April 14, 2020 - A CSX High Railer leads a weed sprayer truck just past the highway 62 overpass on track 1, as it sprays the right-of-way at Nortonville, Ky, as the pair make their way south on the Henderson Subdivision, while performing their springtime work.

A CSX High Railer leads a weed sprayer truck…

April 14, 2020 – A CSX High Railer leads a weed sprayer truck just past the highway 62 overpass on track 1, as it sprays the right-of-way at Nortonville, Ky, as the pair make their way south on the Henderson Subdivision, while performing their springtime work.

October 22, 2007 - Blast From The Past - BNSF 5971 leads a loaded coal train off the Buford Subdivision at Chiles Junction in West Paducah, Kentucky as it prepares to head down the Paducah and Louisville Railway bound for the coal Terminal at Calvert City, Kentucky.

BNSF 5971 leads a loaded coal train off the Buford Subdivision…

October 22, 2007 – Blast From The Past – BNSF 5971 leads a loaded coal train off the Buford Subdivision at Chiles Junction in West Paducah, Kentucky as it prepares to head down the Paducah and Louisville Railway bound for the coal Terminal at Calvert City, Kentucky.

May 1, 2005 - Blast From The Past - BNSF 2819 heads past the old interlocking tower at Shattuc, Illinois on BNSF's Beardstown Subdivision as it crosses over the Illinois Subdivision. 

From what I gather from the web, CSX closed the Illinois Subdivision through here at one point and used it for car storage, but then I find references to the line being used now by The Prairie Line, a shortline out of O'Fallon, IL (I'm now told the shortline hasn't materialized yet). BNSF still owns and uses the Bardstown Sub. I'm also told that the diamond was removed in 2019, at least temporarily. 

In the past this tower controlled the movements of trains on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad along with the B&O Railroad. It was closed sometime in the 1980's and from what I can find on the web it was torn down in late 2014. I've also found reports where it was bought by a collector and moved. Whichever is correct, this picture isn't to be replicated again today since the tower is now gone.

If you'd like to read a great piece on the tower, check out this article on The Trackside Photographer by Tom Gatermann, who visited the tower the same year as me.

http://thetracksidephotographer.com/tag/shattuc-tower/

Photograph the towers when and where you can as they continue to disappear from the railroad landscape.

BNSF 2819 heads past the old interlocking tower at Shattuc, Illinois

May 1, 2005 – Blast From The Past – BNSF 2819 heads past the old interlocking tower at Shattuc, Illinois on BNSF’s Beardstown Subdivision as it crosses over the Illinois Subdivision.

From what I gather from the web, CSX closed the Illinois Subdivision through here at one point and used it for car storage, but then I find references to the line being used now by The Prairie Line, a shortline out of O’Fallon, IL (I’m now told the shortline hasn’t materialized yet). BNSF still owns and uses the Bardstown Sub. I’m also told that the diamond was removed in 2019, at least temporarily.

In the past this tower controlled the movements of trains on the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad along with the B&O Railroad. It was closed sometime in the 1980’s and from what I can find on the web it was torn down in late 2014. I’ve also found reports where it was bought by a collector and moved. Whichever is correct, this picture isn’t to be replicated again today since the tower is now gone.

If you’d like to read a great piece on the tower, check out this article on The Trackside Photographer by Tom Gatermann, who visited the tower the same year as me.

http://thetracksidephotographer.com/tag/shattuc-tower/

Photograph the towers when and where you can as they continue to disappear from the railroad landscape.

May 1, 2005 - Blast From The Past - The conductor on a Union Pacific freight walks past the American Flag on his engine in the yard at Salem, Illinois.

According to the Union Pacific Website: When we added the flag to our locomotives more than a decade ago – at the suggestion of an employee after 9/11 – we followed the tradition of having the Union (the blue field of stars) lead the way, such that on the right-hand side of the vehicle ("passenger side"), the flag would appear reversed. 

Further, the flag was painted to convey the motion of forward movement as if it were billowing with the speed of the locomotive. Having the Union forward on both sides is the overwhelming choice anytime the flag is portrayed on a transport vehicle, from NASA space shuttles to Air Force One.

The conductor on a Union Pacific freight walks past the American Flag…

May 1, 2005 – Blast From The Past – The conductor on a Union Pacific freight walks past the American Flag on his engine in the yard at Salem, Illinois.

According to the Union Pacific Website: When we added the flag to our locomotives more than a decade ago – at the suggestion of an employee after 9/11 – we followed the tradition of having the Union (the blue field of stars) lead the way, such that on the right-hand side of the vehicle (“passenger side”), the flag would appear reversed.

Further, the flag was painted to convey the motion of forward movement as if it were billowing with the speed of the locomotive. Having the Union forward on both sides is the overwhelming choice anytime the flag is portrayed on a transport vehicle, from NASA space shuttles to Air Force One.

April 4, 2006 - Blast From The Past - CSXT 8584 leads a mixed freight past the signals approaching the southern crossover, where CSX and Norfolk Southern crossover on the CSX CE&D Subdivision, as it heads north through Princeton, Indiana.

CSXT 8584 leads a mixed freight…

April 4, 2006 – Blast From The Past – CSXT 8584 leads a mixed freight past the signals approaching the southern crossover, where CSX and Norfolk Southern crossover on the CSX CE&D Subdivision, as it heads north through Princeton, Indiana. Jim Pearson Photography

June 21, 2006 - Blast From The Past - It's 9:45 in the morning as Union Pacific 2365 struggles past CP Canyon as it heads east up the Cajon Pass in southern California with a loaded manifest.The pass is one of the busiest rail areas in southern California.

