A pair of I&M Rail Link SDs and shortline fun with the Meridian & Bigbee.

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A TYPICALLY ECLECTIC shortline range of power is on display at the Meridian & Bigbee’s Meridian Shops, Mississippi, on October 16th, 2005. The locomotives are, from left to right, The Bay Line (the former Atlanta & St Andrews Bay) GP38 No. BAYL 506 (ex-Penn Central), Georgia Central U30B No. GC 1007 (ex-Norfolk Southern) and Meridian & Bigbee GP10 No. M&B 107 (ex-Illinois Central).

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It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that the lack of dynamic brakes on I&M Rail Link SD40 No. IMRL 231 probably means that this locomotive was once part of the Union Pacific fleet acquired from either the Missouri Pacific or the Chicago North Western railroads. It was in fact built as Mopac No. MP 757, and it is pictured at Nahant Yard, near Davenport, Iowa, on October 3rd, 2002, awaiting its fate under its new owner, the Iowa Chicago & Eastern.

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Stored at Iowa Chicago & Eastern’s Nahant Yard, near Davenport, Iowa, on October 3rd, 2002, is I&M Rail Link SD45 No. IMRL 8936, which started life in 1971 as the Seaboard Coast Line 2036, and still wears its former Family Lines French grey paint. This wasn’t the end for this locomotive, and it later received ICE branding, typically applied as a part of a large black patch panel on the cab!