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.
April 20, 2020 – CSX empty ballast train W086 takes the siding at Oak Hill as it passes a northbound CSX 502-20 on the main as the ballast train makes heads under the I-69 overpass on its way south on the Henderson Subdivision.
April 20, 2020 – The crew on CSX Geometry inspection train W001 conducts a roll-by inspection ballast train W086 at the north end of Robards Siding as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision at Robards, Kentucky.
April 23, 2020 – CSXT 805 and 5386 head up CSX Q503 as it heads south at the Hwy 41 overpass at Mortons Gap, Kentucky on the Henderson Subdivision under stormy skies.
April 20, 2020 – Canadian Pacific 8044 leads an empty phosphate train past the north end of the siding at Slaughters, Kentucky as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision.
April 20, 2020 – The engineer on loaded grain CSX train G217, keeps his eyes on the track ahead at Oak Hill, between Mortons Gap and Nortonville, Ky, as his train meets Q502 as they both make their way along the Henderson Subdivision.
April 20, 2020 – CSXT G213 passes CSXT 6025 heading up Geometry Inspection train W001-20 as they inspect track two, just south of Anaconda at Robards, Kentucky on the Henderson Subdivision.
On the rear of the trains is the actual track geometry car (also known as a track recording car) which is an automated track inspection vehicle.
It used to test several geometric parameters of the track without obstructing normal railroad operations. Some of the parameters generally measured include position, curvature, alignment of the track, smoothness, and the cross level of the two rails.
It uses a variety of sensors, measuring systems, and data management systems to create a profile of the track being inspected.
February 21, 2020 – Metra engine 141 heads up an evening commuter train as it heads out of Chicago, Illinois toward Norwood Park Station as the late evening light rakes across the downtown skyline.
February 22, 2020 – Indiana Harbor Belt (IHB) 2920 (SD20 backs into the Blue Island Rail Yard at Riverdale, Illinois, past the old control tower, as it works on building a train. From what I find online the unit was built in 1959 and was rebuilt by Illinois Central in 1980 from IC 2010. Then it went to NRE in 2/95, and was leased to IHB 9/96, before being purchased by IHB 6/2007.
According to the IHB Website: The Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad is the largest switch carrier in the U.S. with 54 miles of mainline track (24 miles of which is double main track) and 266 miles of additional yard and siding track.
The IHB provides a wide variety of services, including industrial switching with 160 customers, generating 170,000 carloads of business annually. The IHB interchanges daily with 16 other rail carriers in Chicago. A growing fleet of approximately 1,400 freight cars is geared predominately to the steel industry. The industrial traffic base includes 4 of the 5 largest steel producers in the U.S. and a large aluminum processor, oil refineries, corn millers, grain elevators, chemical plants, warehouses, lumber transloading, and bulk transfer operations. IHB’s industrial traffic consists of 38% primary metals, 12% chemicals & petroleum products, 11% food products, 8% scrap iron, 7% coal & coke, 6% whole grain, as well as a variety of other products including lumber, paper, and aggregates. The IHB also operates as an intermediate switch carrier between the 12 trunk-line railroads for traffic interchanged between them in Chicago, generating an additional 475,000 revenue cars.
The IHB main line circles Chicago from near O’Hare to Northwest Indiana and roughly parallels Interstate 294 (Tri-state Expressway) and I-80/94. Its primary yard, Blue Island (a 44 class track hump yard) at Riverdale, IL lies in about the center of the railroad. Other major yards includes Gibson (in Hammond, IN) which only classifies cars of new autos and Michigan Avenue Yard (in East Chicago) which serves the extensive steel plants which accounts for IHB’s primary business. From East Chicago, the IHB operates east for an additional 16 miles on trackage rights to access Burns Harbor, IN and Portage, IN, which includes Indiana’s International Port.
April 14, 2020 – CSXT 380 leads empty coal train E013-13 as it passes a weed sprayer crew at CP Romney as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision at Mannington, Ky.
April 17, 2020 – CSXT 7005 leads Q025-17 past a crew working on a switch at Anaconda, south of Robards, Ky as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision with a stack train.
In case you’re wondering about the “Begin OS sign,” from what I find on the web it is an old time term used by telegraph operators and train dispatchers to indicate that a train has passed a particular location on a subdivision. “OS” means “on sheet” referring to the fact that the train dispatcher has recorded train movement on the train sheet he maintained each 24 hour period. It also means Originating Station, the first station on each subdivision from which a train is authorized to occupy the main track.
June 23, 2006 – Blast From The Past – It was a hot, dry day as a Piggyback with BNSF 5232 leading headed east, meeting a Mixed freight headed up by BNSF 4438 waiting to head west toward Bakersfield, in horseshoe curve in the valley at Caliente, California as they made their way through the Tehachapi Mountains on the UP Mojave Subdivision.
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.