June 1, 2020 – Dusk settles across western Kentucky as CSX Q647 passes the signals at the south end of the siding at Kelly, KY as it rumbles south on the Henderson Subdivision at the old wooden overpass where preparations are underway its replacement with a new concrete bridge.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Irex 11mm, f/4, 1/320, ISO 3200.
June 18, 2020 – Indiana Railroad (INRD) engineer, Travis Collis, heads across the INRD Chicago Subdivision Diamond at Linton, Indiana with his train, as he heads north with HWSA-18 on the INRD Indianapolis Subdivision.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Irex 11mm, f/6.3, 1/1250, -3 f/stops (exposed for the highlights and processed for the shadows), ISO 100.
June 18, 2020 – Indiana Railroad (INRD) engineer, Travis Collis, swings the stop sign to the Indiana Southern Railroad track at the diamond in Switz City, Indiana, as he makes his way north with his train, INRD HWSA-18, to the north end of the BLS Siding at Switz City, to meet it’s counterpart SAHW-18 coming from Indianapolis.
This is the point where the crew from each train will swap out and the Indy train will return there, whereas Collins train will make a run to Palestine, Illinois before returning to the Hiawatha Yard in Jasonville, Indiana on the Indianapolis Subdivision.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 360mm, f/6.3, 1/1250, ISO 140.
June 18, 2020 – After a 3 hour wait for maintenance-of-way to clear up, the crew of a southbound Indiana Railroad train from Indianapolis (INRD) with engine 9005 leading, meets and does their job briefing with northbound INRD 9004 and INRD’s 25th Anniversary engine 9025 trailing, at the north end of BLS Siding at Switz City, Indiana, to trade off trains at dusk.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Nikon 50mm @ 1.4, 1/320, ISO 2,500,
June 18, 2020 – Indiana Railroad (INRD) 9004 leads SAHW-18 (Switz City, IN – Hiawatha, IN), as engineer Travis Collins keeps a watchful eye as he passes through the diamond over the Indiana Southern Railroad at Switz City, Indiana, as he heads north on the INRD Indianapolis Subdivision, as the last light of the day fades from the sky.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Nikon 50mm @ 1.4, 1/125, ISO 6,400, Car head lights for lighting.
June 17. 2020 – CSX Jewelers work to replace the diamond at Trident, where the Henderson Subdivision, Morganfield Branch and the MH&E branch cross at Madisonville, Kentucky. Much of the two latter branches were shut down within the last year and are now used for storage, but locals and coal trains still use them to some degree. The Henderson subdivision however still sees on average of 20-25 trains a day so this diamond still sees a lot of traffic!
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 with a 1.4 teleconverter @ 700mm, f/13, 1/1600sec, ISO 1800.
June 16, 2020 – Paducah and Louisville loaded coal train PNX2 heads down the Warrior Coal lead after picking up a load of coal at the Warrior loadout at Nebo, Kentucky with 4518 leading the way.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 550mm, f/13, 1/1600sec, ISO 1000.
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.
June 4, 2020 – The crew on Paducah and Louisville (PAL) 3800 wait patiently in the loading area of Scotty’s Rock yard in Litchfield, Kentucky with a load of rock for Scotty’s Vine Grove plant, for permission to head north with their train.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 310mm, f/8, 1/1250sec, ISO 900.
June 13, 2020 – Indiana Railroad (HWPAT-13, Hiawatha to Palestine) 9007 (SD90) pulls north across the 1910 bridge over the Wabash River, engines light, out of Palestine, Illinois after dropping off its southbound train with INRD 9011 in trail. According to Wikipedia: The Indiana Rail Road (reporting mark INRD) is a United States Class II railroad, originally operating over former Illinois Central Railroad trackage from Newton, Illinois, to Indianapolis, Indiana, a distance of 155 miles (249 km).
This line, now known as the Indiana Rail Road’s Indianapolis Subdivision, comprises most of the former IC line from Indianapolis to Effingham, Illinois; Illinois Central successor Canadian National Railway retains the portion from Newton to Effingham.
INRD also owns a former Milwaukee Road line from Terre Haute, Indiana, to Burns City, Indiana (site of the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center), with trackage rights extending to Chicago, Illinois. INRD serves Louisville, Kentucky, and the Port of Indiana on the Ohio River at Jeffersonville, Indiana, through a haulage agreement with the Louisville & Indiana Railroad.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600mm @ 600, f/13, 1/800sec, ISO 500.
June 13, 2020 – CSX Intermodal Q026-12 starts its descent down the viaduct at Rahm, Indiana, with two of CSX’s newer ST70AH Tier 4 locomotives, 8905 and 8900 leading, as they head north over the Ohio River Bridge on the Henderson Subdivision toward Evansville, Indiana.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 420mm, f/8, 1/1000sec, ISO 360.
June 13, 2020 – Coal dust from a fresh load of coal forms a cloud above the loaded cars as the “Sonic Bonnet,” Norfolk Southern 4001, brings up the rear of a West Bound train on the main at Lyles Station Siding, as it heads to Duke Energy in Mt. Carmel, Illinois on the NS Southern West District in the late afternoon sun.
