Trainspotter Photographs Every Locomotive in North America, Still Cannot Explain to Family Why

Amateur railfan and retired insurance adjuster Clive Gondola, 67, announced Friday that he has successfully photographed every active mainline locomotive in North America — a total of 23,412 unique units across 7 Class I railroads, 21 regional carriers, and 584 short lines — completing a project that has consumed 14 years, $340,000 in travel expenses, and his family's capacity for understanding. 'I've been asked why roughly 4,000 times,' Gondola said, flipping through a binder of photographs organized by railroad, locomotive model, and road number. 'By my wife, my children, my siblings, my neighbors, the IRS auditor who reviewed my travel deductions. I don't have an answer that satisfies any of them. It just needed to be done.' The collection, which fills 847 three-ring binders and occupies an entire room of Gondola's home, includes every active diesel-electric and electric locomotive operated by BNSF, Union Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, and Kansas City Southern, plus all regional and short-line operators. 'The hardest one was a GE ES44DC numbered 7421 on the Montana Rail Link,' Gondola recalled. 'She only ran on Tuesdays between Helena and Missoula. I staked out a grade crossing in Drummond for six days in February. It was minus 14 degrees. When she finally came through, I wept. My thermos had frozen solid.' Gondola's wife, Marion, has been 'supportive in the way that someone who has completely given up trying to understand something can be supportive.' She attended the celebration dinner and described the achievement as 'finished. Thank God, it's finished.' Gondola has already begun his next project: photographing every active freight car in North America. There are approximately 1.6 million. 'Marion doesn't know yet,' he said.