ENID OK Jan 10 1982 — North Central Oklahoma Railroad RS36 2873 is tied down in bitter cold at the Santa Fe yard. The ambient temperature this day was around -20F. Both my electronic Asahi Pentax KX SLR cameras froze up. I turned to my older and completely manual Honeywell Pentax SP500 SLR and it worked like a charm. Alco built the steam generator equipped RS36 (b/n 84104, o/n S-3348-5) for Nickel Plate in July 1962 as NKP 873. As part of a merger it was acquired by Norfolk & Western as NW 2873. After being sold to an owner with reporting mark XTRA the unit was acquired by the NCO as NCOK 2873. The NCO existed from 1982 to 1985 and is now the Austin, Todd & Ladd Railroad but the AT&L does not roster this unit. Ken Fitzgerald’s Web site fl9.com reports, "Prior to arriving in Oklahoma, this 1800-hosepower unit was one of only forty of this model built by ALCO…” Corrections and/or additions welcome. My photo.
