Norfolk Southern 1800 the Yellow Sonic Bonnets trails behind the black 4004 version, as they lead NS empty autorack train 124 west as they slowly pull into the siding at Taswell, Indiana to meet eastbound NS 168, on the NS Southern-East District on January 28th, 2021 at dusk.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/160, ISO 200.
I was pleasantly surprised when the loaded coal train made it’s way past the empties at Nortonville, Ky as I was expecting a different train all together to come around the hill as I was prepared for a ethanol train to pass the empty coal train here. Somehow the loaded coal train snuck in front of him at Mortons Junction, just a few miles up the line.
I could actually hear the difference between the empty and loaded coal trains as they both snaked their way trough the S curve at Nortonville, Kentucky with their wheel flanges squealing away. The empties had a hollow sound of course and the loads being pulled by CSXT 3157 had a smoother sound as 3157 and it’s trailing unit #29 were pulling hard, even through there’s a relatively level grade, here on the Henderson Subdivision on January 30th, 2021.
This is a prime example of why I love long lenses, like my Sigma 150-600mm which was used for this shot! There’s no other way to get this shot, with the compression and in your face type of photography. It really adds impact to the image and allows an image that you just can’t get without a long lens! When out shooting your pictures always look for unique and different angles and shots to help add impact to your pictures!
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 360mm, f/5.6, 1/800, ISO 820.
It’s not everyday we get Kansas City Southern leading any kind of train on the CSX Henderson Subdivision, so when I got reports from friends up the line to the north that CSX K443 was southbound with two coming I had to get trackside!
It was a gray, overcast, drizzling rain kind of day that keeps folks inside normally, but when word got out about it’s move then there were railfans waiting its arrival between here where I caught it a the south end of Slaughters, Kentucky, all the way to Nashville, Tennessee and I’m sure points south on January 30th, 2021.
The hardest thing really about shooting pictures in bad weather is really just getting out the door!! I personally keep a couple large golf umbrellas just for this occasion!
However on this occasion I really wanted to put my Air 2 drone up for a shot that would show the tank train disappearing off into the distance and fortunately the rain slacked off enough where I could do so and this is the resulting photograph shot in the 48mp mode on the drone. The weather resulted in a slower shutterspeed that I wanted and I didn’t want to boost the ISO so I settled for just a tad of blur on the locomotive, which gives the feeling of the speed of the train!
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/160, ISO 100.
Norfolk Southern 4004 and 1800, the Black and Yellow “Sonic Bonnets” lead NS empty autorack train 124 west as they slowly pull through the siding at Taswell, Indiana to meet eastbound NS 168, on the NS Southern-East District on January 28th, 2021.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/160, ISO 200.
Norfolk Southern 4004 and 1800, the Black and Yellow “Sonic Bonnets” lead NS empty autorack train 124 west as they chase the setting sun through the cut at Tunnel Hill Road, just west of Ramsey, Indiana as the light snowfall from the day before provides a nice dusting for this peaceful winter scene on the NS Southern-East District on January 28, 2021.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/250, ISO 100.
Well, just as forecasted the snow began to fall with quite a furry yesterday afternoon so I headed to the junction at Mortons Gap, Kentucky to see if I could get a couple long lens shots of it falling to the ground, as it didn’t look like we were going to get much on this cold, wintery January 27th, 2021.
From my vantage point just below the rise of Mortons Junction I waited with my Sigma zoom lens set to 480mm and listened as CSXT 797 led a doubled up train set make its way up the grade toward me and my waiting lens as the train made its way north on the Henderson Subdivision.
Click, click, click… in other words, I shot a lot as it peeked over the rise of the hill, and this shot of it starting down toward Earlington, Kentucky on the main, was my favorite shot! The light on the rails as the track beings to veer away from my vantage point lit up to help draw the viewers eye into the scene!
One of my favorite things about shooting with this lens is that it gives me the ability to get shots from a safe public spot trackside and also allow me plenty of time to do so safely! Plus, the added bonus where it gives such a unique look as well! Always look for interesting angles in your shots that help draw your viewers eye to the subject of your photograph.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 480mm, f/5, 1/800, ISO 640.
Paducah and Louisville Railway 2100 leads the daily local south, approaching the US 62 overpass after making it’s pickup from CSX at Atkinson Yard in Madisonville, Kentucky. Part of it’s pickup on January 18th, 2021, was six engines, dead in tow, bound for the National Railway Equipment shops in Paducah, Kentucky.
The power on this train was, PAL, 2100, 2121, 2101, 2104, dead in tow were, CIT/CBFX 1579, 1589 switchers, NERX 2710, 8580 (both ex SP), Northside Mining 2001 and NREX 2724, also ex-SP.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @ 150mm, f/5, 1/3200, ISO 640.
Looking back to 2017 to pull an image for a customer, I realized that I hadn’t ever processed this image from my trip to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s Railfest in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
This was during their first night shoot and thanks to the lighting wizardry of Casey Thomason and Steve Barry we all had a outstanding night!
September 9, 2017 – Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia Railway engine #80 “The John A. Chambliss,” sits on the Chickamauga Creek bridge with a passenger train, just east of the Tennessee Valley Railroad museum in Chattanooga, TN during the museums night photo shoot during their 2017 Railfest.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 24-70 @36mm f/8, 20 seconds, ISO 800.
