Happiness is a fully-configured Alco Century C630 for either the Norfolk & Western Railway or the Penn Central Railroad, installed in Microsoft's Train Simulator and pulling coal on the Delaware & Hudson Railroad's Susquehanna Division.

That makes sense to a handful of readers, but I got some Alco Centuries installed into Train Simulator today, and they're awfully fun to drive around. Brief historical note: Alco, the American Locomotive Company, built its last locomotive in the United States in 1969, driven from the market by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division and their proven GP/SD locomotives, and by General Electric's Universal series.

The Penn Central Railroad would go into the history books on April 1, 1976, after five years of bankruptcy. The Consolidated Rail Corporation, Conrail, would replace it. Conrail's locomotives are light blue and white, and most of the ones still around today say "CONRAIL QUALITY" on the flanks. Conrail itself was bought by Norfolk Southern and CSX in 1999.

The Norfolk & Western Railway, which has run past my house for decades, merged with the Southern Railway System in 1982 to form Norfolk Southern, the Thoroughbred of Transportation. Currently, NS locomotives form the backbone of my collection.

This has nothing to do with politics, other than that the Penn Central was widely regarded as a Republican railroad. Heh heh heh.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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