Blast From The Past - January 8, 2013 - Even after 17 years of covering sports at the Messenger Newspaper, I really don't get into sports that much and that's probably why I think I made some really decent sports photos over the years, because I concentrated more on the picture than getting wrapped up in the moment. 

Here we find Madisonville-North Hopkins' Drew Dodds as he comes up for air during the breaststroke in the boys 200-yard individual medley event on that Tuesday night in 2013 at the Hopkins County Family YMCA in Madisonville. Dodds won his heat with a time of 2:18.80. - Photo by Jim Pearson, The Messenger Newspaper

Blast From The Past – January 8, 2013 – Even after 17 years of covering sports…

Blast From The Past – January 8, 2013 – Even after 17 years of covering sports at the Messenger Newspaper, I really don’t get into sports that much and that’s probably why I think I made some really decent sports photos over the years, because I concentrated more on the picture than getting wrapped up in the moment.

Here we find Madisonville-North Hopkins’ Drew Dodds as he comes up for air during the breaststroke in the boys 200-yard individual medley event on that Tuesday night in 2013 at the Hopkins County Family YMCA in Madisonville. Dodds won his heat with a time of 2:18.80. – Photo by Jim Pearson, The Messenger Newspaper

Blast From The Past - Fall 1987 - One of my favorite places to photograph trains in all of Europe was probably the Main train station in downtown Frankfurt, West Germany. Today of course it's just Germany, but when I lived there and traveled back to Germany on various photo assignments, it was my favorite off duty location for photographing trains.

The station was and still his huge and if I recall correctly it had 24 platforms all under one roof! Can't say about today, but back then you could wander around the station and out to the end of any platform and photograph the day to day operation of the station and out into the yard. It was a railfans dream locaiton, at leas it was for this one. 

According to Wikipedia: Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof (German for Frankfurt (Main) main station), often abbreviated as Frankfurt (Main) Hbf and sometimes translated as Frankfurt central station, is the busiest railway station in Frankfurt, Germany. The affix "Main" comes from the city's full name, Frankfurt am Main ("Frankfurt on the Main"). Because of its location in the middle of Germany and usage as a transport hub for long and short distance travelling, Deutsche Bahn refers to it as the most important station in Germany.

The station was built by the contractor Philipp Holzmann with construction starting in 1883. The Central-Bahnhof Frankfurt was finally opened on 18 August 1888. Right on the evening of the opening day, a train ran over the buffer stop and the locomotive was damaged. Over the course of the next few years, the area to the east of the new station, the Bahnhofsviertel, was built; it was completed around 1900. Until the completion of Leipzig Hauptbahnhof in 1915, Frankfurt station was the largest in Europe. As of today (2014), the 24 platforms with 26 tracks on one level probably make it the world's largest one-level railway hall.

Blast From The Past – Fall 1987 – One of my favorite places to photograph trains…

Blast From The Past – Fall 1987 – One of my favorite places to photograph trains in all of Europe was probably the Main train station in downtown Frankfurt, West Germany. Today of course it’s just Germany, but when I lived there and traveled back to Germany on various photo assignments, it was my favorite off duty location for photographing trains. The station was and still his huge and if I recall correctly it had 24 platforms all under one roof! Can’t say about today, but back then you could wander around the station and out to the end of any platform and photograph the day to day operation of the station and out into the yard. It was a railfans dream locaiton, at leas it was for this one.

According to Wikipedia: Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof (German for Frankfurt (Main) main station), often abbreviated as Frankfurt (Main) Hbf and sometimes translated as Frankfurt central station, is the busiest railway station in Frankfurt, Germany. The affix “Main” comes from the city’s full name, Frankfurt am Main (“Frankfurt on the Main”). Because of its location in the middle of Germany and usage as a transport hub for long and short distance travelling, Deutsche Bahn refers to it as the most important station in Germany.

The station was built by the contractor Philipp Holzmann with construction starting in 1883. The Central-Bahnhof Frankfurt was finally opened on 18 August 1888. Right on the evening of the opening day, a train ran over the buffer stop and the locomotive was damaged. Over the course of the next few years, the area to the east of the new station, the Bahnhofsviertel, was built; it was completed around 1900. Until the completion of Leipzig Hauptbahnhof in 1915, Frankfurt station was the largest in Europe.

As of today (2014), the 24 platforms with 26 tracks on one level probably make it the world’s largest one-level railway hall.

