{"id":5172,"date":"2014-01-24T05:01:54","date_gmt":"2014-01-24T10:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=5172"},"modified":"2014-01-24T08:16:41","modified_gmt":"2014-01-24T13:16:41","slug":"daily-post-when-the-common-is-uncommon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/daily-post-when-the-common-is-uncommon\/","title":{"rendered":"DAILY POST: When the Common is Uncommon."},"content":{"rendered":"


\nRemembering the SPVs!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

They were Budd\u2019s follow up to its successful stainless steel rail diesel cars built in the 1950s. But where Budd\u2019s RDCs had established standards for self propelled diesel cars, Budd\u2019s SPV-2000 didn\u2019t measure up.<\/p>\n

I think \u2018SPV\u2019 was supposed to mean \u2018Self Propelled Vehicle,\u2019 but all the railroaders I knew called them \u2018Seldom Powered Vehicles.\u2019<\/p>\n

These were adapted from the original Budd Metroliner<\/a> (MP85) car style and in the same family as Amtrak\u2019s Budd-built Amfleet.<\/p>\n

For a few years they were routinely assigned to Amtrak\u2019s Springfield, Massachusetts-New Haven, Connecticut shuttle trains.<\/p>\n

\"Amtrak<\/a>
Silhouette of a Budd SPV2000<\/a> at Springfield Station on the morning of September 30, 1984. Exposed on 35mm Kodak Tri-X with a Leica<\/a> 3A with 21mm lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"On<\/a>
On the morning of September 30, 1984, Conrail B23-7s lead eastward freight SEPW (Selkirk to Providence & Worcester) through Springfield (Massachusetts)<\/a> Union Station. A set of SPVs rests in the shadows. Although not the primary subject, I was sure to include the SPV2000s in my photograph. Exposed on Tri-X using a Leica 3A with 21mm lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I admit now that I didn\u2019t like the SPVs. I didn\u2019t like them because they were new, and I much preferred the traditional RDCs. Also, at the time, I found the round car style un-photogenic.<\/p>\n

Despite my dislike of the SPV\u2019s, I photographed them anyway. While I wish that I\u2019d made more photos of them, I\u2019m very<\/i> glad that I bothered to put them on film at all.<\/p>\n

As it turned out, Amtrak appears to have disliked the SPV\u2019s even more than I did! Their tenure on the Springfield run was short. By 1986, they\u2019d been largely replaced with locomotive hauled consists. Other than my own photographs, I\u2019ve seen very few images of these cars working on Amtrak.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A lone SPV2000 makes a station stop at Windsor Locks, Connecticut<\/a> in May 1985. From my experience, it was relatively unusual to find single SPVs working in Springfield-Hartford-New Haven shuttle service. Exposed with a Leica 3A fitted with a Canon 50mm lens. Contrast controlled locally in post processing using Photoshop.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here\u2019s an irony: in retrospect I\u2019ve come to appreciate the SPV\u2019s. They were a rare example of a modern American-built self-propel diesel car, and to my well-traveled eye, I now find them very interesting. So, what seemed new and common, now seems rare and peculiar!<\/p>\n

Tracking the Light<\/a>\u00a0posts new material\u00a0every\u00a0morning.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Please spread the word and share\u00a0Tracking the Light<\/a>\u00a0with anyone who may enjoy seeing it!<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Also see:\u00a0Old Pointless Arrow and the Basketball Hall of Fame.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

and:\u00a0Springfield Station, March 31, 1984<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Amherst Railway Society ‘BIG RAILROAD HOBBY SHOW<\/a>‘ is on this weekend (January 25 and 26, 2014) at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

See:\u00a0http:\/\/www.railroadhobbyshow.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Brian Solomon will cover the train show in Tracking the Light.<\/p>\n

\"Enhanced<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remembering the SPVs! They were Budd\u2019s follow up to its successful stainless steel rail diesel cars built in the 1950s. But where Budd\u2019s RDCs had established standards for self propelled diesel cars, Budd\u2019s SPV-2000 didn\u2019t measure up. I think \u2018SPV\u2019 was supposed to mean \u2018Self Propelled Vehicle,\u2019 but all the railroaders I knew called them … Continue reading DAILY POST: When the Common is Uncommon.<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[10],"tags":[4537,31,41,1865,1867,116,53,1870,7535,672,104,236,869,7,1869,791,1868,1777,1778,1866,960],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BVuC-1lq","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5172"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5172"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5460,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5172\/revisions\/5460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}