Jim Pearson Photography – Page 120

A snowy meet at Arklow, Madisonville, Ky

As the last light of the day fades the crew on board CSX K814 braves the cold, winter’s snow as they step to the ground from Canadian Pacific 8109 at Arklow, to conduct a roll-by inspection of hot intermodal Q029 as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision at Madisonville, Kentucky.

CSX Q029 is usually an early morning move, but due to the winter storms that blew through the region, it along with many other trains moved a lot slower than usual with the conditions making it harder for the crews getting their trains loaded and moving.

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/160, ISO 400.

A snowy Paducah and Louisville Railway local

Paducah and Louisville Railway 2100 leads a short snow covered local south after passing the south end of Pond River Siding at Madisonville, Ky on the early afternoon of February 16th, 2021.

The one thing I’m still getting used to is the delay you get when photographing moving objects with a drone. This shot for instance was at least 1/2 engine length back when I fired the shutter on the drone controller, but the train moved that much before the drone actually made the photo. I still obviously like the shot, but there’s been more than one shot I missed due to the delay and with patience and practice I’m getting better at my timing!

When shooting, I try my best to frame the picture the way I want the final shot to look as this is the full frame I shot. However, it seems the answer may be to shoot a little wider then crop in a little when I process the image.

When shooting the Air 2 at 48mp RAW/JPG this isn’t a problem, but then at that quality I’ll only get one shot as it takes longer to save the image to the card and the train will be past the position I want before I can shoot again. If shooting at the 12mp RAW/JPG size I can shoot several shots, but I like the larger 48mp size to work with, so I’ll continue to work on my timing.

If any of my fellow Drone pilots out there have any suggestions please leave them in the comments below!

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/1250, ISO 100.

A Digital Art Piece – “Northbound CSX at Sunset”

A Digital Art Piece – “Northbound CSX at Sunset” – A Northbound CSX empty coal train passes through Sebree, Kentucky at sunset on the Henderson Subdivision.

A military train and a study in lines in the snow

I love how the lines flow in this shot of CSX W809 that was waiting to head south February 20th, 2021 on the Henderson Subdivision with a load of military vehicles on track two at Nortonville, Ky.

Here we find the train where it finally crawled to a stop just south of Nortonville with CSXT 5473 and 3348 leading the 5,000+ load of military vehicles elephant style, to wait for another northbound Q648. Him stopping for this meet worked really well for my shot since the train came to a full stop and I was able to shoot with a slow shutterspeed to keep my ISO and noise down from the low light scene as the last rays of light swept across the valley!

I did crop this image some from the full frame 48mp file in order to keep the drone from hovering directly over the train, via FAA rules.

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/80, ISO 100.

Indiana Southern IPL load arrives at Petersburg Generating Station

Indiana Southern Railroad (ISRR) 3383, 3372, 3371 and 3386 lead their train as they pull their loaded coal train into the Petersburg Generating Station on February 13th, 2021. The ISRR repeats this run 3-6 times a week from Peabody’s Wildboar Mine in Lynnville, IN.

According to Wikipedia: The “Petersburg Generating Station is a major coal-fired power plant in Indiana, rated at 2.146-GW nameplate capacity. It is located on the White River near Petersburg in Pike County, Indiana, just 1 mile upstream from a much smaller coal-fired Frank E. Ratts Generating Station. Petersburg G.S. is owned and operated by Indianapolis Power & Light.”

The Indiana Southern Railroad (reporting mark ISRR) is a short line or Class III railroad operating in the United States state of Indiana. It began operations in 1992 as a RailTex property, and was acquired by RailAmerica in 2000. RailAmerica was itself acquired by Genesee & Wyoming in December 2012.

Indiana Southern Railroad operates 186 miles of track from Indianapolis to Evansville. From Mars Hill (a neighborhood on the southwest side of Indianapolis) southwest through Martinsville and Spencer to Bee Hunter in Greene County, the ISRR runs on tracks that once made up the majority of the former Indianapolis & Vincennes Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. State Route 67 parallels the ISRR along much of this section.

From Bee Hunter to Elnora the ISRR has trackage rights over the Indiana Rail Road. ISRR tracks resume from Elnora through Washington in Daviess County, Petersburg in Pike County, Oakland City in Gibson County, Elberfeld in Warrick County and Daylight in Vanderburgh County before terminating in Evansville along the former New York Central’s Evansville & Indianapolis Branch.

Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Nikon DX 10-20mm lens @20mm f/4.5, 1/1600, ISO 250.

CSX hot intermodal rolls south across Gum Lick Trestle

This picture really shows the difference a day or so can make! Two days before there was about 4-6 inches of snow at this location and the temperature was 17 degrees and on this day if was 65 degrees!!! Makes for very different photos, but both situations make for great photo possibilities!

