September 7, 2017- My first chilly night in Chattanooga, TN I found myself with several fellow railfans on the banks of the Tennessee River, photographing this mixed freight southbound as it headed across the Tenbridge, on the CNO&TP 3rd District of NS’s Central Division. It runs from Chattanooga, TN to Harriman, TN.SB NS on the Tenbridge, Chattanooga, TN
August 25, 2017 – CSX Q647-25 heads south through the Crofton Cut, as Ferromex 4663 leads the Chicago, IL to Waycross, GA mixed freight south on the Henderson Subdivision, on a beautiful springlike summer day, north of Crofton, Ky
September 5, 2017 – There’s been a lot of work being done on the CSX’s Henderson Subdivision this summer, as evidenced by the stacks of used ties stacked along the Earlington Cut-off at Mortons Junction in Mortons Gap, Ky. Here we see CSX 0587 (Evansville, IN to Nashville, TN, as it comes off the cut-off onto the main on the way south.
September 2, 2017 – Well, today was my day for catching long strings of power! Not only did I catch the Paducah and Louisville Railway local between Madisonville and Paducah, Ky, but when I got to the PAL Yard at Paducah I found this string of ex-BNSF units destined for Progress Rail. There’s 13 of them in all and I couldn’t get a shot where I could read all their numbers.
September 2, 2017 – A southbound Paducah and Louisville Railway local (right) pulls past a northbound empty coal train after a meet and crew swap at GV Junction in Gilbertsville, Ky. The local, with 9 units went on to Paducah, Ky and the coal train continued on north towards Warrior Coal in Nebo, Ky where it would pick up its next load of coal.
September 2, 2017 – A Paducah and Louisville Railway local heads south across the bridge at Kentucky Dam, outside of Gilbertsville, Ky, with a string of nine units. PAL has decided to start moving any power left in the yard at Madisonville, Ky on Saturdays back to Paducah, KY, hince the train with so much power. The units were 4523, 4510, 4502, 2118, 2111, 2110, 2109, 2120 and 2117.
August 23, 2017 – Kansas City Southern 4771 leads CSX Q029-23 (Chicago, IL-Atlanta, GA) south, with BNSF 4980 trailing, as it passes it’s counterpart, northbound Q028 in the siding at Trenton, Ky, as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision.
I wanted this shot bad and in the rush I failed to check my shutter speed on my Fuji XT-1. The photo ended up being about 5 stops over exposed! While I lost some details in the highlights, mostly evident in the ballast and sky, at least I recovered it well enough to make this post. The key to recovery is that the photo was shot as a RAW file, as all my images are shot and processed as RAW files.
If you don’t shoot in RAW and your camera is able to do so, you’re not using the full potential of your camera’s sensor! When shooting and processing in RAW format you capture every bit of detail and data that your sensor can capture, whereas JPG doesn’t. This photo wouldn’t have seen the light of day as a JPG. Just food for thought!!
If you’re looking for a tutorial for using RAW here’s the one I bought and learned from:
Of course there’s a lot of free classes out there also on YouTube, but this one is the best I’ve found.
If you’ve never visited Creativelive it’s a great resource and if you watch the live broadcast then there’s no charge! Once it broadcasts, or if you want to go back and review the video over and over again then it’s available for purchase as the RAW course. It’s a great resource!
August 31, 2017 – This afternoon I had just got home from railfanning and was sitting on my front porch here in Richland, Ky, when Paducah and Louisville high rail trucks pulled up to the crossing in front of my house and 4 workers got out with flags in their hands. Well, I figured something different was going on and grabbed my camera and walked down the hill to the crossing.
Loram Rail Grinder 514 was working it’s way north along the PAL and it appeared to be a brand new rail grinder. My 5-year old nephew Damion called it a rail polisher! They spent several minutes as they grinded across the defect detector and crossing in front of the house, before they headed on north.
Some days things just come to me, others I have to go looking! LOL
August 16, 2017 – Indiana Railroad 9010 and 9013 heads toward Hoosier Energy’s Merom Generating Station outside Sullivan, Indiana to deliver about 100 loaded gondola coal cars.Indiana Railroad 9010 and 9013 heads toward Hoosier Energy’s Merom Generating Station
August 25, 2017 – This photo just screamed vertical to me!
When I got a heads up from a fellow railfan about Ferromex 4663 leading Q647-25 south on the Henderson Subdivision I decided to head down to Nortonville, Ky to wait for it. I like this section of track because of all the work going on to make it a double-track main between the south end of Romney to the north end of Nortonville sidings.
Well, when I arrived I was happy to see that CSX had this huge auger setup that was drilling holes for steel beams that are to be used to build a new retaining wall next to and under the bridge that goes over the tracks at New Salem Circle in Nortonville. The equipment setting idle as the train rolls by slowly, with the operator waiting for it to pass, helps make the photo stronger.
I can’t wait for this work to be finished and be able to shoot the two track main though this area! The construction has opened up a whole wealth of new photographic locations!!
August 27, 2017 – I got word late Sunday evening from a fellow railfan, Ryan Collins, that Q647 was headed south out of Evansville, Indiana with a couple green engines in the consist, making its way down the Henderson Subdivision. I headed to Mortons Gap, Ky after about 45 minutes, as I figured it’d take them that long to get here.
I’m told the units are headed to Tullahoma, TN to the Caney Fork and Western RR.