Wikipedia: NS 4000 and 4001 were painted in a blue, gold and white scheme and have been called “The Sonic Bonnets”, due to their similarities to the eponymous character from Sonic the Hedgehog. NS 4002 and 4003 were painted in black, tuscan red, gray, and white scheme, while NS 4004 and 4005 were painted in black, blue, gray, and white scheme. The tuscan and blue “manes” on these four units are indicative of their rebuilding at the Roanoke and Juniata locomotive shops respectively. All of these units have DC to AC Waveform lettering underneath the cab windows.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 600mm, F/6.3, 1/3200, ISO 800.
June 3, 2020 – Kasgro (KRL) Caboose 073 brings up the rear of CSX W993-31, with CSXT 5263 leading, as it approaches East Diamond on the cut off at Madisonville, Kentucky as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision.
The train was running with a load for General Electric on a Kasgro 20 Axel Depressed Deck Car KRL 204040 that has a load limit of 943,900lbs.
Kasgro Rail Corporation builds, maintains, and manages a fleet of nearly 500 specialty railcars which are used for transporting oversized and heavy “dimensional” loads anywhere in the United States Railroad system.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 25-70 @ 40mm, f/10, 1/800 sec, ISO 400.
June 4, 2020 – Paducah and Louisville Railway (PAL) 3800, 2100 and 2121 pull about 30 loaded Scotty’s Rock through Cecilia, Kentucky as they head north to Scotty’s rock yard in Vine Grove, Ky.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 24-70 @ 24mm, f/5.6, 1/800sec, ISO 1400.
June 6, 2020 – LORAM Railgrinder 403 at Mannington, Kentucky, as it south to it’s next grinding spot on the Henderson Subdivision, as the last light of the day begins to fade from the sky.
According to Wikipedia: A rail grinder (or rail grinder) is a maintenance of way vehicle or train used to restore the profile and remove irregularities from worn tracks to extend its life and to improve the ride of trains using the track.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 24-70 @ 24mm, f/2.8. 1/160sec, ISO 3200.
June 4, 2020 – Paducah and Louisville Railway (PAL) 3800, 2100 and 2121 pull about 30 loaded Scotty’s Rock cars upgrade at Summit, Kentucky as they head north to Scotty’s rock yard in Vine Grove, Ky.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 600mm, f/5.6, 1/640sec, ISO 270.
June 6, 2020 – A dazzeling lightshow breaks darkness of the night as the roar of LORAM Railgrinder 403 screaches it’s way through a curve, just south of Crofton, Kentucky, as it grinds it’s way south on the Henderson Subdivision on a hot and muggy spring night.
According to Wikipedia: A railgrinder (or rail grinder) is a maintenance of way vehicle or train used to restore the profile and remove irregularities from worn tracks to extend its life and to improve the ride of trains using the track.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 24-70 @ 24mm, f/2.8. 1/125sec, ISO 2500.
June 2, 2020 – A BNSF manifest train passes the Plum Point Energy Station at Osceola, AR as it heads north on the BNSF River Subdivision.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 490mm, f/10, 1/1250, ISO 400.
June 2, 2020 – The LED signal at the P&I Junction in Paducah, Ky illuminates the tracks approaching the switch, behind the camera, as a full moon begins to dip low in the sky over the scene. It’s so bright it gives a Martian like view along the tracks as they disappear toward the bridge over the Paducah and Louisville Railway yard.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Irex 11mm @ f/4, 30 seconds, ISO 400.
June 2, 2020 – This is one of my favorite shots from a 5 state, 22hr railfan trip, with fellow railfan Ryan Scott! This is a Canadian Nation local running long hood forward as it passed the iconic Memphis Pyramid with Grand Trunk 4917 at the North Parkway crossing in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. We just barely made it to this crossing before it showed up!
Although there was a work curfew at the diamond in downtown, which affected the traffic, we both came back with a nice set of pictures! A big shout out goes to the folks on the Memphis Railfans Group for their help!!
We departed my house at 4am in the morning and railfanned through Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois over a span of the 22 hours. A long, but very productive trip for us both. Look for more images to come over the next few weeks!
According to Wikipedia: The Memphis Pyramid, initially known as the Great American Pyramid, formerly referred to as the Pyramid Arena and locally referred to as The Pyramid, the Tomb of Doom and the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid, was originally built as a 20,142-seat arena located in downtown Memphis, in the U.S. state of Tennessee, at the banks of the Mississippi River.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Irex 11mm, f/4, 1/3200sec, ISO 140.
June 3, 2020 – Kasgro (KRL) Caboose 073 brings up the rear of CSX W993-31, with CSXT 5263 leading, as it prepares to take the cutoff at Mortons Junction at Mortons Gap, Kentucky as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision. The train was running with a load for General Electric on Kasgro 20 Axel Depressed Deck Car KRL 204040 that has a load limit of 943,900lbs.
Kasgro Rail Corporation builds, maintains, and manages a fleet of nearly 500 specialty railcars which are used for transporting oversized and heavy “dimensional” loads anywhere in the United States Railroad system.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Irex 11mm, f/11, 1/800 sec, ISO 200.