Odd little guy on an NS branch

[ALC Rail Writer]

While waiting in traffic at a local NS branch I was surprised to see the following consist:

Caboose

NS uncovered hopper x 4

GP38 backward

The caboose was at the head of the train and the GP38 was facing the opposite direction. The engineer or brakeman was leaning outside his window and looking down the line... that struck me as odd-- while common enough for this little local branch to do switch work on occasion, it was weird to see a caboose... and on the head of the consist.

On top of that, to make things weirder, the GP38 was painted in Rio Grande livery... and it was FRESH paint! It was one of the cleanest looking engines I have ever seen.

Wish I would have had my camera. It was a very pretty train.

 

[Long Train Runnin']

RIO GRANDE THE ACTION ROAD! Was it a ballast train? They tend to be made up an assortment of odd cars and power?

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

RIO GRANDE THE ACTION ROAD! Was it a ballast train? They tend to be made up an assortment of odd cars and power?

It may have been... the hoppers were full of ballast, or coke, even concrete (there's a plant nearby), I couldn't tell.

What got me was that the GP38 looked like it was fresh from the shop. The paint was not just clean... it was NEW! Why would NS paint one of their light-duty units in that old livery?

 

[Long Train Runnin']

RIO GRANDE THE ACTION ROAD! Was it a ballast train? They tend to be made up an assortment of odd cars and power?

It may have been... the hoppers were full of ballast, or coke, even concrete (there's a plant nearby), I couldn't tell.

What got me was that the GP38 looked like it was fresh from the shop. The paint was not just clean... it was NEW! Why would NS paint one of their light-duty units in that old livery?

To keep rail fans happy? Doubt it.

Railroads do paint some of their stuff in other schemes to respect the historical roads. The light stuff is usually the stuff with the rare paint job.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but NS didn't get anything out of Denver Rio Grande, did they? I though most got swallowed up by UP...

 

[MikefromCrete]

The caboose was probably being used for a long back up move. The Rio Grande locomotive is strange, but the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad paints their locomotives in a Rio Grande style (the line's president came from the Rio Grande) and I think it even has some locomotives purchased from the Rio Grande and still in Rio Grande paint. So, the NS could be borrowing, or leasing this locomotive from the W&LE. Or maybe it's owned by some contractor, if this is some kind of MofW work.

The NS has no connection to the old D&RGW. The Rio Grande was merged with the Southern Pacific, which in turn was taken over by the Union Pacific.