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John Garofalo Photo by T.J. Donahue Westbound Rio Grande freight approaches Tunnel 1 near Coal Creek Canyon, CO - 2/1974 Forty-eight years ago this month (original article - February 2022), Tom (T.J.) Donahue took a two-week break from his duties as operator at Penn Central’s Peck Tower in Bridgeport, CT to railfan in California. He traveled west by train. The trip was not made entirely on Amtrak. Tom stepped off in Denver, CO so he could ride the Rio Grande, which operate

Enjoy this article from by Bob Hughes, who was a WestConn Chapter member and former railroad tower operator. I hired out on the New Haven as a signal station operator in June 1968, right after graduation from college. At the same time my draft status changed from 2S to 1A, but I got a lucky break by enlisting in the US Navy Reserves. Even more luck found me assigned to my two years active duty aboard USS Intrepid. The ship’s homeport was Quonset Point Naval Air Station in

Enjoy this article by Bob Hughes , a WestConn Chapter member and former tower operator. As a Tower Operator for the New Haven in 1968, I...

John Garofalo Photos by T.J. Donahue Since steam ended early (1952) on Tom Donahue’s home railroad, the New Haven, he spent many...