FL9

One might assume from the title that I’m referring to the old Southern Railway, but I’m actually talking about the current operator of another defunct “Southern,” the Abilene & Southern around Abilene, Texas.  The remaining ex-FW&D trackage north and ex-A&S trackage south from the UP interchange is operated by the Southern Switching Company using a pair of ex-military EMC NW2’s, their 12-cylinder, 1000-horsepower 567’s a welcome sound compared to today’s silenced exhausts.

Here we see the two-man crew switching around Abilene with #1865 on a cool April morning in the year 2000.  These shots were scanned from slides using my older Epson flatbed scanner, and I will redo them with the new Nikon slide scanner when there is time.

After putting the engine away for the day, the crew exhibilted shortline versatility by getting the maintance pickup out and proceeding to re-weld a broken bond wire at one of the flasher protected grade crossings.

After this was done, they went on to carry our other maintenance chores for the rest of a normal work day.