Blast From The Past - Summer 1994 - This shot of Guards at Heroes Square in Budapest, Hungary, was taken on one of my trips taken there during Operation Deny Flight, which was a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operation that began on 12 April 1993 as the enforcement of a United Nations (UN) no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

According to Wikipedia: Heroes Square is one of the major squares in Budapest, Hungary, noted for its iconic statue complex featuring the Seven chieftains of the Magyars and other important Hungarian national leaders, as well as the Memorial Stone of Heroes, often erroneously referred as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

The square lies at the outbound end of Andrássy Avenue next to City Park (Városliget). It hosts the Museum of Fine Arts and the Műcsarnok. The square has played an important part in contemporary Hungarian history and has been a host to many political events, such as the reburial of Imre Nagy in 1989.

Blast From The Past – Summer 1994 – This shot of Guards at Heroes Square in Budapest, Hungary

Blast From The Past – Summer 1994 – This shot of Guards at Heroes Square in Budapest, Hungary, was taken on one of my trips taken there during Operation Deny Flight, which was a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operation that began on 12 April 1993 as the enforcement of a United Nations (UN) no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to Wikipedia: Heroes Square is one of the major squares in Budapest, Hungary, noted for its iconic statue complex featuring the Seven chieftains of the Magyars and other important Hungarian national leaders, as well as the Memorial Stone of Heroes, often erroneously referred as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The square lies at the outbound end of Andrássy Avenue next to City Park (Városliget). It hosts the Museum of Fine Arts and the Műcsarnok. The square has played an important part in contemporary Hungarian history and has been a host to many political events, such as the reburial of Imre Nagy in 1989.

Blast From The Past - Mid 1980's - I can't recall the exact year this photo was made at this time. A bit more research will nail it down though. This is my friend Norm Grant and his son Dale Grant at the Colorado Railway Museum at Golden, Colorado. Norm, his wife Gloria and Dale (my Godson) were avid volunteers at the Museum for many years and they helped out on firing and running Rio Grand 346.

I have always been interested in photographing trains, but I attribute Norm and Dale as the ones that fired up that passion to what it is today! We were all stationed together at Rhein Main Air Base in West Germany for three years and we chased and photographed trains around West Germany and other areas of Europe during that time. When I was reassigned to the states in 1981 and Norm left the service we have continued to be family over the years and meet up a various places for visits and railfan trips. Although Norm has left this world for a better place, his son continues today as an engineer for the BNSF Railway.  

According to Wikipedia: The Colorado Railroad Museum is a non-profit railroad museum. The museum is located on 15 acres at a point where Clear Creek flows between North and South Table Mountains in Golden, Colorado.

The museum was established in 1959 to preserve a record of Colorado's flamboyant railroad era, particularly the state's pioneering narrow gauge mountain railroads.

The museum building is a replica of an 1880s-style railroad depot. Exhibits feature original photographs by pioneer photographers such as William Henry Jackson and Louis Charles McClure, as well as paintings by Howard L Fogg, Otto Kuhler, Ted Rose and other artists. Locomotives and railroad cars modeled in the one inch scale by Herb Votaw are also displayed. A bay window contains a reconstructed depot telegrapher's office, complete with a working telegraph sounder.

The lower level of the museum building contains an exhibition hall which features seasonal and traveling displays on railroading history. The lower level also contains the Denver HO Model Railroad Club's "Denver and Western" operating HO and HOn3 scale model train layout that represent Colorado's rail history in miniature.

The Robert W. Richardson Library houses over 10,000 rare historic photographs, Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway no 683 was built in 1890 by the Baldwin locomotive works and spent much of his time, pulling coal trains in the eastern United States it was donated to the Colorado Railroad Museum in July 9th 1982.

Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad no 346 was built in July 1881 by the Baldwin locomotive Works in Philadelphia Pennsylvania does 346 has its very own class sister the locomotive number 318.

Blast From The Past – Mid 1980’s – I can’t recall the exact year…

Blast From The Past – Mid 1980’s – I can’t recall the exact year this photo was made at this time. A bit more research will nail it down though. This is my friend Norm Grant and his son Dale Grant at the Colorado Railway Museum at Golden, Colorado. Norm, his wife Gloria and Dale (my Godson) were avid volunteers at the Museum for many years and they helped out on firing and running Rio Grand 346.

