September 9, 2017 – Southern Railway diesel locomotives 5000, 3170, 2594, with a freight train, sits on the Chickamauga Creek bridge at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum during the museum’s 2017 Railfest night photo shoot.
September 9, 2017 – In the quietness of the early morning the sound of the approaching steam locomotive is heard before it can be seen. Anticipation builds as Southern Railways 4501 pulls into view with a loaded passenger train west, around a sweeping curve, on the return trip to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum at Chattanooga, TN during 2017 Railfest.
2017 Railfest, Chattanooga, TN – I’m often torn when I decide to shoot video trackside, because I invariably hate “missing” a good photograph, but Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s Railfest lended itself so well to video that I made an effort to get some footage using my iPhone 7 Plus. The below, slightly over 13 minute, video is a bit longer than I normally do, but I think it flows pretty good and I hope you enjoy getting a glimpse into the event.
It’s a selection of videos from the 2017 Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum Railfest Operations, Chattanooga, Tennessee of Steam and Diesel operations around the museum and between Chattanooga and East Chattanooga.
September 9, 2017 – I was thinking that this scene would make for a nice shot if only I had a central subject, other than the platform and passenger cars, when I heard the patter of little feet running up behind me and this little boy ran past me, at the East Chattanooga, TN Depot sign at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, into the scene and looked back! The fact that he was dressed as an engineer made it even better!
How many of us can recall what it was like to be a child this enthused by a steam train or any train for that matter! I hope the child in all of us never goes away when it comes to our passion for photographing, riding, watching, observing or anything else that has to do with trains!
When out shooting your rail photography don’t forget to record the people and not just the trains! One without the other won’t exist, especially when it comes to historic preservation!
September 9, 2017 – Southern Railway steam locomotive 630 heads into the west end of Missionary Ridge Tunnel with a loaded passenger train during the 2017 Railfest at Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, as it heads for the station at East Chattanooga, Tennessee. By the way, I love long lenses!!!
Completed in 1858 the tunnel is the primary reason TVRM runs on the three-mile section of the former Southern Railway. As railroad equipment grew too large to pass through and the single-track tunnel became a traffic jam for an otherwise double-track railroad, Southern Railway abandoned the three mile portion of the line and built a new section around the end of Missionary Ridge, avoiding the tunnel altogether.
The museum restored rails through the tunnel in 1971 and continues to use the pre-Civil War Tunnel on a daily basis.
September 10, 2017 – A gentle cool breeze and birds can be heard in the surrounding trees until till the shrill of a steam whistle and sounds of an approaching locomotive breaks the quietness as it approaches the west end of Missionary Ridge Tunnel.
Next thing you know, it has covered the 900 feet and then Southern Railway steam locomotive 4501 breaks out of the east side of the tunnel as it heads to Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s East Chattanooga station and shops, with a train load of passengers, during the 2017 Railfest.
Completed in 1858 the tunnel is the primary reason TVRM runs on the three-mile section of the former Southern Railway. As railroad equipment grew too large to pass through and the single-track tunnel became a traffic jam for an otherwise double-track railroad, Southern Railway abandoned the three mile portion of the line and built a new section around the end of Missionary Ridge, avoiding the tunnel altogether. The museum restored rails through the tunnel in 1971 and continues to use the pre-Civil War Tunnel on a daily basis.
September 9, 2017 – Southern 630 and 4501 pull and empty passenger train over the bridge just outside the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum at Chattanooga, Tennessee during the first morning of the museum’s 2017 Railfest.
September 8, 2017 – It’s the afternoon before Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s railfest in Chattanooga, Tennessee and we find the crews busy getting steam engines 4501 and 630 ready for the next days festivities!
October 18, 2016 – The nose of Norfolk and Western Railway steam locomotive 611 makes for a nice portrait as it sits idle at Spencer, North Carolina. As luck would have it on my recent road trip there I arrived after their last weekend of running and couldn’t stick around for their return trip home. There’ll be other times!
October 19, 2016 – Great Smoky Mountain’s steam engine 1702 approaches the Double Bridge Road crossing outside Whittier, NC as it makes the return trip to Bryson City, NC.
October 8, 2016 – The Fireman and Engineer on Strasburg Railroad’s engine 475, watch the tracks behind as they back around their passenger train in the station at Strasburg as they prepare for another run to Paradise, Pennsylvania. Steam Locomotive 475 is a former Norfolk & Western Railway M class 4-8-0 steam locomotive. It was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1906 as part of the N&W’s first order of class M numbered 450–499. It is the only known 4-8-0 operating in North America.
October 9, 2016 – The fireman climbs aboard Baldwin Locomotive Works, #26, at Steamtown National Historic Site, as he prepares his passenger train for another run at Scranton, PA.
October 9, 2016 – Steamtown, National Historic Site’s Baldwin Locomotive Works, #26, passes a Delaware-Lackawanna local as it starts it’s passenger run at Scranton, PA.
