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Main Street Attica—March 23, 1989

March 23, 1989 was a busy day on the old Erie Railroad.

Between Conrail and the Delaware & Hudson, the railroad was alive with trains.

I’d spent much of the day around Attica, New York, where the line snaked around on its climb over Attica Hill.

In the afternoon, I caught Conrail’s BUOI (Buffalo to Oak Island, NJ), the daily mixed freight. This was often a huge train and some days in ran in two sections.

In this view, BUOI has just crossed Main Street in Attica, and has begun to bog down on its eastward climb. In the lead are two Conrail SD50s. These are numbers 6773 and 6763. I found this slide looking for the elusive 6753, which appeared on Tracking the Light a few days ago as Norfolk Southern 6342.

Conrail’s 135 SD50s spanned the number series from 6700 to 6834. Over the course of my years photographing Conrail trains, I’m sure I saw nearly all of them. At the time they seemed so common.

The quest for SD50 6753 continues!

Kodachrome 25 slide exposed with a Leica M2 and 50mm Summicron lens. Image cropped slightly for presentation here.

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