Digital Art – Canadian Pacific 8867 leads CSX V752 as it passed the depot at Thurmond West Virginia.
CSX Q025-20 approaches Kayne Avenue, as it passes the old L&N Depot in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, on its way south on the Nashville Terminal Subdivision on January 20th, 2021.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 24-70 @70mm f/4, 1/1250, ISO 400.
Paducah and Louisville Railway University of Kentucky (Wildcats) locomotives 4522 and 2012 lead a empty coal under the beltline against the setting sun as they arrive at Warrior Coal Loop in Nebo, Kentucky for another load of black coal on January 23rd, 2021.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Nikon 10-24mm DX Lens @15mm f/4, 1/1000, ISO 180.
HLCX lease unit 1058 heads up a BNSF local as it sits on the main in front of the Honeywell plant at Metropolis, Illinois waiting for a new crew to take over their train before continuing its night move north on the BNSF Beardstown Subdivision.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Nikon 50mm f/1.4, 1/15, ISO 2000.
CSX Q026-19 (left) heads north as the crew on CSX Q025 does a roll by inspection, just south of CSX’s Kayne Avenue Tower in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, as the afternoon sun sends an interesting pattern of shadows across the tracks.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @210mm f/7.1, 1/1600, ISO 2000.
CSX K870-12 approaches the John Rivers Road Crossing at Casky Yard in Hopkinsville, Kentucky as CP 9364 and CEFX 1002 head a 8,500ft loaded potash “Test” train south on the Henderson Subdivision.
CN has been running these potash trains for awhile and I’m told this is a test train from CP to look at the feasibility of doing the same on a regular basis on CSX. The train also had CP 8135 and 9739 as mid-train DPU units.
According to Wikipedia: Potash includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. The name derives from pot ash, which refers to plant ashes or wood ash soaked in water in a pot, which was the primary means of manufacturing the product before the Industrial Era. The word “potassium” is derived from “potash”.
Potash is produced worldwide in amounts exceeding 90 million tons per year, mostly for use in fertilizer. Various kinds of fertilizer-potash constitute the single greatest industrial use of the element potassium in the world. Potassium was first derived in 1807 by electrolysis of caustic potash (potassium hydroxide).
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 @460mm f/10, 1/1250, ISO 900.
Paducah and Louisville Railway 2100 leads the daily local through PAL’s west yard after doing its interchange work with CSX at Atkinson Yard in Madisonville, Kentucky. Part of it’s pickup today, January 18th, 2021, was six engines, dead in tow, bound for the NRE shops at Paducah, Kentucky after a brief stay at Princeton.
The power on this train was, PAL, 2100, 2121, 2101, 2104, CIT/CBFX 1579 and 1589 switchers, NERX 2710, 8580 (both ex SP), Northside Mining 2001 and NREX 2724, also ex-SP.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 24-70 f/2.8, 1/1600, ISO 100.
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.
The southbound daily local from Casky yard in Hopkinsville, KY, CSX J732-13, slides into the siding at the north end of Crofton, KY to meet northbound Q512 on January 13th, 2021 after completing it’s work at Atkinson Yard in Madisonville, KY on the Henderson Subdivision with three SD40’s leading the way.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/800, ISO 100.
I could hear the rumble of the train as it pulled hard upgrade coming north at Kelly, Kentucky before CSXT 293 crested the top of the rise as it headed up CSX Q512-13 on the Henderson Subdivision, making for this nice long lens shot (700mm) on a cold late winter afternoon in Western Kentucky. The long lens exaggerates the wavy look of the tracks.
Tech Info: Nikon D800, RAW, Sigma 150-600 with a 1.4 teleconverter @700mm f/10, 1/1250, ISO 1400.
CSX K870-12 with CP 9364 and CEFX 1002 leading, lead a 8,500ft loaded potash “Test” train south on the Henderson Subdivision through Nortonville, Kentucky on January 13, 2021.
CN has been running these potash trains for awhile and I’m told this is a test train from CP to look at the feasibility of doing the same on a regular basis on CSX. The train also had CP 8135 and 9739 as mid-train DPU units.
According to Wikipedia: Potash includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form. The name derives from pot ash, which refers to plant ashes or wood ash soaked in water in a pot, which was the primary means of manufacturing the product before the Industrial Era. The word “potassium” is derived from “potash”.
Potash is produced worldwide in amounts exceeding 90 million tons per year, mostly for use in fertilizer. Various kinds of fertilizer-potash constitute the single greatest industrial use of the element potassium in the world. Potassium was first derived in 1807 by electrolysis of caustic potash (potassium hydroxide).
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/800, ISO 100.
CSX hot intermodal Q025-13 (Bedford Park, IL – Jacksonville, FL Daily) rounds the curve coming into Romney at Nortonville, Kentucky as CSXT 3114 leads the train south on the Henderson Subdivision on a beautiful winter’s morning on track 1.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2 Drone, RAW, 4.5mm (24mm equivalent lens) f/2.8, 1/800, ISO 100.
A Digital Art Piece – Paducah & Louisville Railway Loaded Coal Train southbound on Barkley Dam, Grand Rivers, Ky.