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12/22/2024
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Viewing Album:  Dad's photos
 
By:Tom Beckett
Dates:1/1/1940 - 7/15/2012
Album Info:My dad, Tom Beckett Sr, was not a railfan, but he was an avid photographer of anything that caught his interest, everything from dogs to military aircraft, especially of WW II vintage; occasionally a train found its way in front of his camera. He passed away in March 2012 at the age of 79, at which time I came into possession of his photo collection. Much of this is slides, though he also shot a large volume of black and white, starting in the late 1940's. In this album we'll see some of his work as it turns up. Please note, in most cases, the dates are approximate, and sometimes they're wild guesses. Where I know it, it's correct; sometimes I can approximate by elements in the photo, or family history. Dad did not always mark info on his prints, though the slides most of the time have at least a month and year. He had a lot of slide film processed by private labs in New York, they did not always put a date on the mounts. If anyone looking at these photos can lend insight into a particular scene with a date or more info, please do so. Dad's not here to ask!!
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Bad day on 5th Avenue
Title:  Bad day on 5th Avenue
Description:  Not exactly a train photo, but so different I thought Id include it. This NYCTA bus seems to have had a problem on its way downown. Ive heard of drivers running hot, but this is extreme.
Photo Date:  7/27/1985  Upload Date: 1/10/2016 2:23:59 AM
Location:  Manhattan, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Roster,Wreck
Locomotives: 
Views:  274   Comments: 0
Down under
Title:  Down under
Description:  Grand Central Terminal has a lower level, which originally served only commuter trains on the NYC, as all the long distance trains used only the upper level, along with a good number of commuter runs. This is the ramp to the lower level, as seen in 1986
Photo Date:  7/19/1986  Upload Date: 5/14/2016 4:16:19 AM
Location:  Grand Central Termin, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  113   Comments: 0
Montauk Manor
Title:  Montauk Manor
Description:  Dad would spend a week most years at Montauk out on the east end of Long Island. On ine trip in the mid 80s-a guess, theres no date on the slide mount, but the paint scheme on the passenger car would bear that out-he shot a LIRR GP38-2 under the big hotel on the bluff, \Montauk Manor, which appears to be undergoing some work
Photo Date:  8/21/1986  Upload Date: 9/21/2014 1:28:24 AM
Location:  Montauk, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Roster,Scenic,Passenger
Locomotives:  LI 274(GP38-2)
Views:  411   Comments: 0
West Side Line
Title:  West Side Line
Description:  This is the ex NYC West Side freight line before Amtrak took it for access to Penn Station from the Hudson Line, seen from Inwood. In a few years, it would be welded rail and heavy ballast. For now, a single track in the trees.
Photo Date:  5/10/1987  Upload Date: 4/14/2016 4:14:25 AM
Location:  Inwood, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Track
Locomotives: 
Views:  78   Comments: 1
From the plane
Title:  From the plane
Description:  I dont think dad was trying for a train photo when he took this shot of northeastern Queens from the window of a flight into La Guardia, but he caught a Port Washington train-see the glint off the silver streak near the water at the top right of the photo-but there it is. Were looking at Little Neck Bay in the distance. The train will shortly be stopping in Douglaston
Photo Date:  7/15/1987  Upload Date: 4/14/2016 3:34:21 AM
Location:  Douglaston, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Passenger,Action
Locomotives: 
Views:  75   Comments: 0
Night at the end of the line
Title:  Night at the end of the line
Description:  LIRR 259 waits to head east with a train from Montauk to Jamaica.
Photo Date:  7/17/1988  Upload Date: 12/4/2014 4:04:01 AM
Location:  Montauk, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Night,Station,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  LI 259(GP38-2)
Views:  288   Comments: 0
Open platform
Title:  Open platform
Description:  Dad caught the obs end of car 10 at Newark. The theater car was on the rear, which is where everyone rode.
Photo Date:  10/10/1991  Upload Date: 3/26/2016 3:57:54 AM
Location:  Newark Penn Station, NJ
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  RollingStock,Station,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  227   Comments: 0
Office cars
Title:  Office cars
Description:  Dad purchased newsprint for the NY Times, and as such, was an important Conrail customer. I dont recall him mentioning this trip, but he was aboard this OCS train in Jersey. He got a few shots before the train left Newark Penn Station.