I have always been interested in photographing trains, but I attribute Norm and Dale as the ones that fired up that passion to what it is today! We were all stationed together at Rhein Main Air Base in West Germany for three years and we chased and photographed trains around West Germany and other areas of Europe during that time. When I was reassigned to the states in 1981 and Norm left the service we have continued to be family over the years and meet up a various places for visits and railfan trips. Although Norm has left this world for a better place, his son continues today as an engineer for the BNSF Railway.

According to Wikipedia: The Colorado Railroad Museum is a non-profit railroad museum. The museum is located on 15 acres at a point where Clear Creek flows between North and South Table Mountains in Golden, Colorado.

The museum was established in 1959 to preserve a record of Colorado’s flamboyant railroad era, particularly the state’s pioneering narrow gauge mountain railroads.

The museum building is a replica of an 1880s-style railroad depot. Exhibits feature original photographs by pioneer photographers such as William Henry Jackson and Louis Charles McClure, as well as paintings by Howard L Fogg, Otto Kuhler, Ted Rose and other artists. Locomotives and railroad cars modeled in the one inch scale by Herb Votaw are also displayed. A bay window contains a reconstructed depot telegrapher’s office, complete with a working telegraph sounder.

The lower level of the museum building contains an exhibition hall which features seasonal and traveling displays on railroading history. The lower level also contains the Denver HO Model Railroad Club’s “Denver and Western” operating HO and HOn3 scale model train layout that represent Colorado’s rail history in miniature.

The Robert W. Richardson Library houses over 10,000 rare historic photographs, Denver & Rio Grande Western Railway no 683 was built in 1890 by the Baldwin locomotive works and spent much of his time, pulling coal trains in the eastern United States it was donated to the Colorado Railroad Museum in July 9th 1982.

Denver & Rio Grande Western railroad no 346 was built in July 1881 by the Baldwin locomotive Works in Philadelphia Pennsylvania does 346 has its very own class sister the locomotive number 318.

Blast From The Past - I know this KC-10 air to air photo was shot along the coast of California, but can't recall the exact date. I can say that it's indicative of some of the many missions I flew over my 24 years in the Air Force. Part of my job during those years was to photograph the many different types of aircraft as they performed their missions. 

Sometimes this involved flying backseat in a fighter jet, but most times it was shooting from the back ramp of another jet or even prop plane while tethered by a harness in the event there was severe turbulence and the plane suddenly dropped or shook. Fortunately I always stayed inside the plane untill it reached the ground!!

Blast From The Past – I know this KC-10 air to air photo…

Blast From The Past – I know this KC-10 air to air photo was shot along the coast of California, but can’t recall the exact date. I can say that it’s indicative of some of the many missions I flew over my 24 years in the Air Force. Part of my job during those years was to photograph the many different types of aircraft as they performed their missions.

Sometimes this involved flying backseat in a fighter jet, but most times it was shooting from the back ramp of another jet or even prop plane while tethered by a harness in the event there was severe turbulence and the plane suddenly dropped or shook. Fortunately I always stayed inside the plane untill it reached the ground!!

Blast From The Past - January 6, 2013 - Working for 17 years as a photojournalist for The Messenger Newspaper here in Madisonville, Ky had me covering a lot of interesting assignments and Brian T. was one of those folks! 

Brian T. was heading down North Main Street pulling a cross on this Sunday as he headed home from being baptized at Christ View Fellowship Church in Madisonville. Brian didn't want his last name used as he wants all the glory of his actions to go to God. He thinks he's covered about 30 miles so far carrying his cross. - Photo by Jim Pearson, The Messenger Newspaper, Madisonville, Ky

Blast From The Past – January 6, 2013 – Working for 17 years as a photojournalist…

Blast From The Past – January 6, 2013 – Working for 17 years as a photojournalist for The Messenger Newspaper here in Madisonville, Ky had me covering a lot of interesting assignments and Brian T. was one of those folks!

Brian T. was heading down North Main Street pulling a cross on this Sunday as he headed home from being baptized at Christ View Fellowship Church in Madisonville. Brian didn’t want his last name used as he wants all the glory of his actions to go to God. He thinks he’s covered about 30 miles so far carrying his cross. – Photo by Jim Pearson, The Messenger Newspaper, Madisonville, Ky

November 12, 2019 - Union Pacific's "Big Boy" 4014 puts out a huge plume of steam in the cold November air at Hope, Arkansas as it heads north on the UP's Little Rock Subdivision on its way to Prescott, AR where it will tie down for the night. 

According to Wikipedia: The Union Pacific Big Boy is a type of simple articulated 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive manufactured by the American Locomotive Company between 1941 and 1944 and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad in revenue service until 1959.