Here we have hot intermodal CSX Q029-23 with CSXT 928 leading on February 23rd, 2021 as it makes its way across the Gum Lick Trestle between Crofton and Kelly, Kentucky on the Henderson Subdivision on a beautiful winter (kinda) day.

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/800, ISO 100.

Southbound CSX local passes Monarch through fresh snowfall

The fresh blanket of snow brings a quietness to the area surrounding Monarch, where the Paducah and Louisville Railway crosses over the CSX Henderson Subdivision, at Madisonville, Ky on February 16th, 2021, until the northbound Casky to Atkinson yards local, J732-16 arrives with three SD40’s leading the way.

I’m still (for several years now) am trying for a shot of a train on both tracks at the same time at this spot. It’ll happen, it just takes a lot of patience and luck!!

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/1000, ISO 100.

Indiana Southern IPL load northbound at Petersburg, IN

Indiana Southern Railroad (ISRR) 3383, 3372, 3371 and 3386 lead their train north on the Petersburg Subdivision as they pull through their yard at Oakland City, Indiana on a very cold February 13th, 2021.

They will continue their pull through the freezing snow and ice to the Indiana Power and Light power plant just north of Petersburg, Indiana. They repeat this run 3-6 times a week from Peabody’s Wildboar Mine in Lynnville, IN.

According to Wikipedia: The Indiana Southern Railroad (reporting mark ISRR) is a short line or Class III railroad operating in the United States state of Indiana. It began operations in 1992 as a RailTex property, and was acquired by RailAmerica in 2000. RailAmerica was itself acquired by Genesee & Wyoming in December 2012.

Indiana Southern Railroad operates 186 miles of track from Indianapolis to Evansville. From Mars Hill (a neighborhood on the southwest side of Indianapolis) southwest through Martinsville and Spencer to Bee Hunter in Greene County, the ISRR runs on tracks that once made up the majority of the former Indianapolis & Vincennes Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. State Route 67 parallels the ISRR along much of this section.

From Bee Hunter to Elnora the ISRR has trackage rights over the Indiana Rail Road. ISRR tracks resume from Elnora through Washington in Daviess County, Petersburg in Pike County, Oakland City in Gibson County, Elberfeld in Warrick County and Daylight in Vanderburgh County before terminating in Evansville along the former New York Central’s Evansville & Indianapolis Branch.

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 100.

A surprise southbound move

Fellow railfan Cooper Smith and I spent the day on Saturday, February 19th, 2021 chasing trains on the Henderson Subdivision (HD) through the new additional 3-5″ of snowfall.

We had made our way all around the HD and ended up at Henderson, Ky where we first caught this surprise lash-up on CSX 403 of UP 4601, CN 2268 and a flared radiator CSX unit, #4792.

This shot is of the train as it pulls on south at Sebree, Kentucky after meeting a northbound empty coal train at sunset.

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/320, ISO 100.

Morning sunrise on the Henderson Subdivision

I’m really not much of an early morning person unless I’m up to meet a friend to spend a day railfanning, but scenes like this have got me thinking I may get up early more often to catch the early morning and late evening light. I know it’s there and it’s golden it’s just kinda hard to get up and out the door!!

On this day, February 19th, 2021, I was headed down to Guthrie, Ky to link up with fellow railfan Cooper Smith to spend a day railfanning the Henderson Subdivision in the snow.

I was watching this sunrise develop as I made my way south when I pulled over to a crossing just north of Trenton, Kentucky to catch this waiting on a train photo. It’s not always about the train when you’re trackside so always keep an eye out for other shots that might tell the story of railroading.

Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Nikon 10-20mm DX lens @ 20mm f/4.5, 1/800, ISO 180 -0.7 Exp. Comp (helps with the highlights).

Southbound military move waiting at sunset

I got a heads up on this military move from a fellow railfan and friend Travis Collins as CSX W809 headed south from up in Indiana around 10am on February 20th, 2021 on the CSX CE&D Subdivision.

I kept up with its movement through southern Indiana via Facebook and fellow railfans that were out along the lines and tracked its progress in spits and starts along the way where it head to wait for higher priority trains that were moving north.

After stopping at Howell yard in Evansville, Indiana it finally made its way onto the CSX Henderson Subdivision after taking on fuel and making a crew change at Howell, but by this time those of us waiting for it to make its appearance were starting to worry that we’d lose our light before it made it to where 7 of us railfans were waiting for it at Mortons Junction in Mortons Gap, Kentucky.

That’s where they put it on the cutoff that bypasses Madisonville and Earlington where it sat behind a loaded coal train to wait for hot intermodal Q028 and an empty coal drag to pass on the main at the junction.

