February 7, 2018 – Norfolk Southern 8100, the Nickel Plate unit, pulls an empty coal train east past Lyle Siding in Princeton, Indiana as it heads for Alliance Coal to pickup a load of coal.
February 28, 2018 – Day 120 – iPhone 7 Plus Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Jordan – Caught my nephew in mid-stride today as he moved between rooms here at the house. I love the light and framing of this shot. Keep an eye out for interesting scenes that make for a good picture and if it needs a human element, just wait. One will usually come along!
February 24, 2018 – “The J,” ex-Elgin Joliet and Eastern, EJ&E 703 EMD GP38-2 works on building a train at the Canadian National Yard in Fulton, Kentucky.
According to Wikipedia, The Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway (reporting mark EJE) was a Class I railroad, operating between Waukegan, Illinois and Gary and Porter Indiana. The railroad served as a link between Class I railroads traveling to and from Chicago, although it operated almost entirely within the city’s suburbs, and only entered Chicago where it served the U.S. Steel South Works on the shores of Lake Michigan. Nicknames for the railroad included “The J” and “The Chicago Outer Belt Line”. At the end of 1970, the EJ&E operated 164 miles of track and carrying 848 million ton-miles of revenue freight in that year alone.
On September 26, 2007, the Canadian National Railway announced that it planned to purchase a majority of the EJ&E, leaving a portion of the line in Indiana to be reorganized as the Gary Railway. The purchase was approved on December 24, 2008 by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, and the deal was consummated effective February 1, 2009. In the years immediately following the merger, the railroad existed as a subsidiary of Canadian National, and EJ&E locomotives that were repainted into CN colors were sub-lettered for the EJ&E.
On December 31, 2012, Canadian National announced that the merger of the EJ&E into Wisconsin Central Ltd. (Another railroad subsidiary of CN) had been completed, and would take effect the following day. On January 1, 2013, the EJ&E effectively ceased to exist.
February 27, 2018 – Early this morning I caught Paducah and Louisville Railway 2118 heading up a 10 engine mixed freight as it headed south at Dawson Springs, Ky. There were 4 PAL and 6 NS units and the NS units are heading to Progress to be rebuilt from SD70s to SD70ACCs, from what I’m told.
February 27, 2018 – Day 120 – iPhone 7 Plus Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Art from Art – Today some of us from our local photography club met for lunch at our local Pizza Hut. I captured this photo of a lamp and things on the way in a corner booth and happy with the way it turned out. Art from art! Pictures are everywhere, just keep your eyes open!!
February 26, 2018 – Day 119 – iPhone 7 Plus Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Winner! – Monday’s after Damion’s Karate Practice we head off to church for youth choir practice. When we get there it’s always a race to see which one of us gets to the door first! For some reason he seems to always win! Today I decided to capture our race and used the burst mode on my iPhone to shoot pictures as I ran behind him for the door and this is my favorite from the burst! Making great memories!! He received his golden crown today for learning all of his kindergarten site words for the year at school!
February 24, 2018 – The rain pours from the sky as the conductor from Amtrak 391, The Saluki, stands beside his train at Carbondale, Illinois after arriving from Chicago via the CN Centralia Subdivision. One of the hardest things about shooting in the rain or other bad weather is just getting out the door! Many times it’s really worth it though! I always keep a golf umbrella in my SUV for times like this!
February 25, 2018 – Day 118 – iPhone 7 Plus Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Take my picture – Today at lunch my great-great niece Journey asked me to take her picture! All of them (12) do this from time to time and seem to always have a smile that makes me feel all warm inside! If the little one in your life asks for you to take their picture, don’t hesitate! I shot this one using the portrait mode on the iPhone. I love the effect it gives on portraits, but your subject can’t be moving around much, as it takes a second or two for the camera to do it’s thing!
February 25, 2018 – Amtrak 391, The Saluki, slowly makes it’s way around the old Illinois Central coaling towers, as it heads south in the rain for it’s final stop of the day at Carbondale, Illinois with 4613 leading.
