I was half asleep the another night but I swear there was a Kubota commercial on RFD TV during one of their classic tractor programs, might have been dreaming, I normally watch a couple nights a week, that and the classic railroad show.
I grew up near the main PA railroad line between Pittsburgh and Philly in the "mountains", always lot's of good rail action. Steam was just leaving and the early E9 and F8 diesels were showing up. Later came the SD 45's and SD 60's, they could pull a load up a grade, nothing sounds like 6 or 8 diesel engines pulling a coal train up a long grade, gives me chills. The regenerative heat billowing from the sides on the downhill run was also pretty impressive.
Used to be 4 and 5 tracks during the glory days pre-Conrail, now down to 2 tracks and Norfolk Western, still fun to watch and they probably move close to the same amount of freight. Shame the train crew is down to 1, sometimes 2. I had a career lined up with Conrail until they started downsizing. Had many relatives in the transportation division, made many trips in the cab between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg while in high school, even got to operate the train. Amazing experience.
Q
