Rare Conrail SW8 Switching on Chicago's South Side
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- Опубликовано: 22 окт 2022
- On October 10th, 2022, I swung by the Maryland Pig Iron facility along 130th Street in Hegewisch and was surprised to see their Conrail SW8 delivering cars to the South Shore interchange. This is the first time I had ever seen the locomotive move. It was originally built in 1951 for the Lehigh Valley, before eventually becoming Conrail #8687. Its Lehigh Valley heritage can be seen through the blue paint, in the form of stripes and some lettering. Seeing this old switcher operating in 2022 is quite the sight!
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I don’t know why, but sometimes rusted rails, overgrowth in the gravel, and a lone SW working away just has a certain vibe that mainline railfanning can’t even compare too.
Exactly
It’s typical for US infrastructure
#coolasfass
That’s called autism
Could agree more, I wish there was more footage / compilations of this type of switching.
I love seeing proof that some of the lines that look abandoned or exempt are in fact still functional.
This is my favorite kind of railfan content to watch - the super obscure stuff we would never see otherwise. Instant like from me, thanks for posting!
I’m glad you enjoyed watching! I love visiting these smaller operations people often overlook.
Absolutely 👍😃
Know exactly what you mean. On one hand, this is all part of the life of commercial activity that makes city life what it is; and on other hand, it feels like it's in the middle of nowhere - the edge and netherworld of human civilization. Seemingly more machine than man, yet it's a life of its own - railway lifeblood feeding the organs of industry and commerce under endless strands of the power grid nervous system.
Not trying to be idyllic, just another side of the everyday world that's curious.
´keep them running 🙂
There’s something kind of sad about this.
It’s rusty and squeaky, and all that track is overgrown and sunken into the dirt.
It’s 70+ years old and still capable of doing its job. That’s rare and precious in this age of planned obsolescence. Stuff that lasts and works should be cherished.
and, it has roller bearing trucks!
As yoi can plainly see, a couple of old heads running it, prolly cause they would pass on out on the main road lol
@@tincupnickleboythe1st700 this is the 2nd paycheck after retirement.
but there is something beautiful also .. I would love to have such thing at my backyard and be the railman
Yeah, like she’s wandering through the rail yard looking for work.
This is railfanning in 2022. It is a treat to see this old LV SW 8 hard at work. The almost vacant former mill site, and the rusty, grass-grown rails are melancholy and beautiful. We have to take what we’ve got, and appreciate it. Great video, Sam. I enjoyed every minute.
Definitely a testament to the fine engineering that went into designing and building those SW-8's. Not to mention the talented maintenance crews over decades past.
Yep, ex Lehigh Valley. Calumet River area by the sludge dumps and landfills. I used to live in Hegewisch
I never imagined I'd see the day when a switcher is special.
It's cool to see the old girl still working the rails.
Nice catch, Sam! That is a 71-year-old engine still in working order. I have seen that engine sitting east of Stony Island Avenue and north of 130th Street several times when driving on 130th Street. I wondered who it belonged to. When I saw the engine sitting there, I never had the time to stop and take a closer look at it. Thank you for documenting the engine in action and for uploading it to your RUclips channel!
Thanks! I’ve seen it sitting plenty of times as well and always wondered when it runs. I was at the right place at the right time on this occasion.
@@SamLovesTrainsyou were in the right place at the right time. I forgot to mention that the drone footage was great to see.
@@thomasmackowiak I was going to complement him on that as well 👍👍👍
@@thomasmackowiak I've seen this engine in that exact spot too and I always thought it was broken down or abandoned
Note the unusual profile of the hood in front of the cab. The Lehigh Valley ordered 18 of these SW8s with dynamic brakes to work in sets of 3-5 hauling anthracite on the Hazleton Branch. They were colloquially known as pups on the LV. I have passed this unit many times too. Most of the DB equipped units don't seem to have survived past the conrail era. I am sure there are a few extant somewhere though.
Did a bit of digging, and it turns out there are a few more of these cockroaches still around. I do think a good few were scrapped in the conrail era. But Reading and Northern has 3, one of which was a dynamic brake equipped unit. There are atleast 2 or 3 others in industrial service around NJ and PA.
@@TheYardLimit if this is a cockroach, this is a battle-hardned one!!!!
Great footage of this rare bird! Never knew this engine existed until now. Nice to see some original Conrail blue still around today.
Thank you! I hope it continues to stick around for a while longer!
