Wow - purple geeps! As a kid in the late 50's, the rare shot of an ACL geep in Trains mag captured my attention. I always wanted to see them, but living in LA, it wasn't gonna happen. Some might say that they are ugly...but how cool is it for a railroad to choose to paint their units in such a royal color?!! Thank you so much Tom, for posting this picture. Please take this as a 'from the bottom of my heart' gratitude for seeing a color shot of them.
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I share Tom's excitement in seeing ACL purple power in color, and even remember seeing some in person from my youth. Thanks to Bob's image from the long hood of this Geep, we are allowed to note an ACL peculiarity, that the road ordered its diesel without the standard hand brake. Note on the right side of the 164's hood end, there is no EMD-style ratchet hand brake lever applied.
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Those GP7's remind me of the Atlantic Coast Line E3 501 in Spencer NC. I love those classic paint schemes of southern railroads.
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I had a cab ride in an ACL GP7 in Hope Mills, NC in the summer of 1959. My grandfather was a section foreman on the main line of the ACL. I remember it like it was yesterday. The section house was located next to the tracks and all that summer I spent my days watching the "purple and silver" pass by on the main line. About once a week we would ride the train up to Fayetteville and back. The train stopped beside the house to allow my grand mother and me to board so we would not have to walk up town to the station.
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I love these shots from the 50,s.
Thanks for posting.
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