The Thunderhawk roars eastbound through Brookfield,WI.on its journey from the west coast to Chicago. The perishables were always behind the locomotives as their diesels needed fueling too to keep the frigs cool. Whether Idaho potatoes or Washington apples we hauled them on 262. In the 60's before Ray Crock bought his fleet of semi's we used to haul a lot of Idaho spuds for McDonald's in fact there were entire train loads of spud extra's at times until Ray got mad at the RR's and went to the highway's never to go back. I remember an article in a Milwaukee Road magazine from the late 50's about the loading of a lot of potatoes at Othello,WA for McDonalds. Ray started his business in 1955 with the purchase of the McDonald's Brothers restaurant on San Bernadino,CA. and opened the first fast food McDonalds in DesPlaines,IL. and the second in Milwaukee,WI. on Appleton and Capitol on the northwest side of town. I lived right down the street in Milwaukee and I've been eating his French fries ever since.......
The EMD SD (special duty) series are a strong and reliable kind of locomotive which still serve America's rails today. They have proved themselves reliable by clocking in several million miles of freight service.