The 25 Big Boy locomotives were built to haul freight over the Wasatch mountains between Ogden, Utah, and Green River, Wyoming. In the late 1940s, they were reassigned to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where they hauled freight over Sherman Hill to Laramie, Wyoming. They were the only locomotives to use a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement: four-wheel leading truck for stability entering curves, two sets of eight driving wheels and a four-wheel trailing truck to support the large firebox.

Eight Big Boys survive, most on static display at museums across the country. This one, No. 4014, was re-acquired by Union Pacific and restored to operating condition in 2019, regaining the title as the largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive in the world.

Union Pacific’s “Big Boy” 4014 puts out a huge plume of steam…

November 12, 2019 – Union Pacific’s “Big Boy” 4014 puts out a huge plume of steam in the cold November air at Hope, Arkansas as it heads north on the UP’s Little Rock Subdivision on its way to Prescott, AR where it will tie down for the night.

According to Wikipedia: The Union Pacific Big Boy is a type of simple articulated 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive manufactured by the American Locomotive Company between 1941 and 1944 and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad in revenue service until 1959.

The 25 Big Boy locomotives were built to haul freight over the Wasatch mountains between Ogden, Utah, and Green River, Wyoming. In the late 1940s, they were reassigned to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where they hauled freight over Sherman Hill to Laramie, Wyoming. They were the only locomotives to use a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement: four-wheel leading truck for stability entering curves, two sets of eight driving wheels and a four-wheel trailing truck to support the large firebox.

Eight Big Boys survive, most on static display at museums across the country. This one, No. 4014, was re-acquired by Union Pacific and restored to operating condition in 2019, regaining the title as the largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive in the world.

November 20, 2019 - CSX hot intermodal Q028 plows through the driving rain at Trenton, Kentucky as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision with CSXT 3013 leading the way! Fellow railfan Cooper Smith and I spent time trackside with our golf umbrellas and both came away with some really nice pictures! Getting out trackside in bad weather is a bit tricky, but as you can see the results can be spectacular!

CSX hot intermodal Q028 plows through the driving rain…

November 20, 2019 – CSX hot intermodal Q028 plows through the driving rain at Trenton, Kentucky as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision with CSXT 3013 leading the way! Fellow railfan Cooper Smith and I spent time trackside with our golf umbrellas and both came away with some really nice pictures! Getting out trackside in bad weather is a bit tricky, but as you can see the results can be spectacular!

November 30, 2019 - Spent a good deal of the day chasing trains in the rail with fellow railfan photographer Cooper Smith today with his new camera! While we had spells of light rain, most of it was the opposite! I really enjoy getting trackside during bad weather as it gives the photos a much different look and afterall, railroads operate in all kinds of weather! 

Here we see CSX Intermodal Q025-30 as it heads past Moore at the south end of Guthrie, Ky as it makes it's way south on the Henderson Subdivision.

Hardest thing about railfanning in bad weather is getting out the door! I keep a pair of golf umbrellas in my SUV all the time just for this type of weather! Lens hoods are also a good thing to have along with a large microfiber cloth for drying the mist from your equipment in the event you get some!

CSX Intermodal Q025-30 at Guthrie, Ky

November 30, 2019 – Spent a good deal of the day chasing trains in the rail with fellow railfan photographer Cooper Smith today with his new camera! While we had spells of light rain, most of it was the opposite! I really enjoy getting trackside during bad weather as it gives the photos a much different look and afterall, railroads operate in all kinds of weather!

Here we see CSX Intermodal Q025-30 as it heads past Moore at the south end of Guthrie, Ky as it makes it’s way south on the Henderson Subdivision.

Hardest thing about railfanning in bad weather is getting out the door! I keep a pair of golf umbrellas in my SUV all the time just for this type of weather! Lens hoods are also a good thing to have along with a large microfiber cloth for drying the mist from your equipment in the event you get some on it!

2020 Calendars

I now have three 11×17 calendars available for purchase for 2020!

One is on the Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy in Black and White, another on Steam Trains I photographed in 2019 and the last is a General Train Calendar featuring some of my favorite photographs from this year. Also, there’s the 2020 West Kentucky Chapter of the NRHS Calendar available for purchase.

These are all printed on demand and a high quality 11″ x 17″ wall calendar with coil binding, white interior paper (100# weight). VISIT: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/jimpearsonphotography to purchase today in time for the holidays and New Year!