby at Balcony Falls as shown on the bottom image. All the pictures are from that July 21,1983, convention excursion.

My bucket list for 2022 is to see and ride the Lookout Mountain behind Reading 4-8-4 No. 2102.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Steam Saturday: Hanging With Frisco 1522

Over the years I attended 13 National Railway Historical Society conventions. The final one I attended was in 2001 with Ursula in St. Louis.

We rode the June 23, 2001, trip from St. Louis to Newburg, Missouri, and return with the Frisco 4-8-2 No. 1522.

At the Newburg layover the train was turned for the return to St. Louis and prior to reboarding at Newburg a photo runby was performed.

A year later the 1522 was retired again and returned to display at the Museum of Transportation.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Some Favorites From the 1992 NRHS Convention

Espee 2472 at Santa Clara, California.

The 1992 National Railway Historical Society Convention was held in San Jose, California, and featured steam trains and commuter trains. One of the stars of the convention was Southern Pacific 4-6-2 No. 2472, which pulled excursions trains on the Peninsula. All of the images shown here were captured on July 23, 1992, between San Jose and San Francisco.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Caltrain commuter train at Burlingame, California.

At the Paul Avenue Caltrain station at Bayview outside San Francisco. What was unique was the station was in between two tunnels. The station has since closed on Aug. 1, 2005.

The steam excursion heads toward San Francisco while the commuter train heads to San Jose.

On the Road to Roanoke in July 1987

In late July 1987, I met up with the Surdyk family (William, Marty, Robert and John) in Parma Heights on the first step of a Rails to Roanoke trip for the 1987 National Railway Historical Society convention.

It would be a week long adventure. Our first stop was Cass, West Virginia, to ride and photograph the Cass Scenic Railroad.

We then spent the next two days photographing the Chesapeake & Ohio mainline in West Virginia and Virginia while working our way to the Shenandoah line to catch the inbound convention trip from Alexandria, Virginia, to Roanoke.

We met up with it at Delaplane, Virginia, and were able to photograph it at least 12 locations. We rode the Thursday July 30 trip behind Norfolk & Western Class A No. 1218 from Roanoke to Bluefield, West Virginia.

N&W Class J No. 611 would power our return to Roanoke. We did some photography east of Roanoke prior to the equipment display on July 31, which will start the second part of this series.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Amtrak’s Cardinal at Fort Spring, West Virginia, on July 26, 1987.

Big Bend Tunnel in West Virginia , on the C&O on July 27, 1987.

At Alleghany Tunnel in West Virginia on July 27, 1987. The locomotive engineer doing a roll by inspection is wearing a Chief Wahoo hat.

Southern FP7s on the Shenandoah line on July 29, 1987.

Southern FP7s at Buchanan, Virginia.

At Bedford, Virginia on July 31.

1983 Highlights: Steam and Amtrak

Amtrak took me to visit my sister Janet and her husband, Billy, in Libertyville, Illinois, in July 1983.

I then rode Amtrak to Richmond, Virginia, for the 1983 National Railway Historical Society Convention.

The photo of the eastbound Empire Builder at Rondout, Illinois, was made on Thanksgiving Day 1983 prior to dinner at Janet and Billy’s home. The entire Ribinskas family drove in from Ohio for that holiday.

Also among my favorites from 1983 is a photograph of a Milwaukee Road train that I made waiting for a commuter train at the Libertyville station for the trip to Union Station to catch Amtrak on my way to Richmond on July 19.

Another favorite is an image of myself posing in front of Norfolk & Western No. 611 on our convention excursion from Richmond to Balcony Falls, Virginia, on July 21, 1983.

This was my introduction to the 611 which has become my favorite steam locomotive.

In that photo I am wearing my favorite Chessie Steam Special hat that I unfortunately left in the hotel when we were attending the 1984 NRHS Convention in Cincinnati. I never saw that hat again.

I’m featuring a couple of images from the 1983 NRHS convention, including the N&W 611 photo run by at Balcony Falls.

There is also the Southern F unit on July 22 at the triple crossing in Richmond in a photo op set up in which I was standing next to the late Jim Boyd, a famous railroad photographer who was once editor of Railfan & Railroad magazine.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Highlighting 1982: Circle Trip in the Rockies

My only photos that I found from 1981 were a few so-so images of Chesapeake & Ohio No. 614 when it ran from Columbus, Ohio, to Russell, Kentucky. That trip and everything else from that year were regular movies.

So here are my favorites of 1982 which all are a circle trip with the National Railway Historical Society Convention in Colorado.

From top to bottom the photographs show the Rio Grande Zephyr in Gore Canyon on July 10.

On the Durango & Silverton on July 11 are K28 Mikado No. 473 departing and K36 Mikado No. 481’s train soon to be boarded at Durango on July 11; and K 28 Mikado No. 473 picking up an order at a McDonalds.

Shown on the Cumbres & Totec Scenic is K36 Mikado No. 487 during a lunch stop at Osier on July 13,1982; and a brakeman atop passenger-carrying converted boxcars at Cumbres Pass.

The series wraps up with Union Pacific 8444 (844) at Denver Union Station preparing for trip to LaSalle, Colorado, on July 15.

Article and Photographs by Edward Ribinskas