Blast From The Past – Jan. 20, 1981 – The 52 former Iran hostages are welcomed and cheered by hospital personnel as they arrive at the Wiesbaden Air Base hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany, after their release from Iran. The hostages stayed at the hospital for a few days before their departure to the United States. (USAF Photo by SSgt. James R. Pearson)
September 21, 2019 – The John A. Chambliss “TAG 80” passes through and industrial section of Chattanooga, Tennessee, as it returns from a photo charter run to Chickamauga, Georgian, with Southern 4501, all dressed up as L&N 1593 trailing, during the L&N Historical Society weekend at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM). Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.
According to the TVRM Website it was built for the Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia Railway in 1968, TAG 80 was the last and most powerful engine purchased by that railroad. The engine was named “The John A. Chambliss” in honor of the railroad’s vice president, and dedicated on his 80th birthday.
The 80 was later sold to the Southern Railway, and later became the property of Norfolk Southern, who sold it at auction to the Chambliss family in 2001, who then donated the locomotive to TVRM. The locomotive was restored mechanically, electrically and cosmetically between 2015 and 2016, returning to service in March 2017. It is a model GP38, developing 2,000 horsepower.
Blast from the Past – May 10, 1987 President Ronald Reagan gives graduation address to the graduating class of Tuskegee University their friends and families during ceremonies held at the university. – USAF Photo by TSgt. James R. Pearson
September 5, 2019 – Lake Superior Railroad Museum’s Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range 332 steam locomotive passes Palmers Siding as it heads north toward Twin Harbors from Duluth, Minnesota on the North Shore Scenic Railroad.
Blast from the Past Series – December 10, 1982 – A front view of an HH-53 Super Jolly helicopter in flight over the Tower Bridge in London, England during a US Air Force pararescue training exercise. The helicopter was assigned to the 67th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron. – USAF Photo by SSgt. James R. Pearson
September 20, 2019 – Southern 4501, all dressed up as L&N 1593, sits on the turntable at the shops in East Chattanooga, during the Annual L&N Convention night shoot, at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
October 5, 2019 – A Loaded E319 takes on fuel on Ohio Street, just north of Howell Yard in Evansville, Indiana as a Evansville Western Railway crew brings it off their line. Their train it will be tied down in the siding at Harwood, on the Evansville Terminal Subdivision, as it waits for a fresh crew that will take it on north as a N319 (N319 Evansville, IN (EVWR) – Cross, SC). Most coal trains head south from Evansville, but I’m told that some have started going north, bound for the east coast for export overseas. Not sure if they’re being rerouted due to weather or construction.
This gallery of photographs will highlight photographs that shot during my career as a photojournalist in the U.S. Air Force and working for The Messenger Newspaper in Madisonville, Ky. I hope you enjoy a look at my past from around the world! I plan to add a new photo daily till I run out of photos I want to post or a year has gone by.
Blast from the Past: 1991 – SSGT Bill Lovins, ground radio maintenance, left, and SSGT Randall Brinlee, teletype communications operator, install communications antennas on one of several converted railway cars which function as the Alaskan Air Command’s Alternate Command Post. Both men were assigned to the 1930th Information Systems Squadron, Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. – USAF Photo by TSgt. James R. Pearson
October 8, 2019 – CSX Loaded grain train G307 takes the siding at the north end of Crofton, Kentucky as it passes empty coal train CSX E302 sitting on the main as they both work their way along the Henderson Subdivision.
October 8, 2019 – With just a hint of fall color in the background, empty coal train CSX E319 glides onto the Earlington Cutoff at Mortons Junction in Mortons Gap, Kentucky as it heads north on the Henderson Subdivision.
September 8, 2019 – CTA UIC-Halsted Blue Line train 108 passes a line of Maintenance of Way equipment as it heads into its next stop at Jefferson Park station in Chicago, Illinois.
October 5, 2019 – The conductor on CSX Y106 leans out as he guides the engineer on CSXT 9024 as they prepare to couple up to their empty autorack train at milepost 319.2, at Dogtown, just south of Evansville, Indiana on the Henderson Subdivision. The autorack came up from the south on the Henderson Subdivision to Evansville where this fresh crew ran the power around the train so they could take it on back across the Ohio River to the Texas Line and onto Louisville, Ky.
September 22, 2019 – CSX Q581 heads southbound at Sherwood, Tennessee, on the Chattanooga Subdivision, with CSXT #18 leading the way.
October 5, 2019 – CSX Q025-04 heads up the viaduct to the bridge over the Ohio River between Rahm, Indiana and Henderson, Kentucky as it heads south on the Henderson Subdivision on this beautiful fall morning with a wall of containers and a Geometry Test Car behind the lead units.
September 22, 2019 – A Norfolk Southern loaded grain train prepares to pass through the NS/CSX Diamond in downtown Dalton, Georgia as it heads south on the NS Georgia Division.
According to the website http://railfanlocations.weebly.com/ Downtown Dalton, Georgia is a railfan hotspot with 40 to 45 trains in an average day. Dalton is one of the few (if not only) places in Georgia where the CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway cross each other at grade. Norfolk Southern sold the former Southern Railway freight depot to the City of Dalton. The city has restored the old freight station and created an excellent train watching location, as well as a visitor’s center.
September 21, 2019 – The conductor stands ready to throw the switch after Southern Railway 630 departs from East Chattanooga, Tennessee on one of its several runs for the day. Southern 630 is a 2-8-0 Consolidation type steam locomotive built in February 1904 by the Richmond Works of the American Locomotive Company for the Southern Railway as a member of the KS-1 Consolidation class. Today, it operates at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum (TVRM) in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
September 22, 2019 – CSX W032-17, with CSXT 4062 a SD40-3 leading, heads north at Sherwood, Tennessee on the Chattanooga Subdivision with a load of MOW equipment.
September 8, 2019 – CTA Blue Line train 105 to Forest Park passes a crossover as it approaches the Damen Station as it heads toward downtown Chicago, Illinois.
October 2, 2019 – This afternoon I caught this rainbow power move as it took the siding at the north end of the siding at Dawson Springs, Ky, on the Paducah and Louisville Railway. The power is, PAL 4518, CITIRAIL 1204, BNSF 9651 and 5653. The BNSF power came north earlier this morning and dropped off a string of empty coal cars, before the power being moved back to Paducah, Ky. Not sure of the reason for the strange move however.
September 4, 2019 – The last glow of the day starts to fade from the sky a crews get things ready for a night photo shoot in Duluth, Minnesota at a recent photo charter at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum on the North Shore Scenic Railroad.
Locomotives from left, Minnesota Steel #7 a 0-4-0ST “Tank Engine” built by Porter in 1915; Soo Line #2719, Duluth, Missabe a Class H-23, 4-6-2 “Pacific” built by ALCO in 1923; Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway #332 a 2-8-0 consolidation class built by Pittsburg Works in 1906 and Duluth & Northern Minnesota #14 a 2-8-2 “Mikado” built by Baldwin in 1913.
September 21, 2019 – Southern 4501, all dressed up as L&N 1593, heads into a curve at Chattanooga, Tennessee as it heads south to Chickamauga, GA, during the 2019 L&N Convention.