Finally the loaded coal train headed south and I knew the military move would be next and I decided to move on down to the south end of Nortonville where I hoped I would get some light on the train as by this time it was just about sunset.

Here we find the train where it finally crawled to a stop just south of Nortonville with CSXT 5473 and 3348 leading the 5,000+ load of military vehicles elephant style to wait for another northbound Q648. This meet worked really well for my shot since the train came to a full stop and I was able to shoot with a slow shutterspeed to keep my ISO and noise down from the low light scene as the last rays of light swept across the valley!

Patience pays off in the long run!

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/80, ISO 100.

Southbound Intermodal at Gum Lick Trestle

CSX Q029 heads south, across Gum Lick, the highest trestle on the Henderson Subdivision, in the frigid cold, on February 19th, 2021 as the morning light rakes across the landscape sending shadows across the forest floor.

The “Gum Lick” name comes from the fact that the valley here is named Gum Lick Hollow and it sits between Crofton and Kelly Kentucky where it crosses over the West Fork of Pond River.

It’s located between J. Knight road crossing and the Cavanaugh Lane overpass.

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/1000, ISO 100.

A snowy meet at Slaughters, Kentucky

Another biting cold snow shot from February 17th, 2021 as loaded CSX coal train N302 heads south as empty ethanol train K442 waits in the siding for him to pass at Slaughters, Ky on the Henderson Subdivision.

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/400, ISO 400.

Digital Photo Art – Indiana Southern Railway pulls a Indiana Power and Light load of coal northbound at Oakland City, IN.

Another load of black coal crosses over the Norfolk Southern east-west line as Indiana Southern Railroad (ISRR) 3383, 3372, 3371 and 3386 lead their train north on their Petersburg Subdivision at Oakland City, Indiana on a very cold February 13th, 2021.

They will continue their move for another 20-30 miles or so through the freezing snow and ice to the Indiana Power and Light power plant at Petersburg, Indiana. As they repeat this run 3-6 times a week from Peabody’s Wildboar Mine in Lynnville, IN.

According to Wikipedia: The Indiana Southern Railroad (reporting mark ISRR) is a short line or Class III railroad operating in the United States state of Indiana. It began operations in 1992 as a RailTex property, and was acquired by RailAmerica in 2000. RailAmerica was itself acquired by Genesee & Wyoming in December 2012.

Indiana Southern Railroad operates 186 miles of track from Indianapolis to Evansville. From Mars Hill (a neighborhood on the southwest side of Indianapolis) southwest through Martinsville and Spencer to Bee Hunter in Greene County, the ISRR runs on tracks that once made up the majority of the former Indianapolis & Vincennes Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. State Route 67 parallels the ISRR along much of this section. From Bee Hunter to Elnora the ISRR has trackage rights over the Indiana Rail Road. ISRR tracks resume from Elnora through Washington in Daviess County, Petersburg in Pike County, Oakland City in Gibson County, Elberfeld in Warrick County and Daylight in Vanderburgh County before terminating in Evansville along the former New York Central’s Evansville & Indianapolis Branch.

PAL 2104 Dashing through the Snow!

The Princeton to Madisonville, Ky Paducah and Louisville Railway local dashes through the snow past the backside of my property on the right as it heads north at Richland, Kentucky through the freshly fallen snow!

We got probably another 3-5 inches of fresh snow this morning, February 18th, 2021, and while listening to my scanner and trying to decide if I wanted to venture down off the hill at my home I heard the Paducah and Louisville Railway local getting track warrants about 3 miles from the house.

I put on my boots and went dashing through the snow to put my drone up before it got to me and grabbed this shot of PAL 2104, 2101, 2121 and 2100 leading.

At Madisonville they’ll do their interchange work in the cold frigid weather with CSX at Atkinson Yard, dropping of these cars and picking up others!

A scene repeated all around the country on various railroads, by dedicated railroaders! Hats off to all the crews that run during frigid weather like this and all the behind the scenes folks that make it all happen!

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/320, ISO 100.

Waiting on a train in a fresh snowfall!

Well, we got probably another 3-5 inches of fresh snow this morning, February 18th, 2021, and while listening to my scanner and trying to decide if I wanted to venture down off the hill at my home I heard the Paducah and Louisville Railway local getting track warrants about 3 miles from the house.

I put on my boots and went dashing through the snow to put my drone up before it got to me! After getting it airborne I grabbed this aerial shot of my home from the sky before heading over the trees to setup my shot for the local heading north through Richland to Madisonville, Ky.

I’m posting the shot I got after this post so everyone can see what I was waiting on! Good things come to those who wait, even on a cold, snowy morning in Western Kentucky! Oh, yes, that’s me in the middle of my driveway!

