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It was Sunday afternoon, and like most January days in Northwest Ohio, it was overcast, cold, and gloomy. The new semester at Bowling Green State University had just begun, and since most classes were in the “here’s the syllabus – I’ll see you next week” stage, there was no significant classwork to accomplish. It also happened to be Super Bowl Sunday, and since I had no particular favorite between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Giants, I wasn’t particularly interested in watching any of the pre-shows for the pre-shows for the pregame show. In short, I was bored.

But my trusty ’87 Sentra was gassed up and parked outside, and I had a new roll of Fujifilm, so it was time to head to the tracks!

My typical search pattern involved heading east from BGSU and following the old C&O main line north toward Walbridge. On this day, there were no signs of railroad life until I came to Hanley Road, the last crossing south of Walbridge Yard, where I spotted the approaching headlight of a southbound. I parked the Sentra and began walking south along the right of way to set up my shot. Another railfan arrived, parking on the opposite side. Maybe something interesting was coming!



The headlight came closer, and eventually, a shape and some colors began to emerge from the January gloom. It was red and white. It was the last surviving CSX locomotive still wearing Western Maryland colors, former GP-40 #3798, and it was in the lead! Jackpot!

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But that wasn’t all. Trailing behind the rare GP-40 were the unmistakable silhouettes of two GP-30’s – actually, GP30-m’s in this case, having been upgraded by Chessie System in the 1980’s – another rarity in 1991. I shot the WM unit and as I focused on the second unit. Something was unusual. Could it be? Yes! A “Sunburst”! I had grown up along the Chessie System in the 1970’s and ’80’s, but I had never seen a B&O unit wearing the “Sunburst” scheme. The GP-30’s were delivered in that scheme, and it was later applied to a handful of F-7’s, but by the late 1960’s all of them had been covered by the generic B&O/C&O corporate Blue. Here was a Sunburst bleeding through after being hidden for a quarter century.

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The last unit would have been the notable catch in any other lashup – another former B&O GP-30m, this time in classic Chessie System attire.

The rest of my journey that day was a dud. There was nothing of note at Walbridge Yard, and Vickers Junction was uncharacteristically quiet. I returned to BGSU in time to grab dinner and watch Scott Norwood miss the game-winning field goal as the Giants beat the Bills 20-19. Regardless of the football game, I knew that I had made the best catch of the day!



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