| During the summer of 1986, while I was working for Bell Labs in Naperville, the "train bug", which had been dormant since 1981, suddenly returned with a vengeance. Armed with a new Contax 159, I spent a Sunday afternoon in Aurora, home of the BN Chicago commute fleet, in September 1986. BN E9Au 9900, son of Zephyr, strikes a stately pose. |
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A sea of E9s and Gallery Cars. |
| A flock of bulldog noses awaits the morning call. |  |
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A shy 9905 hides behind the old Aurora platforms. |
| Even on Sunday, the "dinkies" still run. |  |
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While I did not know it at the time, this is a dead line of SD45s, soon to be retired. Their premature departure was the product of high diesel fuel prices and their highly inefficient 20 cylinder prime mover. |
| A pair of brand new EMD GP50s, sporting the similarly new tiger stripe paint scheme, rocket a train of auto carriers along the Burlington Triple Track Speedway. Here and gone in a fleeting moment, as was my renewed interest in shooting photos of trains, which would not return for another 11 years. |
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[September 1986][June 2001]
