September 13, 2020 – Norfolk Southern 168, with NS Pennsylvania Heritage unit 8102 leading on the NS Southern East District, departs the west end of the siding at Ayrshire Township, Indiana as it heads west toward St. Louis, MO.
Tech Info: Full Frame Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 150mm, f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 360.
September 13, 2020 – I got word from a fellow railfan out of Louisville, Austin Bell, that Norfolk Southern 168 was headed west from Louisville, Kentucky with NS Pennsylvania Heritage unit 8102 leading on the NS Southern East District. He knew it was one of three that I still needed to fill my collection of the 20 Heritage Paint Units that NS has put out. (Now I need NS 1065 and NS 1700)
I typically don’t railfan Sundays as I do church and edit the videos from the live stream in the afternoon and update our web locations with the same. However, I answered the call this afternoon and made the 1.5 hour drive to Princeton, Indiana to capture this shot of the train as it heads west through the yard at Princeton with my drone!
I actually caught it starting at west end of Ashire, Indiana and chased it to Princeton and was able to catch it at several spots along the route with my D800 and the drone, but in this case the drone won out because of the new angle it gives me!
I also met up with a lot of railfan friends that were trackside for the same train and got to finally meet Railfan Julian (6 year old railfan that loves trains) and his mom!
If you want to encourage young railfans I invite you to give his page a like here on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/railfan.julian.5
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Mini Drone, JPG, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/100, ISO 100.
July 17, 2020 – Norfolk Southern New Jersey Central Lines Heritage Unit 1071 leads NS 172 across the NS/CSX diamond at 4th Street in Louisville, Kentucky as it heads north on the Louisville District.
Tech Info: Full Frame Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 280mm, f/5.6, 1/320, ISO 100.
May 27, 2020 – Norfolk Southern Railway Wabash heritage unit 1070 enters the S curve at Albion, Illinois, as it leads NS 224 westbound on the NS Southern-West District.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 350mm, f/5.6, 1/640sec, ISO 560.
May 27, 2020 – Norfolk Southern Railway Wabash heritage unit 1070 passes through Golden Gate, Illinois, as it leads NS 224 through stormy weather on its way west on the NS Southern-West District.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Irex 11mm, f/5.6, 1/640sec, ISO 160.
May 27, 2020 – Norfolk Southern New York Central heritage unit 1066 passes Consolidated Grain & Barge Co. silos at Wayne City, Illinois as it heads west on the NS Southern-West District. It was running engine light, with two other engines in trail, as NS D51as it headed down the line to pick up empty grain cars.
This was one of of the last three NS Heritage units that I haven’t caught till now, so only 2 left till I’ve photographed all 20 of the NS Heritage fleet. Now I need to catch the Savannah & Atlanta Railway and the Pennsylvania Railroad to complete my NS Heritage picture set.
Today was a great day of railfanning with Ryan Scott and Eli Noble!! Many more shots from the day yet to come!
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 24-70 @ 24mm, f/5.6, 1/640sec, ISO 125.
May 27, 2020 – Norfolk Southern Wabash heritage unit 1070 approaches milepost 147, just west of Mt. Carmel, Illinois, as it leads NS 224 through the rain on its way west on the NS Southern-West District.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/640sec, ISO 250.
April 29, 2020 – Norfolk Southern 8025, Monongahela Heritage Unit, leads NS 168 (Louisville, KY to St. Louis, MO) as passes through Hatfield Junction, east of Oakland City, Indiana, as it heads west on the NS Southern East-West District.
In 2012, Norfolk Southern celebrated 30 years of being formed, and painted 20 new locomotives in predecessor schemes to honor its heritage. GE ES44AC #8025 was painted into the Monongahela scheme.
According to Wikipedia: The Monongahela Railway (reporting mark MGA) was a coal-hauling short line railroad in Pennsylvania and West Virginia in the United States. It was jointly controlled originally by the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central subsidiary Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, with NYC and PRR later succeeded by Penn Central Transportation. The company operated its own line until it was merged into Conrail on May 1, 1993.
Conrail would be bought in 1998 by Norfolk Southern and CSX. Eleven GE Class B23-7Rs (sometimes referred to as Super 7s), the Monongahela’s final locomotive fleet numbered 2300-2310, were renumbered 2030-2040 by Conrail, then divided between NS and CSX when they operationally took over Conrail operations in 1999.
Tech: Nikon D800, Lens: Sigma 150-600 @ 390mm, f/9, 1/1000 sec, ISO 560.
April 29, 2020 – Norfolk Southern 8025, Monongahela Heritage Unit, leads NS 168 (Louisville, KY to St. Louis, MO) as it heads down the curve approaching the crossing on County Road 150 at Princeton, Indiana as it heads west on the NS Southern East-West District toward St. Louis.
Tech: Nikon D800, Lens: Sigma 150-600 @ 200mm, f/9, 1/1000sec, ISO 280.
