I've never been a huge fan of Las Vegas, however I would always get pushback from people because aside from a 4 hour stint being stranded at the Las Vegas airport, I had a pretty strict personal Vegas boycott going on. Well in October of 2019 a paid-for work related conference had me packing my bags for Sin City and I am pleased to say...that it was even WORSE than I had anticipated. Yes the city is fake and tacky and overpriced, but the rail attractions that did exist were a major pain to get to despite only being a block off The Strip. The people who frequent Vegas were just the worst and the omnipresent security made doing anything with a camera generally unpleasant. As a result of all this and more, most of this photo set (mirror) will come courtesy of a trip I took to HARRIS tower the week after. You heard it here first. Harrisburg, PA is way better than Las Vegas and I'm assuming there's a now casino there as well.
We begin in the totally not Las Vegas location of Magnolia, NJ where I caught the power from the Conrail SAO laying over while the crew was out for lunch. Like the 4 men in a jeep seen in post war Vienna, power consisted of NS GP38-2 #5302, CSX GP40-2 #6238 and a former Southern high hood GP38-2 #5226.
Rolling out of the Philadelphia Suburban Station 20th St portal en-route to 30th St Station.
Running into Amtrak Acela power car #2016 and Veterans painted ACS-86 #642 at 30th St.
My conference was at The Venetian, it was...insulting.
I stayed at the Treasure Island because I got a Priceline thing, it was...a hotel.
The TI was adjacent to SANDS AVE interlocking on the UP Cima sub. The signals were...completely uninteresting.
The Las Vegas MonoD'oh was 1 super-block off strip, so hard to get to, and super expensive. I didn't bother ponying up for a joy ride.
Alright, HARRIS tower time. This would be my last chance to catch some of their more interesting equipment before it was all sold off in a fire sale. First up was the Enola road slug pair of GP59E #4661 and slug #619.
Next was a westbound train of autoracks led by NS AC44CM6 #4047, C44-9W #9277, SD70ACe #1166 and GP38-2 #5287.
Following the autoracks was a trio of EMD power ah the head of a westbound intermodal train. SD70ACC rebuilt #1824 was leading with SD70ACe's #1125 and #1201 behind.
While that train was passing, Amtrak Train #43, the westbound Pennsylvanian, departed with Amtrak P42DC #121 and baggage car #61031.
NS SD60E #7006 rolled past lite on a fueling move between Rutherford Intermodal Yard and the fast fuel pad at Pittsburgh Line MP 107.
The last train of the day was either a monster PSR special or involved in some sort of power transfer as it came with 8 engines all on the head end. This included 4 NS SD60E's (#6972, #6938, #6942 and #6943), 3 C44-9W's (#9857, #9263 and #9078) and a single NS GP38-2 #5610.
C44-9W #9857 appeared as if it had suffered a fire (a common ailment with GE's)
Coupling sibling units is another common NS practice with SD60E's #6942 and #6943 seen here back to back.
Southern painted rolling stock like this "green light" boxcar, seen here coupled next to NS #9078, are not long for this world as the FRA imposes a blanket 40 year life on freight cars (although extensions are possible) which will take out NS, Sou and Chessie survivors within the next 10 years.
I'll finish up with this view of Amtrak ACS-86 #631 and the Harrisburg terminal area as seen from HARRIS tower.
Next week I'll head back to Bowie, MD and it's preserved tower for the first time since 2007.
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