Photo Date:  10/10/1991  Upload Date: 3/26/2016 3:56:39 AM
Location:  Newark Penn Station, NJ
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  RollingStock,Station,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  187   Comments: 0
Es
Title:  Es
Description:  As usual, the train was pulled by a pair of E 8s. CR 4021 was the trailing unit. Im going to hazard a guess that 4020 was the leader, though I cant find where dad got a photo of the lead unit.
Photo Date:  10/10/1991  Upload Date: 3/26/2016 4:03:07 AM
Location:  Newark Penn Station, NJ
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  CR 4021(E8A) CR 4020(E8A)
Views:  831   Comments: 0
Where the action is
Title:  Where the action is
Description:  Dad, along with a group of other customers, rode in the glassed in theater car on the rear of the train. I dont know who else was on board, or what the occasion was. The atmosphere appears festive.
Photo Date:  10/10/1991  Upload Date: 3/26/2016 4:08:59 AM
Location:  unknown, NJ
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  RollingStock,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  63   Comments: 0
Rear window
Title:  Rear window
Description:  This is the view out the rear of the theater car. Im not sure exactly where they are, though Im guessing from the double track with catenary and the fact they started from Newark Penn, its probably on NJ Transit between Union tower in Rahway and Wood Tower in Perth Amboy. Wherever they are, the train is making a good 60 per.
Photo Date:  10/10/1991  Upload Date: 3/26/2016 4:16:28 AM
Location:  Woodbridge, NJ
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  RollingStock,Passenger,Action
Locomotives: 
Views:  122   Comments: 0
Quiet night
Title:  Quiet night
Description:  Dad was prone to walking around the city at night, seeing what he could capture on film. Tonights excursion was into Grand Central, where he caught the markers of a train disappearing out of the station, with a New Haven Line train waiting for its next departure.
Photo Date:  9/12/1992  Upload Date: 10/22/2015 3:22:19 AM
Location:  Grand Central Termin, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  MNCR 8507(M-2 Cosmopolitan)
Views:  156   Comments: 0
Lonesome rider
Title:  Lonesome rider
Description:  This lone passenger lights a cigarette(remember when you could do that in public?? Most trains even had smoking cars.) while waiting to get on one of these New Haven trains.
Photo Date:  9/12/1992  Upload Date: 10/22/2015 3:23:40 AM
Location:  Grand Central Termin, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  MNCR 8431(M-2 Cosmopolitan) MNCR 8927(M-2 Cosmopolitan)
Views:  195   Comments: 0
North Bergen from the air
Title:  North Bergen from the air
Description:  Dad was coming into Newark Airport, and was taking photos on the approach, as he commonly did. We see here CRs North Bergen yard, much reduced from its NYC days.
Photo Date:  6/21/1997  Upload Date: 5/19/2016 4:14:25 AM
Location:  North Bergen, NJ
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,RollingStock,Yard,Track
Locomotives: 
Views:  93   Comments: 0
Meadows Maintenance Complex
Title:  Meadows Maintenance Complex
Description:  Almost on the runway at Newark, dad caught this view of Harrison and Kearny, and NJ Transits MMC. Its an impressive view, with the MMC at far left, the Amtrak Northeast Corridor down the center-note the signal bridge at bottom center-and the ex DLW Morris & Essex line(3 tracks) at right.
Photo Date:  6/21/1997  Upload Date: 5/19/2016 4:18:04 AM
Location:  Kearny, NJ
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Yard,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  121   Comments: 1
BN local
Title:  BN local
Description:  Actually, BNSF by this time. Dad went to the northwest in July 1997. The slides dont have notes with location, so all of the Washington photos are "best guess" for location. If anyone knows, please comment.
Photo Date:  7/16/1997  Upload Date: 2/14/2016 2:59:42 AM
Location:  Seattle, WA
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Bridge,Action
Locomotives:  BN 2185(GP38) BN 2725(GP39-2)
Views:  295   Comments: 0
Ex BN car
Title:  Ex BN car
Description:  Some hand me down box cars were on this siding in the Seattle area.
