FAIRPORT, PAINESVILLE & EASTERN
PHOTOS
Introduction
Over the past several years I
had been able to collect a few dozen slides of the FP&E
(thanks primarily to eBay); then recently I was able to more than triple the
size of my collection by obtaining the FP&E
slides of the late Michael A. Tedesco from one of his relatives. I really like Michael's photos because he
took a lot of "action shots" (in my view there is something special
about seeing a locomotive or train in action as opposed to just sitting
idle). I found an excellent local
photography shop to scan my slides (after suffering through 4 other vendors who
did poor jobs), so it is really thanks to them that I can share any of my collection
on the internet.
Due to
capacity restrictions I am limited in how many pictures I can display on this
webpage (and in how big they can be), so below are some
"preview"-sized pictures of what I think are some of the more
interesting photos from my collection, along with some comments about
them. When you click on the picture you
will be taken to the full-sized image on my flickr
account ("flickr" is Yahoo's photo-sharing
website).
I have
many more photos on my flickr account, and I grouped
the pictures into sets such as "action photos," "roster
photos" (pictures of the locomotives sitting idle), and "aerial
photos." To view these other FP&E pictures, click here—but don't forget to check out the pictures and comments below
before you click on the link!
Depending
on how your computer's monitor is configured, the pictures may not appear as
'true' on your screen as they should, so if there is a picture you particularly
like, then I suggest you print it out (using a color printer with just plain
paper should work fine; I use a HP Deskjet with the print quality set at
"Best"). I think you'll like
the result.
A Sampling of Photos
This
first picture is from the oldest slide in my collection. It was taken on August 22, 1962 by Dave Ingles. Note the paint scheme displayed here: yellow
body with green lettering, green frame and trimmings, and silver cab roof and
trucks. (By the way, this
yellow-and-green locomotive color scheme is what inspired the color scheme of
my website.)
Click
on the image to see the full-sized picture.
This next
photo was taken by Michael Tedesco on December 29th, 1971. Based on the photos in my collection it looks
like late 1971 was when the FP&E
changed its locomotive paint scheme from what it was in the previous photograph
to what you see here: a darker yellow body with black lettering, black frame
and radiator grill, and black cab roof and trucks.
Click
on the image to see the full-sized picture.
Here is
a nice long-distance photo by Michael Tedesco taken on July 19th, 1972 from the
south end of West Yard that shows the western portion of the Diamond Shamrock
plant in the background. Notice the
hoppers turned upside-down to the right of the locomotives, which were involved
in a derailment (to learn more about that incident go to the "Randall
Jackson" section of my FP&E Operations page; the story of the upside-down
hoppers is about two-thirds of the way down that section).
Click
on the image to see the full-sized picture.
Here is
an interesting photo taken by Warren Opalk on May
3rd, 1978. The exhaust stack has been
capped, indicating that the locomotive has been 'mothballed'; as it turned out,
this unit was being 'cannibalized'—that is, parts were being taken from it to
use in the repair and maintenance of its sister units. Two years later this unit (or what was left
of it) was sold to General Electric Transportation in Cleveland, where it was
subsequently converted into a 'mine motor': a special type of electric
locomotive that can enter underground mines (see an example here). Notice how the
angle of the shot Warren used allows you to see through the radiator grill—very
neat!
Click
on the image to see the full-sized picture.
Here is
a photo taken on June 8th, 1984 by Nick Chase.
Just 20 days later (June 28th) the FP&E
ceased to exist. However, locomotive
#107 went on to work for the Ashtabula, Carson & Jefferson Railroad.
Click
on the image to see the full-sized picture.
And
this is what happens to most locomotives in the end: they get scrapped. These are photos of former FP&E #105 (the same locomotive at the top of this page)
as it was being cut up in late 2008 at JRB Grain in
Cynthiana, IN. (For more about how #105
ended up in Cynthiana, see my FP&E
Diesel Roster page.) Thanks to the Bender family for sending me
these photos!
Click
on the image to see the full-sized picture.
Other Photos
Internet
Below are links
to FP&E-related photos I have found on the
internet. I divided the links into two
groups: FP&E and Post-FP&E. The Post-FP&E
links are for photos of ex-FP&E diesels 103, 105,
and 108; I am excluding links to photos of ex-FP&E
101 & 102 (which became Ohi-Rail 101 & 102) and
ex-FP&E 107 (which became Ashtabula, Carson &
Jefferson 107) because there are plenty of pictures of these units available on
the internet which can be found easily using Google.
FP&E
Click here for a
photo of a train crew posing with steam locomotive #4.
Click here
for a photo of #105 some time during the 1960s.
Click here
for an action photo of #105 & #102 in 1966.
Click here
and here
for action photos of #103 in 1967.
Click here
for an action photo of #104 & #107 in April 1968.
Click here for an
action photo of #103 & #102 in December 1968.
Click here
and scroll toward the bottom of the page for a couple of photos from June 1975.
Click here
for an action photo of #104 & #102 in 1976.
Click here
to see a couple of action photos from the 1980s.
Click here, here, here, here, here,
and here
for more photos from the 1980s.
Click here
for an action photo of #108 & #105 in March 1981.
Click here
for an action photo of #102 & #108 in June 1984.
Click here for an
action photo of #102 & #101 in 1984.
Click here
for an action photo of #101 & #107 in 1984.
Post-FP&E
Click here
for a photo of ex-FP&E #103 after it was
delivered to its new owner Ft. Howard Paper at Green Bay, WI in October 1978
(and before FHP repainted and renumbered the unit); click here
and scroll about half-way down the page to see a photo of Ft. Howard Paper
#63-180 (ex-FP&E #103) at the National Railroad
Museum in Green Bay, WI; click here
and here
for more photos of the unit at the Museum; and finally click here, here,
and here
for photos of ex-103 in the Museum's shop.
Click here to see the
first in a series of photos of Cargill/ex-Indiana Hi-Rail #105 (ex-FP&E #105) in Evansville, IN. To view the next photo in the series (there
are a total of 9) click the "Older" button at the upper right of the
photo; repeat this to see all the photos in the series.
Click here and here and
scroll down on each page for photos of ex-Cargill #105 (ex-IHRC,
ex-FP&E #105) sitting idle at Cynthiana, IN;
click here,
here,
and here
for more shots of ex-105 at Cynthiana.
Click here to see the
first in a series of photos of Cargill/ex-Indiana Hi-Rail #108 (ex-FP&E #108) in Cincinnati, OH. To view the next photo in the series (there
are a total of 4) click the "Older" button at the upper right of the
photo; repeat this to see all the photos in the series.
Books
For some other very nice color
photos of FP&E diesels (and a couple of caboose
photos), I recommend two books: Trackside Around
Cleveland: 1965-1979 and Trackside Around Eastern Ohio: 1965-1995. Both of these books have several good,
full-color photos of FP&E diesels in action—and
both books are recent publications, so they should still be available from any
good book dealer. (For more details
about these books see my FP&E Resources page.)
Created by Scott Nixon
July 2009
Updated: September 2009,
October 2010, November 2012