This is a spot I’ve never been able to photograph a train at before, as it’s pretty much inaccessible unless you trespass and walk in along the right-of-way, which I don’t do. The drone has opened a lot of new spots to photograph such as this location south of East Diamond on the CSX Henderson Subdivision, where the Paducah and Louisville Railway (PAL) crosses over the CSX Earlington Cutoff at Madisonville, Ky.
On March 16th, 2021 I flew my DJI Air 2 to this spot to capture this photo of CSXT 3261 leading an exceptionally long loaded grain train, G108, as it passed under the PAL on its way south on what’s called the Earlington Cutoff on the Henderson Subdivision.
This track allows the CSX dispatcher to run trains around the towns of Madisonville and Earlington, Ky, freeing up the mainline track through both these towns, to run trains around and past each other.
I’ve never heard this specific spot called anything special by the crews, unlike the PAL crossover at Monarch on the CSX main at Madisonville.
For those who are wondering, I waited for the train to get to my spot in this photo and then moved the drone away from the track before the train passed under my drone, keeping within the FAA guidelines. The photo was obviously cropped to a vertical from a much wider shot at 48mp. This is how I obtain all my verticals when using the drone.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/1000, ISO 100.