Surfaces - Everyday Life in the Early 70s

I bring you a trip down memory lane with scanned images of my dad's 70's slides. The 1964 Oldsmobile was our vehicle of choice for family adventures from Fairbanks to Oaxaca. We never flew, thus I named this series "Surfaces".

: Washington, DC. autumn, 1971


The Final Years

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Surfaces - Everyday Life in the Early 70s

I bring you a trip down memory lane with scanned images of my dad's 70's slides. The 1964 Oldsmobile was our vehicle of choice for family adventures from Fairbanks to Oaxaca. We never flew, thus I named this series "Surfaces".

: Knoxville, TN. summer, 1971


Fire Station No. 9

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Fate of Cab Windows

: Durango, CO. Sep. 7, 2017

Here, a cab window means a window on the side of a cab, not the windshield. There used to be a large opening on the side of the cab where engineers would give waves to us on the trackside.

Today, in contrast with the cab windows of freight equipment, the cab windows of passenger equipment become relatively small.

: Sep. 10, 2017 Thompson Springs, UT
: Sep. 13, 2015 Santa Fe, NM

As you can see in the photo, GE P42DC first built in 1993 has a cab window with enough opening width for the engineer to hang out his arm. But MPI MP36PH first built in 2003 has a triangle window with only a small opening. Siemens Charger first built in 2016 has quite a little fixed window only to see the back mirror.

: Jul. 8, 2023 Vevey, Switzerland
: Jul. 8, 2023 Vevey, Switzerland
: Jul. 14, 2023 Basel, Switzerland

It seems the same in Switzerland. Black masking paints hide it, but the size of the cab windows of SBB equipment is getting small.

Not only SBB but narrow gauge tourist railways also introduce smaller cab window equipment. For example, as shown in the photo below, Gornergrat Railway (GGB) Bhe 4/8 with a wide cab window on the right was built in 1993, and Bhe 4/6 with a narrow cab window behind the mask on the left was built in 2022. MOB GPX equipment first built in 2020 seems to have a relatively large fixed cab window at a glance, but that’s maybe for the Prestige Class passengers right behind it.

: Jul. 9, 2023 Gornergrat, Switzerland
: Jul. 7, 2023 Montreux, Switzerland

In France, TGV Euroduplex first built in 2011 has a small fixed cab window, but TER 76500 series DMU first built in 2004 and TER 84500 series EMU first built in 2014 have no cab window.

I believe that the cab air conditioning and the conductor-less operation with a single operator at the center of the windshield brought about the decay of cab windows. Waving hands to and from trains may also decay in the near future.

: Jul. 12, 2023 Mulhouse, France
: Jul. 12, 2023 Mulhouse, France
: Jul. 11, 2023 Belfort, France

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Season’s Greetings 2023

: Yanahara, Okayama, Japan

Here I express my gratitude to more than 10000 viewers (924000 since its launch in Feb. 2010) who visited the Boxcar Red Collection website in 2023. Wish all of you, who visited here, a Happy New Year.


弊ブログを今年延べ1万名以上の方がご覧くださいました。 訪れてくださった方々、そしてコメントくださいました方々に改めてお礼申し上げますとともに、よいお年をお迎えくださいますようお祈り申し上げます。

Tigers and Zebras 05 − Safety Stripes in the Alps

Here are some safety stripes found in Switzerland.

: Jul. 7, 2023 Zweisimmen, Switzerland
: Jul. 8, 2023 Vevey, Switzerland

The top photo shows the meter-gauge Montreux Oberland Bernois Railway (MOB) diesel locomotive, and the next photo shows Transports Montreux Vevey Riviera (MVR) diesel locomotive both with chevrons on aprons.

: Jul. 10, 2023 Visp, Switzerland

A little safety stripe is found on a passing freight train. This tank car with a safety stripe on the end of the bolster is ERSA Zacns 7841-102 (reporting mark, class, series-number) owned by the freight car rental company Ermewa.

These are the only tigers and zebras I found in Switzerland during our ten days holidays.

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Surfaces - Everyday Life in the Early 70s

I bring you a trip down memory lane with scanned images of my dad's 70's slides. The 1964 Oldsmobile was our vehicle of choice for family adventures from Fairbanks to Oaxaca. We never flew, thus I named this series "Surfaces".

: Cape Canaveral, FL. winter, 1970


Apollo 13

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