October 8, 2016 – Strassburg Railroad’s Baldwin 4-8-0 heads back to Ronks, Pa and the station with it’s passenger train the return leg of it’s trip to the station after making a stop at Abney Park.
September 12, 2015 – The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s Southern Railway 4501 returns to the station at the museum after turning on the wye at Citco Junction on Norfolk Southern’s mainline, during it’s return trip from Cleveland on the Norfolk Southern Mainline at Chattanooga, Tennessee with a loaded passenger train during 2015 Railfest.
4501 was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1911 for the Southern Railway, the 4501 was the first of its class on that railroad. The wheel arrangement is a 2-8-2, known as a Mikado since the first of this type were sold to Japan. 4501 served the Southern until the 1940s when the railroad began buying diesel locomotives and phasing out steam operations. It then then saw service on a small coal-hauling railroad in Kentucky. Since the mid-1960s, 4501 has pulled countless passenger excursion trains across the Southern (later Norfolk Southern) Railway. The 4501 ended its service in 1999 due to rising maintenance costs. However, with the start of Norfolk Southerns 21st Century Steam program, the 4501 returned to service this year.
Tech Info: 1/1250sec, f/7, ISO 250, Lens: Sigma 24-70 @ 24mm with a Nikon D800 shot and processed in RAW.
September 12, 2015 – The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s Southern Railway 4501 heads west on the Norfolk Southern Mainline at Pine Hill Road, McDonald, Tennessee during it’s return trip to Chattanooga with a loaded passenger train from Cleveland, during the Museum’s 2015 Railfest.
4501 was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1911 for the Southern Railway, the 4501 was the first of its class on that railroad. The wheel arrangement is a 2-8-2, known as a Mikado since the first of this type were sold to Japan. 4501 served the Southern until the 1940s when the railroad began buying diesel locomotives and phasing out steam operations. It then then saw service on a small coal-hauling railroad in Kentucky. Since the mid-1960s, 4501 has pulled countless passenger excursion trains across the Southern (later Norfolk Southern) Railway. The 4501 ended its service in 1999 due to rising maintenance costs. However, with the start of Norfolk Southerns 21st Century Steam program, the 4501 returned to service this year.
Tech Info: 1/1000sec, f/7, ISO 450, Lens: Nikon 70-300 @ 70mm with a Nikon D800 shot and processed in RAW.
September 13, 2015 – The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s Southern Railway 4501, a Baldwin 2-8-2 built in 1911, backs into the station at Chattanooga, Tennessee past Southern diesel unit 2594, A GP30 built in 1963, after returning with a loaded passenger train from Cleveland, Tennessee during the TVRM’s 2015 Railfest. Tech Info all photos: 1/1250sec, f/10, ISO 500, Lens: Sigma 24-70 @ 24mm with a Nikon D800 shot and processed in RAW.
September 12, 2015 – The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s Southern Railway 4501 heads into the wye at Citico Junction on the Norfolk Southern Mainline at Chattanooga, Tennessee after returning with a loaded passenger train from Cleveland, Tennessee during the Museum’s 2015 Railfest. The train was turned in the they wye and then headed back to the TVRM station.
4501 was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1911 for the Southern Railway, the 4501 was the first of its class on that railroad. The wheel arrangement is a 2-8-2, known as a Mikado since the first of this type were sold to Japan. 4501 served the Southern until the 1940s when the railroad began buying diesel locomotives and phasing out steam operations. It then then saw service on a small coal-hauling railroad in Kentucky. Since the mid-1960s, 4501 has pulled countless passenger excursion trains across the Southern (later Norfolk Southern) Railway. The 4501 ended its service in 1999 due to rising maintenance costs. However, with the start of Norfolk Southern’s “21st Century Steam” program, the 4501 returned to service this year.
Tech Info all photos: 1/1000sec, f/5.6, ISO 720, Lens: Sigma 24-70 @ 24mm with a Nikon D800 shot and processed in RAW.
September 13, 2015 – The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s Southern Railway 4501 heads from the museum onto the Norfolk Southern Mainline at Chattanooga, Tennessee with a loaded passenger train bound for a round trip to Cleveland, Tennessee during the Museum’s 2015 Railfest.
4501 was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1911 for the Southern Railway, the 4501 was the first of its class on that railroad. The wheel arrangement is a 2-8-2, known as a Mikado since the first of this type were sold to Japan. 4501 served the Southern until the 1940s when the railroad began buying diesel locomotives and phasing out steam operations. It then then saw service on a small coal-hauling railroad in Kentucky. Since the mid-1960s, 4501 has pulled countless passenger excursion trains across the Southern (later Norfolk Southern) Railway. The 4501 ended its service in 1999 due to rising maintenance costs. However, with the start of Norfolk Southern’s “21st Century Steam” program, the 4501 returned to service this year.
Tech Info all photos: 1/1250sec, f/10, ISO 900, Lens: Sigma 24-70 @ 24mm with a Nikon D800 shot and processed in RAW. ?#?jimstrainphotos?