May 11, 2020 – With five engines on the head-end it looks like it would be leading a massive train, but it was only around 4000 ft with, only about 2800 tons so the, 4 units behind CSXT 3059 were isolated for fuel conservation. Still, it made for a great photograph as it passed through the S curve at Nortonville, Ky on its way south along the Henderson Subdivision on this beautiful Spring day.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Irex 11mm, f/11 @ 1/1600 sec, ISO 280.
May 11, 2020 – I’m really pleased with this shot of a three-way meet of CSXT 713 leading a northbound Q503 as it passes G155 and Q502 in the siding at Kelly, Kentucky on the Henderson Subdivision. Three Way meets can really be hard to capture, but for this one, the right location, direction and weather combined, provided all the right elements!!
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 24-70mm @70mm, 1/1600 sec, f/7, ISO 800.
May 8, 2020 – Louisville and Indiana Railroad Honoring Our Veterans units 3001 & 3002 bask in the late evening light outside the shops at Jeffersonville, Indiana.
According to Wikipedia and the Internet: The Louisville and Indiana Railroad is a Class III railroad that operates freight service between Indianapolis, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky, with a major yard and maintenance shop in Jeffersonville, Indiana. It is owned by Anacostia Rail Holdings. The 106-mile line was purchased from Conrail in March 1994.
The logo on the units were designed by Tyler Hardin and depicts silhouettes of three soldiers from different eras against a backdrop of the American flag. The design, framed by the LIRC keystone, includes five stars for the branches of the service and the legend “Honoring Our Veterans.” A soldier in the center wears a contemporary helmet, flanked by a pair of soldiers, one wearing a World War I-era “Doughboy” helmet and the other an M1 helmet from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.
The locomotives are 3,000 h.p. SD40-2 units numbered 3001 and 3002, and were repainted during a recent upgrade at Metro East Industries Inc. in Fairview Heights, Ill., a suburb of St. Louis. The units are leased from CIT Rail.
May 8, 2020 – The late afternoon sunlight rakes across the shop area at MG Rail (MGRI) as locomotives 2002, 2001 and 700 sit next to their engine house in Jeffersonville, Indiana. I had never heard of this shortline, but thankfully good friend Ryan Scott of SteelRails has and navigated us to MG’s yard just before crews took two of the engines out of the yard with loaded hoppers for interchange work.
The shortline is owned and operated by Consolidated Grain and Barge (CG&B). It operates within the Clark Maritime Center, near Jeffersonville, Indiana. MGRI switches out several industries within the Maritime center and stages them at connections to CSX and Louisville & Indiana.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @210mm, f/1.7, 1/1600 sec at ISO 900.
May 8, 2020 – Norfolk Southern 60P pulls off the NS Louisville District onto the Paducah and Louisville Railway at PAL Junction in Louisville, Ky, as it heads through PAL’s Oak Street yard and on to the Louisville and Indiana Railroad at Jeffersonville, Indiana with a loaded CP Potash train.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 400mm, f/6 at 1/400sec, ISO 360.
May 8, 2020 – The power from RJ Corman’s empty sand train Z543-07 with GMTX 9059 (SD60) leading, RJC 5373 and 5409 trailing, gets tied down at Nugent Sand Company at Louisville, Kentucky after making a run to Lexington with a loaded train for central Kentucky customers. Normally this train runs during the early morning darkness, but lately it has been making daylight runs on Fridays.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Irex 11mm, F/11, 1/800 sec, ISO 320.
May 8, 2020 – RJ Corman’s empty sand train Z543-07 heads north with GMTX 9059 (SD60) leading as it passes through the area of Louisville, Kentucky known as Butchertown. It was returning to Nugent Sand Company for another load of sand for Lexington, Ky and a variety of central Kentucky customers. Normally this train runs during the early morning darkness, but lately it has been making daylight runs on Fridays.
The Nugent Sand Co. takes a million tons of sand out of the Ohio River each year. Some 400,000 to 600,000 tons of that has been moved by R.J. Corman into the Lexington and surrounding markets each year since the two companies partnered in 2005.