Photo Date:  7/16/1997  Upload Date: 2/14/2016 3:02:01 AM
Location:  Seattle, WA
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Roster,RollingStock
Locomotives: 
Views:  145   Comments: 0
One short line to another
Title:  One short line to another
Description:  This box was formerly an LNAC car.
Photo Date:  7/16/1997  Upload Date: 2/14/2016 3:03:23 AM
Location:  Seattle, WA
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Roster,RollingStock
Locomotives: 
Views:  81   Comments: 0
Interesting find
Title:  Interesting find
Description:  Im sure this must have been a park or museum. There was quite a line up of old steam engines, Shays and Heislfrs, as well as at least one Weyerhaeuser steeple cab.
Photo Date:  7/16/1997  Upload Date: 2/14/2016 3:06:35 AM
Location:  Seattle, WA
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Roster,Steam
Locomotives: 
Views:  81   Comments: 0
Logger power
Title:  Logger power
Description:  This geared locomotive was at the same location as the SVay.
Photo Date:  7/16/1997  Upload Date: 2/14/2016 3:08:38 AM
Location:  Seattle, WA
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Roster,Steam
Locomotives: 
Views:  48   Comments: 0
Electrics too
Title:  Electrics too
Description:  This Weyerhaeuser steeple cab was in the line with the steam power.
Photo Date:  7/16/1997  Upload Date: 2/14/2016 3:14:58 AM
Location:  Seattle, WA
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Roster
Locomotives:  KENC 704(Steeple Cab)
Views:  100   Comments: 0
RDCs
Title:  RDCs
Description:  A BC Rail train with RDCs is seen at Vancouver. Dont know exactly where dad was to get this shot, Im thinking some kind of restaurant, because he caught a freight here too.
Photo Date:  7/18/1997  Upload Date: 5/18/2016 4:57:00 AM
Location:  Vancouver, BC
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  BCR 33(RDC3) BCR 30(RDC4)
Views:  503   Comments: 0
Bringing up the rear
Title:  Bringing up the rear
Description:  Cabooses were still very much in use in Canada in the late 90s, as on this northbound BC Rail train.
Photo Date:  7/18/1997  Upload Date: 5/18/2016 5:15:00 AM
Location:  Vancouver, BC
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  RollingStock,Action
Locomotives: 
Views:  108   Comments: 0
Dad had no idea
Title:  Dad had no idea
Description:  Dad, as I have mentioned, was not a railfan, so did not go after the trains as I would have. Nonetheless, once in a while he nailed one. This mid train helper set was going past a restaurant where dad and his wife were having dinner. A BC Rail Alco-whod have guessed he'd catch one of the more obscure units on any roster in North America, and in good light, too??
Photo Date:  7/18/1997  Upload Date: 5/18/2016 5:18:20 AM
Location:  Vancouver, BC
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Action
Locomotives:  BCOL 725(M630W) BCOL 742(SD40-2)
Views:  930   Comments: 0
Mail RDC
Title:  Mail RDC
Description:  This RDC RPO was leading a BC Rail passenger schedule.
Photo Date:  7/18/1997  Upload Date: 5/18/2016 5:04:41 AM
Location:  Vancouver, BC
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  BCOL 30(RDC3)
Views:  501   Comments: 1
Familiar sight
Title:  Familiar sight
Description:  New Yorkers will be familiar with the clock and winged messenger over the 42nd St entrance to Grand Central. I still think of the building behind it as the Pan Am Building. Some things just die hard.
Photo Date:  10/5/1997  Upload Date: 2/13/2016 3:19:34 AM
Location:  Grand Central Termin, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  33   Comments: 0
Grand Concourse
Title:  Grand Concourse
Description:  Not the one in the Bronx, this one in Grand Central Terminal. Its one of the great public spaces in the world. Dad caught it from an odd corner one afternoon. This is the result.
Photo Date:  10/5/1997  Upload Date: 2/13/2016 3:22:08 AM
Location:  Grand Central Termin, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  51   Comments: 0
Electric and diesel
Title:  Electric and diesel
Description:  A pair of Metro North trains wait for departure at Grand Central, the one on the left a train of M-2s, the one on the right a train of diesel hauled equipment patterned after the cars that trace their heritage to the ELs 1971 cars that replaced the Stilwells.
