While visiting my Grandmother for Thanksgiving in Utica, NY this year I stopped at the Amtrak station. Anytime I go to Utica I drive to the station first, and I have written about the former NYC station here. Because Amtrak's schedule usually has a train arriving around noon, it is usually a good time to catch a train before Thanksgiving dinner.
It was cold this year but I did walk around and took a couple of pictures. While my photography skills leave a lot to be desired, I think I managed to capture something special this year.
The train farthest in the distance is an Adirondack Scenic Railroad passenger train being led by #1845, a Montreal Locomotive Works (subsidiary of ALCO) RS18u built in 1957. This would be considered a second generation diesel locomotive. Trailing that is #1502, an ex-Metro North Railroad Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) FP10 built in 1947. This would be considered a first generation diesel.
The Amtrak train in the center is being pulled by Amtrak #714, a General Electric (GE) P32AC-DM built in 1998. This would be considered a third generation diesel locomotive.
Finally, the steamer in front is a NYC steam locomotive #6721, a B-11k 0-6-0 class switcher built by Alco in 1913. This would be a pre-diesel generation locomotive. This poor engine was subject to a vandal-caused runaway freight car collision in 2015 but thankfully it looks better now.
While the definitions of "first generation", "second generation", and "third generation" diesel locomotives and their cut-off dates isn't always clear, I think I can broadly say that this shot shows three generations of diesel power plus the pre-curser steam locomotive. Four locomotive builders are also represented: Alco, MLW, General Electric, EMD. Not too bad for one photograph.
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