1:1 Scale Photos

Taking a different way home from the ice rink this evening I stumbled upon a gaggle of locomotives idling in the Piqua ("Pick-Way") yard (PIQ tower) in southeast Fort Wayne. A solid grey National Railway Equipment (NREX) geep, two grey over red Chicago FW & Eastern (CF&E) geeps, an unmarked BN green geep, an HLCX MP1500, and two Indiana & Ohio geeps were idling in the shadow of the tower which is the former Conrail & Pennsy hump yard tower, now leased by the CF&E. In fading light I snapped a bunch of pix while keeping a wary eye for railroad company 'muscle'.

I now believe the green CORP geep is a Helm Leasing (HLCX) unit formerly leased to the Central Oregon & Pacific. That makes it a sister to HLCX #1400, the MP15AC which I saw nearby (see attached photo taken by unknown photographer in Lima last November).

Interesting confluence of motive power. It makes the VGN-Trainmaster-in-Pennsylvania scenario seem completely banal.

An interesting lashup looms out of a January fog near Marion, IN.
A Toledo, Peoria & Western leads a Central Oregon & Pacific GP-38 and a string of tankers and hoppers from the nearby Ethanol plant.