On a rather mild day in late December of 1971 while waiting in Avondale, Louisiana for my next assignment to begin, I ambled over to the locomotive shop where my assigned locomotive was waiting. Sitting there and receiving service work was a pair of T&P GP35 locomotives, numbers 647 and 645, along with an unidentified F7. Having my Polaroid camera with me that day, I quickly snapped this photograph before hustling over to my locomotive (a well-worn GP7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The GP35s, usually just referred to as the 600s, were the most powerful locomotives running out of south Louisiana on the T&P at this time. Usually running in trios, I always relished the call for the freights running between New Orleans and Alexandria as they typically had these on the front end. What a change from the usual GP7 or GP9, or even the “powerful” GP18 engines! They rode well, were relatively quiet yet sounded good with their turbo whine, and just felt<\/em> powerful. Always a treat!<\/p>\n\n\n\n On a rather mild day in late December of 1971 while waiting in Avondale, Louisiana for my next assignment to begin, I ambled over to the locomotive shop where my assigned locomotive was waiting. Sitting there and receiving service work … Continue reading ![\"T&P](\"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/TP-GP35s-Avondale-LA-Sig.jpg\")
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