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/320, ISO 100.

An almost empty CSX Q025 southbound through the snow!

February 16th, 2021 was another frigid, snowy, cold winter day, which is pretty much normal this week with the artic cold we’ve been having all around the country! When I launched my Air 2 drone for this shot of CSX Q025 heading south through Earlington, Kentucky on the Henderson Subdivision I didn’t expect what showed up!

What made this move even more different is that it only had 13 loads behind the power and everything else on the train was empties! Looks like the cold and freezing weather up north has put a damper of the cargo loading operations and so it’s reflected in the almost empty hot intermodal heading for Jacksonville, Florida.

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/1600, ISO 100.

Broom work is never done after a good snow on the PAL!

It’s February 16th, 2021 and a cool 10 degrees outside (even colder with the wind chill) as two Paducah and Louisville Railway employees work on clearing snow and ice from the switches at West Yard in Madisonville, Kentucky.

On shortline and regional railroads this scene is repeated a lot, even on many of the class ones, epically with the recent snow front that moved through much of south in areas that normally don’t get snow! I’m told that CSX in the Nashville area had crews doing this same thing all around the city!

Remember, it’s not always about the power on the railroad! It’s folks behind the scenes like the maintainers, MOW folks, Dispatchers, ect. that make it all move!

Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Nikon 70-300 @ 185mm f/5, 1/1250, ISO 100 -0.7 Exp. Comp.

CSX dashing through the snow with a full load of coal!

Well, along with mostly everyone else it seems around the country we got a lot of snow between Sunday and Monday, at least for our area! I haven’t heard the official count, but I’d between 4-8 inches after the first round of the artic front that moved through. They’re calling for another round starting tomorrow!

Anyway, I had to venture out during the storm and see what I could find moving in the cold, blowing snowfall and I caught CSXT 967 and 116 leading N302 as they head south to hopefully warmer weather on February 15th, 2021 on the Henderson Subdivision at the S curve in Nortonville, Kentucky.

It’s weather like this that makes me happy I have my all-wheel drive Toyota RAV4!! Just gotta take it slow, bundle up and stay very socially distant from any other vehicles around!! LOL Be careful trackside folks if you decide to get out in this mess!

Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Nikon 10-20mm DX Lens @ 22mm f/4.5, 1/1250, ISO 140.

NS 8173 leads loaded coal train across the Wabash River

I was about 14 degrees, with an even colder wind chill, as Norfolk Southern 8173 crossed over the Wabash River coming into Mt. Carmel, Illinois with load of coal for the Gibson Generating Station (Duke Energy) on February 13th, 2021 on the NS Southern West District.

Today was probably the coldest day I’ve flown my DJI Air 2 since I bought it last year and it handled the weather just fine. I did seem to notice that the flight time on the battery was less, but I expected that to be the case. Also, the gray color of the drone against the gray snowy skies is a little harder to keep track of in the air, but not flying it too far from my position helped!

Any of my drone friends ever use any of the orange props? If so does it help with visibility? What other things do you do to help with visibility? Strobe lights? If so, what do you recommend?

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 100.

Indiana Southern IPL load northbound at Oakland City, IN

Another load of black coal crosses over the Norfolk Southern east-west line as Indiana Southern Railroad (ISRR) 3383, 3372, 3371 and 3386 lead their train north on their Petersburg Subdivision at Oakland City, Indiana on a very cold February 13th, 2021.

They will continue their move for another 20-30 miles or so through the freezing snow and ice to the Indiana Power and Light power plant at Petersburg, Indiana. As they repeat this run 3-6 times a week from Peabody’s Wildboar Mine in Lynnville, IN.

According to Wikipedia: The Indiana Southern Railroad (reporting mark ISRR) is a short line or Class III railroad operating in the United States state of Indiana. It began operations in 1992 as a RailTex property, and was acquired by RailAmerica in 2000. RailAmerica was itself acquired by Genesee & Wyoming in December 2012.

Indiana Southern Railroad operates 186 miles of track from Indianapolis to Evansville. From Mars Hill (a neighborhood on the southwest side of Indianapolis) southwest through Martinsville and Spencer to Bee Hunter in Greene County, the ISRR runs on tracks that once made up the majority of the former Indianapolis & Vincennes Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. State Route 67 parallels the ISRR along much of this section. From Bee Hunter to Elnora the ISRR has trackage rights over the Indiana Rail Road. ISRR tracks resume from Elnora through Washington in Daviess County, Petersburg in Pike County, Oakland City in Gibson County, Elberfeld in Warrick County and Daylight in Vanderburgh County before terminating in Evansville along the former New York Central’s Evansville & Indianapolis Branch.

Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/500, ISO 100.