April 29, 2020 – Well, for the first time since this pandemic began I left the state today! One of the four remaining Norfolk Southern Heritage Units that I haven’t caught, NS 8025 (Monongahela) was leading NS 168 westbound from Louisville, KY to St. Louis, MO and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
In this shot I caught him after he passed the signals at East Douglas in Princeton, Indiana as it made its way on the NS Southern East-West District toward St. Louis.
Tech: Nikon D800, Lens: Irex 11mm @ f/9, 1/1000sec, ISO 200.
February 20, 2020 – Metra’s Milwaukee Road heritage Unit 405 waits to depart from Union Station in downtown Chicago, Illinois.
According to a Metra January 25, 2019 press release: The Milwaukee Road locomotive is the second locomotive to be painted in heritage colors after an earlier one painted in a color scheme of the old Rock Island Line. The locomotives have been recently rebuilt and getting a new coat of paint – either in the regular Metra scheme or in heritage colors.
October 14, 2019 – The inbound crew on Union Pacific 1989, Denver Rio Grande Heritage Unit, leaves CSX W221-13 at Howell Yard in Evansville, Indiana after tying down their train. A new outbound crew will take coke train on south onto the Henderson Subdivision on its way to Georgia. It’s trailing units here are UP 6684 and 7164.
According to Wikipedia: Union Pacific 1989: Serial number 20056723-098, is painted in Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad colors. It was delivered on 24 May 2006, unveiled on June 17, 2006, at a special UP employee event in Denver, Colorado.
It is one of six EMD SD70ACe locomotives that are painted in the liveries of railroads acquired by the Union Pacific. The company says the locomotives “pay homage to those railroads and the generations of men and women who helped to build a great nation and the foundation for our future.”
October 14, 2019 – Union Pacific 1989, Denver Rio Grand Heritage Unit, pulls past a switch at CSX’s Howell Yard in Evansville, Indiana, after dropping off a trailing CSXT unit from it’s consist. It is leading a southbound loaded coke train CSX W221-13 on it’s way down the CE&D, Henderson and other Subdivisions in Illinois, Indiana, and Tennessee on its way to Georgia. It’s trailing units here are UP 6684 and 7164.
May 25, 2019 – Norfolk Western 611 sits in the shed at the Virginia Transportation Museum in Roanoke, Virginia as I captured this shot of it’s drivers. I’ve photographed this engine numerous times over the years, but I’ve still yet to catch it in operation! It’ll happen someday!
May 4, 2019 – Norfolk Southern, NS 8101 the NS Central of Georgia Heritage Unit, sits tied down with NS 8006 at Alcoa in Newburgh, Indiana as it waits for the plant to unload its coal cars under stormy skies.
May 4, 2019 – Norfolk Southern Heritage Unit 8114 trails behind NS 9318, on 60A, as it heads toward Huntingburg, Indiana on the NS Evansville Branch. It’s returning from AK Steel in Rockport, IN after dropping off loaded cars and picking up empties for the trip back to the east toward Louisville, Ky. – #jimstrainphotos #indianarailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #ns #nsrailway #nsheritageunit
May 4, 2019 – Norfolk Southern Heritage Unit 8101, Central of Georgia, sits tied down with NS 8006 at Alcoa as it waits for it’s coal cars to be unloaded at Yankee Town, Indiana. – #jimstrainphotos #indianarailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #ns #nsrailway #nsheritageunit
February 22, 2019 – CSX Q500, led by Norfolk Southern’s 1111 (nicknamed as the bar-code unit), passes through the Romney with Union Pacific 4254 trailing, as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision and Nortonville, Ky. – #jimstrainphotos #kentuckyrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad #nsrailway #norfolksouthern #unionpacific
February 23, 2019 – CSX grain train G235-22 heads through the north end of Slaughters, through the falling rain, as it makes its way south on the Henderson Subdivision at Slaughters, Kentucky. – #jimstrainphotos #kentuckyrailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #csx #csxrailroad
July 5, 2018 – After a couple hours of working in the Norfolk Southern yard at Princeton, Indiana the conductor and engineer of I24 leave NS Heritage Unit 1068, The Erie, in front of the yard office after turning it on the wye. The engine sat there about an hour and then was added as a DPU onto the end of 799, an empty coal train headed to pickup a load of coal on the Evansville Western Railway. – #jimstrainphotos #indianarailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #ns #nsrailway #heritageunits #nsheritageunit
June 18, 2018 – NS Heritage “Southern” unit, 8099, leads a loaded Duke Energy Coal train westbound as it passes through the east end of Lyle Siding at Princeton, Indiana, running as a second train (Q0T) of 71T, from Francisco, IN to East Mt. Carmel, IN to Duke Energy. – #jimstrainphotos #indianarailroads #trains #nikond800 #railroad #railroads #train #railways #railway #ns #nsrailway #nsheritageunit