| When Amtrak took over operation of the SOUTHERN CRESCENT on 1 February 1979 it leased all of the Southern Railway’s remaining E8A units for six months. While the Southern had maintained the locos at Atlanta and they were hardly ever seen in New Orleans during the day, Amtrak assigned them to New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal for maintenance and scenes like this became common. In this view, taken about three weeks after Amtrak began running the train (as the CRESCENT), Southern 6907, 6903 and 6909 were parked outside of the NOUPT diesel shop with SDP40F 624 and P30CH 722. Southern 6908 was coupled to the 624, while Southern 6911 was behind the photographer along with F40’s 252 and 265, and P30CH units 710, 715 and 721. |