Well, as you can see the sun had set and dusk was getting pretty much gone as it rolled through Mortons Junction with AARX 11144 and 11145 in tow at the end of the string of power.
I’m told that this is about the third time these two engines have been up and down the Henderson Subdivision in the past few weeks. Looking for their home I guess? LOL
They are Association of American Railroads C7 units that have been rebuilt or modified over time (former ATSF CF7s), from what I can find online. Not sure what the “X” stands for as I can’t find anything online that says.
According to Wikipedia: The Association of American Railroads (AAR) is an industry trade group representing primarily the major freight railroads of North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States). Amtrak and some regional commuter railroads are also members. Smaller freight railroads are typically represented by the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA), although some smaller railroads and railroad holding companies are also members of the AAR. The AAR also has two associate member programs, and most associate members are suppliers to the railroad industry.
August 23, 2017 – Kansas City Southern 4771 leads CSX Q029-23 (Chicago, IL-Atlanta, GA) through the S curve approaching the north end of Romney where he’ll take the siding, with BNSF 4980 trailing, as it heads south at Nortonville, Ky on the Henderson Subdivision. In the background you can see where CSX workers are cutting the bank back as part of their double tracking of the Romney siding to the Nortonville siding project that is ongoing.
August 23, 2017 – CSXT 3316 leads Q648 (Waycross, GA-Chicago, IL) north along the Henderson Subdivision as maintenance workers service RJ Corman’s 3836 at their shops on the Memphis Line at Guthrie, Ky.
August 25, 2017 – CSX Q647-25 heads south through the north end of the siding at Kelly, Ky on the main, as Ferromex 4663 leads the Chicago, IL to Waycross, GA mixed freight south on the Henderson Subdivision on a beautiful springlike summer day. Not sure why, but here over the last couple weeks we’ve been seeing a bunch of foreign power running up and down CSX’s Henderson Sub, not that I’m complaining! LOL
August 23, 2017 – Kansas City Southern 4771 leads CSX Q029-23 (Chicago, IL-Atlanta, GA) through the cut just south of the Red River bridge at Adams, Tennessee, with BNSF 4980 trailing, as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision. I like most of us seem not to shoot as many verticals of trains, or many other subjects these days. The computer monitors and TV’s have conditioned us too much to the horizontal format! I for one plan to do better! After all, it doesn’t take much to turn the camera!CSX Q029-23 SB at Red River Cut, Adams, TN
August 22, 2017 – A lone crow waits out a summer rainstorm by sitting on a rail next to a string of Paducah and Louisville power sitting at West Yard in Madisonville, Ky.
August 16, 2017 – Indiana Railroad 9010 and 9013 pass Davidson Electric & Machine Works as it heads through Sullivan, Indiana, to deliver about 100 loaded gondola coal cars to Hoosier Energy’s Merom Generating Station outside Sullivan.
August 16, 2017 – Dusk falls as Union Pacific 4061 leads CSX Q645 (Chicago, IL-Waycross, GA), south underneath the old C&EI coaling tower that was built in 1941 to service steam locomotives, as it headed south on CSX’s CE&D Subdivision at Sullivan, Indiana! Of the three CSX trains I caught under this tower today and the only one of the trains that ran with CSX power and it was trailing.
August 16, 2017 – Indiana Railroad (INRD) 9013 leads a loaded train off CSX’s CE&D Subdivision onto the INRD at the Sullivan Interlocking in Sullivan, Indiana. The coal is bound for the Hoosier Energy Merom Generating Station just outside Sullivan.
August 16, 2017 – As dusk begins to fall, BNSF 4477 and NS 8554 lead intermodal train CSX Q101-15 (Chicago, IL-Savannah, GA), south underneath the old C&EI coaling tower, which was built in 1941 to service steam locomotives, as it headed south on CSX’s CE&D Subdivision at Sullivan, Indiana! Of the three CSX trains I caught under this tower today and only one of the trains had any CSX power and it was trailing. Thought it was a bit unusual!
August 16, 2017 – BNSF 7608 and 7643 were a great surprise when I found them leading CSX Q028-16 as it popped out underneath the old coaling tower as it headed north on CSX’s CE&D Subdivision at Sullivan, Indiana!
Good friend and fellow railfan Ryan Scott and I headed up to this spot late in the afternoon hoping to catch some traffic under this tower that was built in 1941 to service steam locomotives with coal during their runs. Another friend, Ryan Collins had posted a picture from here earlier in the week and I knew I wanted to catch a few photos from here so I made the two hour trip north and picked up Ryan along the way.
When we got there we were listening to the scanner and became concerned that we wouldn’t get much before it got dark because Q645 had broken a knuckle and went into emergency a bit further to the north and they didn’t have one on their engine. Plus Q101 was behind them and we knew 28 was heading toward them.
Both the southbounds were in a siding and Q028 had a knuckle on their train so they pulled on up to where the conductor on 645 was waiting and dropped off the knuckle. Of course they had to replace the knuckle and make sure all the cars on their 10,000+ foot train were still upright before 28 could continue past them.
I thought sure we weren’t going to catch any southbounds before we lost all of our light at the coaling tower, but we were fortunate that the railfan God shined upon us and we caught both of them before it got too dark! I’ll post the other two photos over the next few days!
We also were fortunate enough to catch some Indiana Railroad action while we were waiting as well! Those will be coming over the next few days as well! A totally great afternoon/evening trackside!!!