GMTX 9059 was originally built in 1986 as an EMD lease/demo unit and most recently It was running on the New York and Susquehanna & Western Railway (NYSW), Headquartered in Cooperstown, New York, where it was painted in their scheme. It was leased to them by GMTX and is now it is being run on RJC after NYSW decided it did not meet NYSW standards. RJC has a contract with GMTX to do testing and maintenance on their locomotives and are doing so with this unit currently.
May 6, 2020 – Something you just don’t see everyday is a CSX locomotive dragging 1/4 mile lengths of ribbon rail through the countryside, but that’s what this picture shows!
I got a call from good friend Keith Kittinger that CSX was moving rail from Providence to Madisonville, Ky on the Morganfield Branch by hooking it to CSXT 6926 by chain and dragging it between the rails with CSX crews flagging every crossing and others following behind the operation via high-rail vehicles.
The rail was placed over a year ago with plans to replace the curves along the branch, but when Dotki mine closed down (only thing serviced between Madisonville and Providence) the work was never completed.
Now, CSXT plans to start storing empty autoracks and intermodal flats along the line and so crews spent time moving the rail back toward the PeeVee Spur in Madisonville where it can be accessed when needed by the railroad.
April 29, 2020 – Norfolk Southern 8025, Monongahela Heritage Unit, leads NS 168 (Louisville, KY to St. Louis, MO) across the Wabash River bridge at Mt. Carmel, Illinois as it heads west on the NS Southern East-West District toward St. Louis.
Tech: Nikon D800, Lens: Sigma 150-600 @ 450mm, f/8, 1/1250 sec, ISO 640.
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 @ 180mm, f/9, 1/1000sec, ISO 400.
July 8, 2010 – A CSX MOW rail train crew works at the dangerous job of picking up old track through downtown Mortons Gap, Kentucky on the Henderson Subdivision.
Tech info: Nikon D300, RAW, Nikon 70-300mm @ 300mm, f/7, 1/400 at ISO 500.
August 8, 2009 – During one of my many trips over the years to Summer Rail I caught CSXT 154 & 395 as it led a maintenance of way train, with two switches in gondolas, as it crossed over the Ohio River at Covington, Kentucky as it headed south off the C&O Railroad bridge from Cincinnati, Ohio.
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 28, 2020 – As the late afternoon light rakes across the scene we find the crew on CSX Q513 getting ready to do a roll by inspection on CSX Q028 as it heads north end of the siding at Hazelton, Indiana on the CE&D Subdivision on a beautiful spring day.
April 28, 2020 – As the late afternoon light rakes across the scene we find the crew on CSX Q513 getting ready to do a roll by inspection on CSX Q028 as it heads north end of the siding at Hazelton, Indiana on the CE&D Subdivision on a beautiful spring day.
Tech: Nikon D800, Sigma 24-70 at 36mm, f/5, 1/800 @ ISO 125 in RAW.
April 29, 2020 – After working making a drop off at the yard in Princeton, Indiana, Norfolk Southern 8025, Monongahela Heritage Unit, pulls NS 168 (Louisville, KY to St. Louis, MO) west on the NS Southern East-West District toward St. Louis, Mo.
Tech: Nikon D800, Lens: Sigma 24-70 @ 24mm, f/8, 1/1250sec, ISO 360.
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.
April 28, 2020 – CSXT 380 heads up local J732 (Casky, KY – Atkinson, KY) as it approaches the defect detector at Mortons Gap, Ky on its way north on the Henderson Subdivision.
April 27, 2020 – Newly rebuilt and repainted Metra locomotive 190 runs as the trailing unit on CSX Q648 as it passes through the S curve on main two at Nortonville, Ky as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision on its way to Chicago, Illinois.
October 20, 2008 – The late evening light rakes across the base of Mormon Rocks as UP 5958 and 6266 (ex-Southern Pacific Unit) lead a west bound freight down the Cajon Pass in southern California.
Local legend has it that the rocks were named for the Mormon pioneers who camped here after their descent from the pass ridgeline. Another legend calls the rocks the ‘Chanting Rocks,’ as when the wind would blow across the portholes in the rocks it was said the sound made was similar to a low chanting or singing.