Caption: RLK 3873 pulls Wellsboro and Corning Railroad (WCOR) SD40-2s 307, 302, 301 and 309 out of Stuart Street yard to be lifted by CN. They would be interchanged to NS in Buffalo, who would take them down the southern tier to Corning, NY and interchange to the WCOR. The four SD40-2s arrived in Hamilton as QNSL and were crudely patched "WCOR"at Railcare before continuing on their trip to the states.
The area of Pennsylvania that WCOR serves was experiencing a boom in oil fracking, and the railroad needed bigger power to haul the seemingly endless hoppers of fracking sand to be used in the fracking process. WCOR went nuts relaying double track and building sidings to store the hopper cars waiting to be unloaded. The railroad became so attractive it was snatched up by shortline holding company Genesee and Wyoming. Soon after the G&W purchase oil prices dropped, fracking became less profitable and most if not all operations ceased. That resulted in a huge drop in business for the WCOR, so much so that three of the four SD40-2s were reassigned to the Buffalo and Pittsburgh. WCOR 307 and 309 still operate on the B&P. I'm not sure about the status of 301 and 302; I know at least one of them was returned to the lessor.
Regardless, the SD40-2s looked pretty snazzy while it lasted. The WCOR even had this photo on their website for a while and it got me a free ride on the Tioga Central, the tourist train that operates on the WCOR between Wellsboro Junction and Hammond Lake. Proof that sometimes you can get unexpected benefits from your photos!
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This is really cool. Great light and you won the nose out or nose in coin toss for a move like this.