I believe its twin unit works the business district near the Philadelphia Airport in Pennsylvania
B&O museum in Baltimore has one restored they use for switching and some excursions
A similar in green and yellow Reading RR worked the Lansdale Pa. yard back in ‘79. I have a pic of it.
@@SamLovesTrains remember these old switchers doing their thing with old geeps at the Bronx yard in the 80s. This yard looks similar as well!
She seems to be in good working order for a 71 year old engine. Very little smoke. Its great that these machine are still out there doing work.
I was going to say the same thing, it sounded smooth, very little smoke, just doing its job puttering around the facility. Hell even the paint doesnt look too bad considering that its last paintjob had to be what.....at the bare minimum 25 years ago....most likely much longer ago than that!!
First glance, looked like a locomotive "off roading" through some wilderness area, interesting sight.
Native (Polish) southwest-sider here, and as a young kid in the 70's, it was always fun to visit relatives in Hegewisch.
Oh wow, when I saw the thumbnail I thought it was just sitting somewhere abandoned. To see this 70+ year old machine still working on the tracks is so cool! I sure miss seeing that Conrail livery on the tracks.
This is crazy! Never would have imagined some Big Blue still around, over 20 years after the split!
That old, tired, run down unit symbolizes the south side of Chicago perfectly.
2,021,800 total YT competitive railfanning points awarded
Great catch! Not a "heritage repaint" but an original. I remember those working the industrial parks in my neighborhood "back in the day." Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! Nothing beats the original!
Mowing grass and plowing dirt. Love it!
What a tank of a train. That EMD SW8 has seen better days but looks like it still runs as strong as the day it rolled out of the plant. I wish they'd do it justice with a paint touchup. Glad to see it running still.
I worked for the Chicago Rail Link back in 2001(I think), this old girl has been at MarPig for a long time. This was the same interchange we used for the CSS. From that road crossing going west is a pretty good hill. I used to shove my empty coil gons up the hill, bleed the loaded gons while walking back down and then dropped about 15-20 loads gons off the hill. My engineer would cut off from the empty cut and come down under 130th and tie on to the loads. It saved me a run- around move in the yard over by 94. Little old railroads in the weeds are fun to work at!
Old engines running on old track, that's what I like to see.
That thing has definitely had a run for it's money. Love how it looks with the patina (most likely just rust).
We have one of those at our local grain elevator! Once an SW8 of the New York Central, now a Conrail blue grain switcher, working next to a CSX grain mainline.
Great catch! This switcher has been here for years and this is the first time I've ever seen it move. I just thought that it was a leftover from the past.
Thank you! I didn’t think it ran very often, if at all either. I was surprised to see it moving around in the facility as I passed by!
It's both.
My thoughts exactly
This is a truly great catch. That engine is 71 years old, and it looks like it's been in a war - but still doing what it was built to do. There's definitely a mood to it working in an area that looks like it's 3/4 abandoned with parts of the track lost in the grass - but as long as there's heavy stuff to move, then long live the little engine that can.
Old school! That’s so cool! American built, raw horsepower!
Great footage, everytime I pass this engine, there's no crew around, so I never see it working. Very interesting operation at the port. This engine traces its heritage to Lehigh Valley. If you notice there's stripes showing through the conrail paint. A rare bird this is... Great job. 👍
Had to say, the rails at around the 1:45 mark are so overgrown that for a moment it looked like the switcher was just running through a grassy field. It was a bit disorienting for a moment. Great content and thank you for sharing! As others have said, this is a rare catch and most people would never get an opportunity to see this old workhorse in action.
Gotta love SW switchers!
I have the Conrail switcher HO version. I remember seeing dozens of these running around Fairless Works when I was a young lad. :)
I built this unit using a P2k ho scale SW1200, converted it to a single stack, scratch built the hood area in front of the cab to represent the ex Lehigh valley dynamic area without the fan and grills of course, and sold it to a customer, but I didn't paint it in conrail, it was painted in a private leasing company scheme. Unfortunately I didn't have any sound for it, just dcc. its pretty cramped inside for most sound decoders. Wow, thanks for sharing this video!
Reminds me of all the old machinery in our machine shop including myself.
Wow that's one of the LV SW8's that was equipped with dynamic brakes!
Always nice to see Conrail blue in recent action. Thank you.
The definition of throwback
Love the industrial hellscape, it's definitely a survivor!
71 year old locomotive doing what it does best. Just keeps plugging along.
That is a one in a million catch these days. Great video
Best video I’ve seen in a long time. Thanks for letting the sights & sounds tell the story, and not music or incessant yapping. Too bad we can’t plug a cable into that old girl and let her download 70 years of stories. Thanks for posting that.
