There has been an explosion of excellent train gif art during the past couple of years, and we thought it was high time to bring you a "fallen flags" scene from 25 years ago. Well, here it is. The stage is a simple 2-track main that apparently is in the midst of a junction that sees all the Chicago area railroads. There are a few simple structures and a distant rail line, but the emphasis is on the railroad cars and locomotive artwork created by the train gif artists.
To see what the trains going thru HP Junction in 2003 look like, go here.
Contributors:
Cars: Ed Bindler, Tom Burger, Tom Carter, Chris Denbow, David Epling, Raymond Hamm, Dave Hersrud, Dave Howarth, Cullen McCormick, Justin Nelson, Gary Sereico, Gregg Staley, & Matt Steinblock
Engines: Chris Denbow, Dave Hersrud, Joshua Johnson, &Matt Steinblock
Structures: Christopher Dawalt (buildings), Dave Hersrud (line side structures), Dan Learn (roadbed), & Gregg Staley (signals and related heater tanks).
In Particular:
Chris Denbow: Majority of the autoracks
Dave Hersrud: Majority of the 86' Hi-Cube Auto Parts Cars
Dave Hersrud: Period coal cars
Dave Hersrud: All cars in the "scrap yard train."
The Trains:
ATSF F-units pulling a string of auto racks. In 1973/4, I made 2 trips to Houston to conduct research for my Masters degree thesis. Naturally, I somehow found time to do some train watching. This set of 5 F-units was all over Houston one day -- everywhere I went, it seemed this gorgeous group of soon to be out to pasture engines showed up. They were in the most mundane of service -- transfers -- but they were beautiful, and I never see a picture of them without thinking of that most excellent day in Houston. Hey, if it could happen in Houston, it could certainly happen in Chicago just a few years later. Note that in the train, there are no duplicated cars: Every autorack gif in the train is unique.
CNW/Metra commuter train. Justin Nelson has lots of goodies on his site, and this train was gleaned from that site.
Conrail engines pulling a "scrapyard train". These are mostly 40 and 50 foot boxes, but other types are represented as well. These cars are worn out, have (in many cases) been sitting in the weeds of obscure yards for years, and are on their way to a date with a cutting torch. As the consist slowly rolls by, see how many of these old timers you recognize. All the cars in this train were drawn by Dave Hersrud, and none are duplicated.
GTW Autoparts. To this day, GTW and corporate successor Canadian National have been big-time into the automotive industry, and this train is indicative of the big hi-cube cars one would expect to see in 1978. All the cars, at least as far as I recollect (always a dangerous proposition!), are drawn and painted by Dave Hersrud.
IHB steel mill servicing train. Mostly full of gondolas, these very common workmanlike trains have been IHB's bread and butter for over 100 years. There are at least 5 artists' work represented in this train, most notably Dave Hersrud and Dave Hamm.
ATSF intermodal train right-bound. This is the first 1970's era train I've been able to assemble based on the new, properly scaled containers, pigs, and platforms. Much, much more is to come, but this train previews the excellence and breadth of things to come.