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Harmomic Convergence, Page 1
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Geeps n' Jeeps,
A Harmonic Convergence
last update: 11-27-03
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| Being a locomotive engineer and a WillysNuttm, it's only natural that I like photos showing railroads and Jeeps in the same frame (bonus: plus Britney Spears, but no luck so far). Got a Geep -Jeep photo, or the URL of one? Kindly email me at e_o@wx4.org! Britney would be pleased. |
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Here's my sentimental favorite, because that CJ2a with the peculiar top was my first Jeep. As a college student perpetually short of funds, I constructed the top primarily out of old canvas and aluminum lawn chairs. It actually worked pretty good, and saved me most of the $125 that the Sears Catalog version would have cost. That Southern Pacific F-7 is a grimy beauty, isn't she, and at age eighteen, she is still two years younger than the 2a. Later on in the year, the SP retired the locomotive, and I sold the Jeep. East leg of the San Jose Wye, early 1969. id701
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A typical slice of Smalltown America forty years ago, a battered Willys pickup sits in front of the Union Pacific's Victor, Idaho (elev. 7000+) station in July, 1965. The days of ice bunker refridgerator cars were numbered, as was the case for small branchline stations. The Union Pacific detrained its Yellowstone Special passengers here, for the bus ride to Grand Teton and Yellowstone Parks. The train and the branch line that terminated here are long gone. Incidentally, that's an eight foot tall, quarter-acre manure pile that I was standing upon. I suspect that much of Wx4 provides the viewer with the same sensation.
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For my money, this is one of the great railroad photos of all time (talk about atmosphere - it has everything!!). It's certainly the best railroad / Jeep photo that I've ever seen - notice the Mahindra (built under Willys license) coyly hiding on the right. This photo of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in Kurseong, India was taken in 1978, but it's still possible to see such scenes today, although the railroad's operations are now mostly diesel.
Photographer Eiji Nozawa, who lives near Tokyo, Japan has a wonderful Asian Railways Page at: http://www001.upp.so-net.ne.jp/noz/eindex.html
(photo used with permission)
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| The above is a relatively well-known photo taken by an SP photographer in the post World War II era. Over the years it's generated considerable discussion regarding its exact location, either Camp Roberts or Camp Cook (now Vandenberg Air Force Base), California. I'd offer the latter, because the sun angle seems wrong in relation to the hills for this to be Camp Roberts. Whatever - it qualifies as a Harmonic Convergence, and rather nicely, I think. |
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| It's like the Holy Grail to Me: I was rummaging through the negatives collection looking for some Bend, Oregon photos to post for Rob Jacox (whose Western Rails is a fine Web site), when I fumbled across this - one of my beloved Willys Jeep Wagons parked next to the Bend Roundhouse and a couple of Burlington Northern (lately ex-SP&S) Alco RS3's. Boy, a tarpaper-sided engine house and a couple of tired, grubby old Alcos - the Wagon was surely in its natural element. June, 1970. |
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| The Ultimate Harmonic Convergence: This ugly vehicle is a Jeep Forward Control pickup, model FC150, with a rather flimsy hi-rail setup. Jeep manufacured the FC's for a few years starting in the mid-1950's, but they never were very popular, and it's easy to see why. Nevertheless, "I WANT ONE!" Alternately, I'd settle for an old, conventional hi-rail equipped conventional Willys Jeep pickup, but with me being a Willys Wagon man, it's easy for you to guess what I really want... Thanks for the photo, Herb! |
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| Those lime green AMC Jeep CJ-5's weren't particularly attractive, but they stood out. Here' one in the company of Pacific Lumber Company's # 29 and 105 at Scotia, California in June, 1974. this photo is a cropped portion of one that appears on the Pacific Lumber Company page. |
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| It's November, 1980, and the local folks at Truckee have their wood stoves cranked up for coming nightfall, and the owner of the Jeep pickup parked at the depot has his vehicle jacked-up for the coming snowfall. The open-knuckle front axles assembly on the International Scout II, parked next to the Jeep, makes a nice upgrade for a Willys Station Wagon, by the way. new 11-9-03 |
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| A DIFFERENT KIND OF WILLYS: Tony Gurney, a goofy Aussie WillysNut living in Indonesia, forwarded the above photo of an Indo sugar cane railroad engine named "Wilis". Wilis is the Indonesian spelling for "Willys", which is good enough to qualify for insertion here. THANKS, TONY! new 11-27-03 |
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