Photo Date:  10/5/1997  Upload Date: 2/13/2016 3:29:46 AM
Location:  Grand Central Termin, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  MNCR 8125(M-2 Cosmopolitan)
Views:  212   Comments: 0
Headed for Brewster
Title:  Headed for Brewster
Description:  A train of 30 year old M 2s waits for departure to Brewster, as it has done with those cars since the late 60s.
Photo Date:  10/5/1997  Upload Date: 2/13/2016 3:43:04 AM
Location:  Grand Central Termin, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  MNCR 8125(M-2 Cosmopolitan)
Views:  119   Comments: 0
Are there stars out tonight??
Title:  Are there stars out tonight??
Description:  In Grand Central, always. The ceiling of Grand Central Terminal, with the stars shining above.
Photo Date:  12/12/1997  Upload Date: 5/19/2016 4:19:52 AM
Location:  Grand Central Termin, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Station,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  50   Comments: 0
Festive
Title:  Festive
Description:  Grand Central is lit up for the holidays, wreaths all around, as we look at the Pan Am-oops, Met Life-Building entrance.
Photo Date:  12/12/1997  Upload Date: 5/19/2016 4:25:16 AM
Location:  Grand Central Termin, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  55   Comments: 0
Its the holiday season
Title:  Its the holiday season
Description:  The terminal looks festive from the Vanderbilt Av balcony, looking toward Lexington.
Photo Date:  12/12/1997  Upload Date: 5/19/2016 4:43:01 AM
Location:  Grand Central Termin, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  35   Comments: 0
Get on board
Title:  Get on board
Description:  The crowd walks down the platform as it board this MU train for an ex NYC destination.
Photo Date:  12/12/1997  Upload Date: 5/19/2016 4:44:01 AM
Location:  Grand Central Termin, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger,Action
Locomotives: 
Views:  35   Comments: 0
Ready to go
Title:  Ready to go
Description:  The passengers are on, the doors are about to close, and another commuter run will be underway from Grand Central to NYC territory.
Photo Date:  12/12/1997  Upload Date: 5/19/2016 4:45:05 AM
Location:  Grand Central Termin, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger,Action
Locomotives: 
Views:  35   Comments: 0
High view
Title:  High view
Description:  Dad had an eye for panorama, nowhere better than Bear Mountain State Park. Here we see a Conrail southbound roll past Iona Island from up near the Bear Mountain Bridge.
Photo Date:  11/6/1998  Upload Date: 9/26/2014 1:31:35 PM
Location:  Bear Mountain, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Action
Locomotives: 
Views:  95   Comments: 0
Union Station
Title:  Union Station
Description:  Dad appreciated good architecture, and railroad stations had it. He took this photo of Toronto Union Station one cold day in January of 1999.
Photo Date:  1/12/1999  Upload Date: 10/4/2014 2:11:19 AM
Location:  Toronto, ON
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  64   Comments: 0
GO train
Title:  GO train
Description:  Dad must have been somewhere in the Union Station complex and was able to grab this shot. In a "close but no cigar" moment, he got the railing right over the engine number, so no unit number.
Photo Date:  2/20/1999  Upload Date: 9/22/2014 3:00:21 AM
Location:  Toronto, ON
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Winter,Station,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  56   Comments: 0
Amtrak and MN meet
Title:  Amtrak and MN meet
Description:  A Penn Station bound Amtrak train rolls into Poughkeepsie, reflecting in the just arrived Metro North train from Grand Central.
Photo Date:  9/26/1999  Upload Date: 12/17/2015 4:05:02 AM
Location:  Poughkeepsie, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger,Action
Locomotives:  AMTK 705(P32AC-DM)
Views:  319   Comments: 0
Concrete
Title:  Concrete
Description:  Concrete ties were still an innovation in the late 90s, though they had become widely used on the NE Corridor. Metro North was starting to use them as well, seen here at Poughkeepsie.
Photo Date:  9/26/1999  Upload Date: 12/17/2015 4:11:24 AM
Location:  Poughkeepsie, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Track
Locomotives: 
Views:  38   Comments: 0
Inside the station
Title:  Inside the station
Description:  The interior of the Poughkeepsie NYC station, as it appeared in 1999.
Photo Date:  9/26/1999  Upload Date: 12/17/2015 4:12:51 AM
Location:  Poughkeepsie, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Station,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  30   Comments: 0
Work extra??
