October 17, 2018 – Union Pacific 6609 leads a loaded coal train past the signals at MP 211.5 as it heads north along the Paducah and Louisville Railway, headed for the Calvert City Terminal, at Calvert City, Ky in the glow of the late afternoon sun. – #jimstrainphotos #kentuckyrailroads #trains #fujixt1 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad
October 17, 2018 – Union Pacific 6609 leads a loaded coal train, past a string of 7 Paducah and Louisville units on an empty coal train, at the Calvert City Terminal in Calvert City, Kentucky as it prepares to unload. – #jimstrainphotos #kentuckyrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad
October 17, 2018 – Dust flies as Canadian National 2985 leads a loaded coal train under the old Illinois Central Coaling tower at Reevesville, Illinois on its way south on CN’s Bluford Subdivision, the Edgewood Cutoff.
According to Wikipedia: A coaling tower, coal stage or coaling station was a facility used to load coal as fuel into railway steam locomotives. Coaling towers were often sited at motive power depots or locomotive maintenance shops.
Coaling towers were constructed of wood, steel-reinforced concrete, or steel. In almost all cases coaling stations used a gravity fed method, with one or more large storage bunkers for the coal elevated on columns above the railway tracks, from which the coal could be released to slide down a chute into the waiting locomotive’s coal storage area. The method of lifting the bulk coal into the storage bin varied. The coal usually was dropped from a hopper car into a pit below tracks adjacent to the tower. From the pit a conveyor-type system used a chain of motor-driven buckets to raise the coal to the top of the tower where it would be dumped into the storage bin; a skip-hoist system lifted a single large bin for the same purpose. Some facilities lifted entire railway coal trucks or wagons. Sanding pipes were often mounted on coaling towers to allow simultaneous replenishment of a locomotive’s sand box.
As railroads transitioned from the use of steam locomotives to the use of diesel locomotives in the 1950s the need for coaling towers ended. Many reinforced concrete towers remain in place if they do not interfere with operations due to the high cost of demolition incurred with these massive structures. – #jimstrainphotos #illinoisrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #cnrailway
October 15, 2018 – Well, they say third time is charm!! This is the third time I’ve seen this geometry car, CSX W002, GMS-2, in as many days, but today I was finally able to capture it with my camera! It’s been inspecting track on the Paducah and Louisville Railway (PAL), which I wasn’t in the position to chase or photograph. Today I caught it after it left the PAL at East Diamond and came back onto the south end of CSX’s Atkinson Yard in Madisonville, Ky on the Henderson Subdivision where it tied down.
According to Wikipedia, A track geometry car (also known as a track recording car) is an automated track inspection vehicle on a rail transport system used to test several geometric parameters of the track without obstructing normal railroad operations. Some of the parameters generally measured include position, curvature, alignment of the track, smoothness, and the cross level of the two rails. The cars use a variety of sensors, measuring systems, and data management systems to create a profile of the track being inspected.
Track geometry cars emerged in the 1920s when rail traffic became sufficiently dense that manual and visual inspections were no longer practical. Furthermore, the increased operating speeds of trains of that era required more meticulous maintained tracks. In 1925, the Chemins de fer de l’Est put a track geometry car into operation carrying an accelerograph developed by Emile Hallade, the inventor of the Hallade Method. The accelerograph could record horizontal and vertical movement as well as roll. It was fitted with a manual button to record milestones and stations in the record. Such car was developed by travaux Strasbourg now part of GEISMAR Group. By 1927 the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway had a track car in operation followed by the Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil in 1929. These two cars were built by Baldwin using the gyroscope technology of Sperry Corporation.
The first track geometry car in Germany appeared in 1929 and was operated by Deutsche Reichsbahn. The equipment for this car came from Anschütz in Kiel, a company currently owned by Raytheon. In Switzerland, the first track geometry recording equipment was integrated in an already existing dynamometer car in 1930.
One of the earliest track geometry cars was Car T2 used by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Project HISTEP (High-Speed Train Evaluation Program). It was built by the Budd Company especially for Project HISTEP to evaluate track conditions between Trenton and New Brunswick, NJ, where the DOT had established a section of track for testing high-speed trains, and accordingly, the T2 ran at speeds of 150 miles per hour or faster.
Many of the first regular service geometry cars were created from old passenger cars outfitted with the appropriate sensors, instruments, and recording equipment, coupled behind a locomotive. By at least 1977, self-propelled geometry cars had emerged. Southern Pacific’s GC-1 (built by Plasser American) was among the first and utilized twelve measuring wheels in conjunction with strain gauges, computers, and spreadsheets to give managers a clear picture of the condition of the railroad. Even in 1981, the Encyclopedia of North American Railroads considered this the most advanced track geometry car in North America. – #jimstrainphotos #kentuckyrailroads #trains #fujixt1 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad
October 13, 2018 – On Track 1 CSXT 3383 heads up CSX’s “hot” southbound intermodal Q025 (Bedford Park, IL – Jacksonville, FL) on track 2 as it prepares to roar past CSX Q500 (Nashville, TN – Chicago , IL) at Oak Hill, just north of Nortonville, Ky as they both continue their runs along the Henderson Subdivision. Traffic the last few days has been somewhat stalled going south and north, due to hurricane Michael down south. – #jimstrainphotos #kentuckyrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad
October 13, 2018 – CSXT 269 heads up CSX Q028 passes an old grain elevator in downtown Hopkinsville, Ky as it makes its way north on the Henderson Subdivision. – #jimstrainphotos #kentuckyrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad
October 13, 2018 – Cooper Smith photographs CSX Q500-13 as he and other members of the West Kentucky Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society take part on a chapter railfan event at the old Louisville & Nashville Railway depot in Hopkinsville, Ky, as Q500 heads north on the Henderson Subdivision. – #jimstrainphotos #kentuckyrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad
October 10, 2018 – CSXT 4038 leads Q029-09 as it passes Q589-09 at the north end of Nortonville, Ky on its way south along the Henderson Subdivision. CSX Q589 is hauling a newly constructed spent nuclear fuel cask behind the locomotives. – #jimstrainphotos #kentuckyrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad
October 10, 2018 – A new sight for us here on CSX’s Henderson Subdivision are the DPU’s being run on intermodals Q025 & Q026. I understand it’s a test phase right now, but it certainly makes for a different photograph. Here we have Q025-09 passing Q028 in the siding at the north end of Kelly, Ky as CSXT 3101 acts as the DPU on it’s way south along the Henderson Subdivision.
A DPU (Distributed Power Unit) A locomotive set capable of remote-control operation in conjunction with locomotive units at the train’s head end. DPUs are placed in the middle or at the rear of heavy trains (such as coal, grain, soda ash and even manifest), to help climb grades. – #jimstrainphotos #kentuckyrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad
October 10, 2018 – CSX Q589-09 heads through Mortons Gap, Ky, with a newly constructed spent nuclear fuel cask trailing behind the locomotives, as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision. – #jimstrainphotos #kentuckyrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad
October 6, 2018 – Signals reflect off the side of CSX Q647, as makes its way through Howell Yards, in Evansville, Indiana, as it continues south to it’s final destination of Waycross, GA. – #jimstrainphotos #kentuckyrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad
October 6, 2018 – Against the night sky glow from Evansville, Indiana the headlights from CSX E306 lights up the railing as it heads slowly down the viaduct at Rham, Indiana with its empty coal train after crossing over the Ohio River on the Henderson Subdivision. Nikon D800, 4 min exposure at f/11 at ISO 100 with a Nikon 18mm lens. – #jimstrainphotos #indianarailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad
