J in Columbus

[NW Mailing List]

Interesting story - especially for November 1958. I
thought Smith yanked all the steam off the passenger
trains that summer.

The date makes the photo all the more important.  That photo would 
make a great story for The Arrow.

Before the passenger GP-9's could be delivered late in '58, ACL or 
RF&P called their E units home because of the beginning of the 
Florida vacation season.  This was a narrow window of time.

I remember a Shenandoah Division passenger conductor working 1 & 2 
telling me about a night that to his surprise the eastbound Powhatan 
Arrow pulled into Roanoke next to his train with a J instead of a diesel.

And it was actually in Saunders time that the J's were abruptly 
janked off passenger trains.

Rick Morrison