Thank you!
Fantastic video! I fondly remember the times in the 1970s and 1980s when these little switchers were common on the larger railroads. I miss them greatly. Here are still similar looking SW1001 switchers similar to the older SW8 on the New York and Atlantic RR here in New York. I also believe that the LIRR kept some for its own use when the NY&Atl. was formed to haul the freight along the LIRR tracks.
Great to see an old LV "pup" (as the LV called their switchers) working on the rails. This engine was built with dynamic brakes. That is why the hood directly in front of the cab is high and not sloped toward the cab. Conrail removed the dynamic brakes on all of the LV switchers. Great video!
Mp13??
I wondered if it was one of the dynamic brake equipped SWs when I saw that non-standard hood. Thanks for saving me the trouble of tracing down the LV unit number
@@milomilo6404 I'm not sure what you are saying, but this is an SW8.
Mp13 is a style of switcher
@@milomilo6404 Sorry-I never heard of an MP13. I do know that EMD produced the MP15.
A very nice catch to see the old engine running
Ahhh yes the chant of the 567 prime mover is music to the ears. Lovely video, thank you.
Beautiful old time unit though and lucky catch to see it running
I saw a Conrail locomotive in Rio de Janeiro last year, got amazed
This what I love!!! The DIRTY,GRIMY side of railroading!! Great vid.
I do love to see the Big Blue still working hard and strong!!!
Always a pleasure to see old equipment still laboring along that apparently is economically still okay to use. Back in the late seventies early '80s used to enjoy seeing all the action between Wisconsin Steel Republic Steel Acme Steel and the Interlake plants. You'd come home with mud on the car grit in your hair but usually some interesting industrial photos of industry long gone. Considering Class 1 lines have very few switchers left this battling beauty is a breath of fresh air. Thanks for this 🎥!
Great stuff! Industrial switching is my favorite railfan activity. That run down, grotty track is just begging to be modelled. Even better, their interchange is with the South Shore. And the CSS&SB Big Orange Car conductor's station call I remember best was "Hegwish!"
Run down industrial stuff is what I love filming the most! People often overlook stuff like that. It would be really cool to model something similar
Outstanding catch of the old switcher in action.
Nice above shots of her. She’s old and rusty but still going . Thank you for sharing this with us. A good work horse.😊
It's nice to see that old beast still in action. We had a set of Conrail tracks running through my town in Ohio back in the '70s. I spent many days walking the rails and watching trains go by. Amtrak raced through at 11:30 every night.
Lovely weathering on that old workhorse.
Great video, I wonder what it looked like around there in the 1950's
Thanks for sharing
I love these obscure little rail jobs. Excellent!
That's awesome! Rusty engine and tracks so much covered by greenery that you don't even see them anymore. Thanks for sharing!
Very cool! Great camera and drone footage. Really nice work. That ole switcher has a lot of character. 👍👍😎🇺🇸
Good video Sam , awesome ! , I just love these old switchers and this one in the Conrail blue. Beautiful shot near the end as this locomotive goes about its work in an industrial wasteland on a weed and dirt covered rail line. Amazing to see and an example of how well built these old SW units were. I love it , thanks Sam 😊👍
I looked at this again. This is an ex-Conrail switcher. The company name is painted over and "The Can Opener" logo is left alone. The new number, "780" looks like someone stuck on reflective numbers from the hardware store. Still, it is remarkable to see an SW8 still working in revenue service.
Industrial switching like this is so much more interesting.
As an aside, as a model railroader these types of videos offer great references as well. A detail I noticed that I never did before is how there is extra oil spillage right before the turnout where they stop the locomotive to manually align the switch.
What a beautiful little engine in an idyllic scene. Almost as if it were somebody's model train layout. ☺️
I can smell the area just by looking at this, it is pretty cool!
SOO cool.. I saw them 60 YEARS ago as a kid, I guess almost brand new back then
When I was little..maybe 10 or 12…my grandfather and I used to go train spotting in western PA. He was a railroader that had to retire early due to an injury on the job. We were at BI (western PA rail fans know where this is) and an old friend passed by on the local line and stopped. They chatted for a minute, and the next thing I knew I was in the diesel and my grandfather told me “I’ll meet you up the line.” I road for probably 15-20 minutes, over a trestle, and was absolutely terrified. I had no idea how much that memory would mean to me 40 years later. I bet that engineer could have gotten in major trouble for what he did, but I’m glad he did it.