Union Pacific 2365 struggles past CP Canyon…

June 21, 2006 – Blast From The Past – It’s 9:45 in the morning as Union Pacific 2365 struggles past CP Canyon as it heads east up the Cajon Pass in southern California with a loaded manifest.The pass is one of the busiest rail areas in southern California.

April 4, 2006 - Blast From The Past - Norfolk Southern 8479 leads a mixed freight eastbound as the setting sun produces a golden glow as the train makes its way out of Princeton, Indiana on the NS Southern East District.

Norfolk Southern 9479 leads a mixed freight…

April 4, 2006 – Blast From The Past – Norfolk Southern 9479 leads a mixed freight eastbound as the setting sun produces a golden glow as the train makes its way out of Princeton, Indiana on the NS Southern East District.

July 31, 2004- Blast From The Past - A pair of E8s, with 5711 leading, in beautiful Pennsylvania RR maroon and gold paint pulled a private car passenger train between Philadelphia and Dennison, Ohio during the Dennison Railroad Museum's 2004 Railfest. Here it is just East of Morgan Run headed away from Dennison. 

The event was in cooperation with the Ohio Central Railroad, as the museum celebrated its 15th Anniversary. It was billed as the largest railroad heritage event of 2004. 

It ran from July 30 to August 1, 2004. Many of the locomotives featured during the event were owned by the Ohio Central Railroad. The Ohio Central at that time provided full-time freight railroad services and also offered passenger excursions powered by vintage equipment. Not sure if this is still the case or not.

A pair of E8s, with 5711 leading…

July 31, 2004- Blast From The Past – A pair of E8s, with 5711 leading, in beautiful Pennsylvania RR maroon and gold paint pulled a private car passenger train between Philadelphia and Dennison, Ohio during the Dennison Railroad Museum’s 2004 Railfest. Here it is just East of Morgan Run headed away from Dennison.

The event was in cooperation with the Ohio Central Railroad, as the museum celebrated its 15th Anniversary. It was billed as the largest railroad heritage event of 2004.

It ran from July 30 to August 1, 2004. Many of the locomotives featured during the event were owned by the Ohio Central Railroad. The Ohio Central at that time provided full-time freight railroad services and also offered passenger excursions powered by vintage equipment. Not sure if this is still the case or not.

June 23, 2006 - Blast From The Past - BNSF 4194 leads a train of reefers northbound after coming through the Tehachapi Loop as it heads north on Union Pacific's Mojave Subdivision, just north of milepost 352.

Blast From The Past – BNSF 4194 leads a train…

June 23, 2006 – Blast From The Past – BNSF 4194 leads a train of reefers northbound after coming through the Tehachapi Loop as it heads north on Union Pacific’s Mojave Subdivision, just north of milepost 352.

June 21, 2006 - A Blast from the Past - BNSF 7784 leads three other units on a west bound intermodal at Cajon Summit at Hesperia, California as they begin their descent through the Cajon Pass toward Los Angeles on the BNSF Cajon Subdivision.

BNSF 7784 leads three other units at Cajon Summit…

June 21, 2006 – A Blast from the Past – BNSF 7784 leads three other units on a west bound intermodal at Cajon Summit at Hesperia, California as they begin their descent through the Cajon Pass toward Los Angeles on the BNSF Cajon Subdivision.

March 31, 2020 - A CSX bridge work crew keeps a watchful eye and sends a friendly wave to the crew of CSX as Q502 crosses over the Craborchard Creek bridge, as CSXT mobile crane 916100 sits idle, as the manifest heads north through their work zone on the Henderson Subdivision at Nortonville, Ky. The crane is an AMERICAN Model 840 Locomotive Crane with a pile driver attached.

The bridge crew is working on installing new pilings for the bridge over Craborchard Creek using the pile driver attached to the crane. I'll be posting a video on the operation later today if you're interested in seeing and hearing it work.

Here's more information on the crane if you're interested: http://aolcrane.com/pdfs/840850debrochure.pdf

CSX as Q502 crosses over the Craborchard Creek bridge…

March 31, 2020 – A CSX bridge work crew keeps a watchful eye and sends a friendly wave to the crew of CSX as Q502 crosses over the Craborchard Creek bridge, as CSXT mobile crane 916100 sits idle, as the manifest heads north through their work zone on the Henderson Subdivision at Nortonville, Ky. The crane is an AMERICAN Model 840 Locomotive Crane with a pile driver attached.

The bridge crew is working on installing new pilings for the bridge over Craborchard Creek using the pile driver attached to the crane. I’ll be posting a video on the operation later today if you’re interested in seeing and hearing it work.

Here’s more information on the crane if you’re interested: http://aolcrane.com/pdfs/840850debrochure.pdf

March 31, 2020 - Another of several photos I found on my old Mac G4 Laptop that I shot back in 2006 with my old Nikon D200 and thought I'd share a few of them. This mornings image was shot on June 20, 2006 and is of two BNSF intermodals making their way east and west through the Cajon Pass in Southern California on the Cajon Subdivision.

Two BNSF intermodals making their way through the Cajon Pass, CA

March 31, 2020 – Another of several photos I found on my old Mac G4 Laptop that I shot back in 2006 with my old Nikon D200 and thought I’d share a few of them. This mornings image was shot on June 20, 2006 and is of two BNSF intermodals making their way east and west through the Cajon Pass in Southern California on the Cajon Subdivision.