January 1, 2020 – On a very quiet New Years Day I waited and waited and waited and waited and a train never appeared for this picture from a grade crossing around Gibson, Tennessee on the CSX Memphis Subdivision. Sometimes it happens, but the scene makes for a nice shot at 600mm!! I’ll revisit this spot with my long lens on a day there’s regular traffic for sure! Remember, there doesn’t always have to be a train to come back with a great picture!
January 1, 2020 – CSX intermodal Q155 crosses over the West Tennessee Railroad at the diamond in Milan, Tennessee as it makes its way north on the CSX Memphis Subdivision with CSXT 5393 & 5208 leading.
December 30, 3019 – CSXT 3180 leads Q501-29 with NREX (National Railway Equipment) 126, 127 & 128 trailing behind under wraps as it pulls away from the siding at Romney in Nortonville, KY as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision. I’ve not been able to determine who the units are for so if anyone knows I’d appreciate if you’d leave it in the comments!
According to Wikipedia: National Railway Equipment Company (reporting mark NREX) is an American railroad equipment rebuilding, leasing, and manufacturing company, headquartered in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. NREC sells new and rebuilt locomotives to railroad companies worldwide, with an emphasis on the North American market.
November 27, 2019 – After making a drop-off and pickup at Reed Minerals in Drakesboro, KY via the Paducah and Louisville Railway line to Central City, CSX local J732-27 comes off the East Diamond Lead as it returns to Madisonville, Ky and the Henderson Subdivision with its short train of two cars and 3 units.
December 12, 2019 – CSX Q500 waits in the dark at the north end of Latham Siding as it waits for its counterpart, Q501 to pass it, at Hopkinsville, Kentucky on the Henderson Subdivision.
November 30, 2019 – CSX Q025 heads south as it prepares to meet the mid-train DPU on its counterpart, Q026 waiting in the siding to continue its trip north, on the Henderson Subdivision at Guthrie, Kentucky on a wet and rainy afternoon.
December 7, 2019 – CSXT 5455 leads J783-07 past a still active B&O Signal at Tipp City, Ohio, as it heads south on the Toledo Subdivision in the early morning light.
December 7, 2019 – As the last light of the day fades, CSXT 3463 leads CSX Q224 under the old coaling tower at Lebanon Junction, Kentucky as it heads north on the Mainline Subdivision (Short Line).
According to Wikipedia: Lebanon Junction sprang into existence from a railroad switching point that split Louisville and Nashville Railroad (now CSX Transportation) traffic off the mainline to the Lebanon branch that ended in Lebanon, Kentucky. This branch was completed no later than March 8, 1858, and the town grew out of a need for railroad workers to man the terminal and switching station.
A coaling tower, coal stage or coaling station is 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.
December 7, 2019 – CSXT 5455 leads J783-07 across the Great Miami River at Troy, Ohio as it heads south on the Toledo Subdivision.
According to Wikipedia: The Toledo Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Ohio. The line runs from Hamilton (north of Cincinnati) north to Perrysburg (near Toledo) along a former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line.
The south end of the Toledo Subdivision is at the end of the Cincinnati Terminal Subdivision, near the east end of the Indianapolis Subdivision. Its north end is at the end of the Toledo Terminal Subdivision. In between, it junctions with the Middletown Subdivision at New Miami, the Indianapolis Line Subdivision at Sidney, and the Garrett Subdivision at Deshler.
South of Dayton, the Toledo Subdivision was opened by the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad in 1851. Later that decade in 1858, the Dayton and Michigan Railroad opened, continuing the line to Toledo. The lines passed to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and CSX through leases and mergers.
November 27, 2019 – CSXT 3140 leads intermodal Q026 as it crests the rise under the North Main Street overpass at Madisonville, Kentucky as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision.
November 30, 2019 – Another stormy weather day with buckets of rain as CSX Q513 approaches the north end signals at Cedar Hill, Tennessee as it makes its way south on the Henderson Subdivision.
November 20, 2019 – CSX hot intermodal Q028 plows through the driving rain at Trenton, Kentucky as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision with CSXT 3013 leading the way! Fellow railfan Cooper Smith and I spent time trackside with our golf umbrellas and both came away with some really nice pictures! Getting out trackside in bad weather is a bit tricky, but as you can see the results can be spectacular!
November 30, 2019 – Spent a good deal of the day chasing trains in the rail with fellow railfan photographer Cooper Smith today with his new camera! While we had spells of light rain, most of it was the opposite! I really enjoy getting trackside during bad weather as it gives the photos a much different look and afterall, railroads operate in all kinds of weather!
Here we see CSX Intermodal Q025-30 as it heads past Moore at the south end of Guthrie, Ky as it makes it’s way south on the Henderson Subdivision.
Hardest thing about railfanning in bad weather is getting out the door! I keep a pair of golf umbrellas in my SUV all the time just for this type of weather! Lens hoods are also a good thing to have along with a large microfiber cloth for drying the mist from your equipment in the event you get some on it!
November 27, 2019 – CSX Intermodal Q028 heads north on the the Henderson Subdivision as it passes over the Trident crossover at Madisonville, Kentucky with CSXT 3429 leading the way.
November 26, 2019 – CSX Q028 exits the CR Drawbridge from downtown Nashville, Tennessee as it makes it’s way north on the Nashville Terminal Subdivision where it will head to Chicago, Illinois via the Henderson Subdivision.
November 4, 2019 – CSX hot intermodal Q029 passes under Broadway Avenue as it approaches Kayne Avenue on its way south on the Nashville Terminal Subdivision, at Nashville, TN with CSXT 503 leading the way.
November 7, 2019 – It’s a wet and dreary day as CSXT 5205 passes through the switch at Mortons Junction at Mortons Gap, Kentucky as it leads CSX Q506 north on the Henderson Subdivision.
November 4, 2019 – CSX hot intermodal Q029 passes through Kayne Avenue as it heads south on the Nashville Terminal Subdivision, at Nashville, TN with CSXT 503 leading the way.
November 4, 2019 – CSX Q501 passes through the S curve after exiting Bakers Tunnel back around the curve as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision at Goodlettsville, TN.
November 4, 2019 – As the last light of the day begins to fade CSX Q513 passes the signals at Trenton, Kentucky as CSXT 3383 leads a manifest train south on the Henderson Subdivision.
November 4, 2019 – CSX loaded grain train G212 comes off the Nashville Terminal Subdivision onto the N&NA North Subdivision at CP Brentwood as it head south from Brentwood, Tennessee. The trackage to the left is the Nashville Subdivision.