Title:  Work extra??
Description:  This motorized crane and gon of sorts were in the Poughkeepsie yard. Check out the PC gon in the background.
Photo Date:  9/26/1999  Upload Date: 12/17/2015 4:14:45 AM
Location:  Poughkeepsie, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  RollingStock,Yard,Action
Locomotives: 
Views:  276   Comments: 0
View from the bridge
Title:  View from the bridge
Description:  Dad got this shot of Metro Norths high level station platforms from the pedestrian overpass. The old NYC station building is at right. The high bridge in the distance is the former New Haven Hudson River crossing, which went out of service following a fire in May 1974. It's now a pedestrian walkway/park.
Photo Date:  9/26/1999  Upload Date: 12/17/2015 4:27:48 AM
Location:  Poughkeepsie, NY
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Scenic,Station,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  93   Comments: 0
C&O gone modern
Title:  C&O gone modern
Description:  Dad was up to Charlottesville for a visit to Monticello and stopped at the joint Southern-C&O station, and caught this westbound empty coal train.behind the successors to C&O SD 18's, 35's and 40's.
Photo Date:  7/23/2006  Upload Date: 11/13/2017 4:26:18 AM
Location:  Charlottesville, VA
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Roster,Scenic,RollingStock,Station,Action
Locomotives:  CSX 561(AC44CW) CSX 4722(SD70MAC)
Views:  365   Comments: 1
On the street
Title:  On the street
Description:  A CSX GE leads an empty coal train as it peeks out from behind a building in downtown Charlottesville
Photo Date:  7/23/2006  Upload Date: 11/13/2017 4:33:58 AM
Location:  Charlottesville, VA
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Action
Locomotives:  CSX 561(AC44CW)
Views:  234   Comments: 2
Empties"past the station
Title:  Empties"past the station
Description:  Dad caught the rolling stUck too, getting this shot of hoppers rolling by the station.
Photo Date:  7/23/2006  Upload Date: 11/13/2017 4:37:26 AM
Location:  Charlottesville, VA
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  RollingStock,Station,Action
Locomotives: 
Views:  44   Comments: 0
Snaking into town
Title:  Snaking into town
Description:  The long string of empties rolls into town toward the station and NS crossing.
Photo Date:  7/23/2006  Upload Date: 11/13/2017 4:41:06 AM
Location:  Charlottesville, VA
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  RollingStock,Action
Locomotives: 
Views:  458791   Comments: 0
Interesting toy
Title:  Interesting toy
Description:  This toy elevated train was in a museum in Sag Harbor, an interesting find in a town better known for its seafaring history than railroads, though the LIRR had a branch here from East Hampton til 1939.
Photo Date:  3/25/2016  Upload Date: 3/25/2016 3:38:41 AM
Location:  Sag Harbor, NY
Author:  Tom Beckftt
Categories:  Model
Locomotives: 
Views:  41   Comments: 0
Theres a ferry here
Title:  Theres a ferry here
Description:  But everything else has changed. Were looking at what was once the NYC Weehawken Yard. Once there was a passenger station here, the terminus of passeger operatiins on NYCs West Shore Line to Albany. The terminal also served the NY Ontario & Western til they quit running passenger trains in 1949. The last NYC train ran in 1958, after which time the area was largely unused. Like everywhere, development has come, and with the vehicular traffic congestion from Jersey to NY, the ferry has returned. Ah, progress!!
Photo Date:  10/5/1997  Upload Date: 2/14/2016 2:43:47 AM
Location:  Weehawken, NJ
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Yard,Passenger
Locomotives: 
Views:  172   Comments: 0
Nice catch
Title:  Nice catch
Description:  I have mentioned that dad was not a railfan, and often the photos hed shoot were of a more artistic bet. Every once in a while, hed really nail something from a railfan perspective. This visit to the Spruce Falls paper mill was one of those times. He caught their plant switcher as he was going around the plant, getting this wonderful view of the unit.
Photo Date:  5/15/1972  Upload Date: 2/29/2016 4:44:01 AM
Location:  Kapuskasing, ON
Author:  Tom Beckett
Categories:  Roster,Yard
Locomotives:  SFPP 108(S13)
Views:  319   Comments: 1

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