Only on the D&H

February 24th, 1978:

The Dispatcher wasn’t happy: In the middle of a February snowstorm,  train X35, a unit coal train, had started its run in Binghamton with D&H Alco RS-36 #5012 and EMD GP38-2 #7312: now it was limping into Colonie yard with a dead RS-36 and a struggling GP38-2. The Schenectady dispatcher contacted the Colonie yardmaster and asked if there were any available power to assist 7312 north on the 4th sub: he replied that all available power were on extra trains or snowplow runs. The only available power were D&H PA-4’s number 19 and 17, less than a year in freight service since Amtrak replaced them with French built Turbo-Trains. The dispatcher said “Put’em on the train”, and so, on that -10 degree night, I watched X35 fly though Plattsburgh, and I thought: “Only on the D&H!”