February 23, 2018 – CSX Q028 heads into the fog as it makes its way north at the sound end of the siding at Slaughters, Ky on the Henderson Subdivision.
February 22, 2018 – CSX loaded coal train N013-22 prepares to pass an empty UP Coke train, Z462-22, at East Diamond as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision on a wet, dreary day.
February 21, 2018 – Paducah and Louisville Railway 3112 pulls a empty ballast train past a loaded coke train at West Yard in Madisonville, Ky on a rainy afternoon as it prepares to stop at the yard to allow the northbound local to pass. Afterward it headed south to Princeton, Ky where dropped the empty cars, where Fredonia Valley railroad will take them to the Fredonia Rock Quarry in Princeton to be filled, after dropping a loaded set at the Princeton yard.
February 20, 2018 – CSXT 6400 heads up local J724-20 as it heads south down the power siding at Atkinson Yard in Madisonville, Ky on the Henderson Subdivision.
February 14, 2018 – From left, BNSF 4151 and 758 pull a mixed freight south into the CN Yard at Fulton, Ky from CN’s Cairo Subdivision, as an empty coal train heads north on the Bluford Subdivision while another mixed freight pulls south into the yard.
February 14, 2018 – A Canadian National Railway freight, headed up by CN 2156, makes its way up track 2 approaching the north end of Buda at Fulton, Ky, as it heads north on the Cairo Subdivision in a light rain.
Well, I’m behind posting my black and white challenge photos again so here’s a post to catch up! I have been shooting them, just not getting them posted. I’ll try to do better!!!
February 24, 2018 – Day 117 – iPhone 7 Plus Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Williams Motor Company – I spent the day railfanning and came across this old truck. I’ve been working on a series I call “Machines” and this one I grabbed in Wingo, Ky. Personal projects are great when it comes to photography. They can give you a common thread that you can build a book around down the road, or gallery display. They can also challenge you and help you become a better photographer.
February 16, 2018 – Day 109 – iPhone 7 Plus Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Shutterbug Jayden – Today after I picked my 5-year-old nephew up from school he asked if we could go out and shoot some pictures and of course I said yes! I grabbed this shot of him shooting a picture of me in our old courthouse. He’s one of my “Shutterbugs.” I have 12 (currently) great-great nieces and nephews under the age of 7 and when they each turn 4 (and live in driving distance for the most part) we start going out on photo adventures together. Right now, we have 6 of the kids that are officially “Shutterbugs.” If you’d like to follow Jayden youll find him and the others at http://www.shutterbugkids.org . There’s links there to his and the others Facebook and Instagram accounts that are managed by me.
February 15, 2018 – Day 108 – iPhone 7 Plus Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Flower Children – When Journey and Elaina got here after school they came running into my office, excited to show me the flowers their Grandma got them! They were so excited and pleased with the flowers that I asked them if I could take a picture of them and of course they said yes and stuck them out for the camera! Then as fast as they did it they both noticed my two cats and then the moment disappeared! When photographing little ones, you have to be fast!!
February 14, 2018 – During today’s visit to the Fulton, Ky area I caught CN 2465, IC 1024, GTW 79197 Caboose and CN 5416 tied down in the Canadian National Railway yard at Fulton, on a gloomy, overcast, rainy Valentines day. Hardest thing about photographing in bad weather is getting out the door! Bringing along a large golf umbrella helps a lot as well! LOL –
February 14, 2018 – BNSF 4151 and 758 pull a mixed freight onto track 2 at the north end of Buda, as it heads south on CN’s Cairo Subdivision at Clinton, Ky.
February 14, 2018 – BNSF 4151 and 758 pull a mixed freight past a string of Anhydrous Ammonia cars at Farmer’s Gin Co., as it heads south on CN’s Cairo Subdivision at Clinton, Ky.