Super cool!! love seein old con bobby still running!!
Switchers are a comical sight for me, in that they look like a outhouse/portapotty on wheels, just floatin' on by down the track. Good stuff.
My grandfather loved conrail.. Happy to see one still around but also sad
We were just in Chicago last weekend railfaning and saw that engine from our south shore train but didn't know it still was running. Great video!
This is one tough cookie to catch and you nailed it! I've never seen any better coverage and thanks for sharing!
This is top 5 best rail videos on YT in my book. Seeing that lonely but determined loco trotting down an overgrown industrial spur, you cannot beat this. Thank you for the content!
Easily one of the top train vids I've seen on YT !!! I lived in Cal City for a few years, know exactly where this is.
She a old girl soldiering on. Cool as hell to see.
Great video! That's something we don't see everyday. It's amazing that the tracks are still operable given that they're completely covered with overgrowth and probably rickety and rust-covered. I would love to model a scene like this one on my train layout!
Nice video. I enjoyed the ground-level shots in the gravel yard that made it appear as though the switcher was running through weeds sans tracks. This would be a great scene for a model railroad.
Beautiful old ex Lehigh Valley engine. Extremely rare because they were built with dynamic brakes ! Conrail removed them, but the brake blister remained.
Fantastic. My wife says I don't need a Model Railroad. Just keep watching RUclips - you've got it all there.
That has the be the saddest looking loco I’ve ever seen. It makes me want to cry, but I love that it’s still in use, 70 years later.
I see that Unit everyday! Look at the PAINT LINEAGE VERY CAREFULLY, this is an ex-Lehigh Valley Switcher Locomotive...there may be a few still around the country still in existence, but I'm glad this one is here! :) It looks like the MU Cables have been removed from the coupler ends, but there are some hanging from the railing on one side in case it was to be connected to another Locomotive. :)
Excellent. This Conrail switcher is a classic. Thank you for posting.
This reminds me of my youth. Thanks for sharing this great video! 👍😁👍
This is an amazing catch. I love seeing industrial lines like this.
That’s the cool thing about railroading. The old beast suddenly awaking. Old spurs going back into service etc.
There's a deep level of unconventional beauty here.
Glad to see the big blue rolling on over 20 years after the split. Great video!
It’s amazing that it’s stuck around this long!
This is a great video, what a killer find. Love seeing those old Conrail end cabs at industries, well done!
Great footage! I always see tracks that seem abandoned. Cool to see them used.
As a fellow Sam that loves trains, I support this video!
Nice catch! Great video, no talking, just the sounds of the action (I love the sound of that switcher). I find watching switching videos like this relaxing for some odd reason LOL!
I worked at the former Western Electric Rod Mill on the West side, and kind wish I had got some footage of the MJ Rail SW1's. They were scrapped on site after Freeport-McMoRan closed us down. Sad period for Hawthorne Works history.
Man. That thing has been sitting there rusting away for years.. I didn't even know they used it anymore... I remember back when I was a kid riding the school bus many years ago. We were stuck in some sort of traffic on 130th (probably a crash caused by a 5 foot deep pothole 🤣) And one of the trucks delivering junk cars to the facility to be smashed (That whole empty area there used to be a big old scrap yard full of stuff, huge piles. Of scrap metal far as the eye could see). Anyway, a junk car had fallen off a flatbed right in the middle of the road that enters the property.. And instead of getting some other peice of equipment over there to remove it.. Someone just hopped in this switcher and rammed into it at a pretty good clip, and just shoved the thing a few hundred feet back into the scrap yard proper. Lol... Lots of fun to see as a 5th grader.
Agree with virtually every comment excellent work. Some years back, there was a YT’er Channel, Boxcar Frank, who posted a lot of video from their area of Chicago, fascinating, well done!
That's so beautiful 🚂🚂🚂🚂👍
She still looks pretty damn good too! One hard workin engine
Thanks for sharing this catch, love the drone work at the end, I'm a big fan of end cab switchers, watched them growing up and enjoy them working now👍👍
I always see this facility from 94 when I come through the area. Nice video! I love seeing this kind of content. The mainline stuff gets to be old news.
Love the Lone engine just knocking out the work! :)
This should be a tourist attraction, coach parties should be able to visit.
Oh yes! Working all by its self. Just Awesome. Thanks for the video.
Very nice! It's kinda ashame these old engines are not kept in better shape but the old paint is kinda cool 😁
Still amazes me how few take pride in their tracks.I know it can be tedious but at least make it look like there are tracks there....