January 4, 2018 – Day 66 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Elaina and Tabatha – Elaina no more than took her coat off this morning, when she was on the floor with Tabatha! Sometimes crooked and slightly blurry photos are a lot better than not having any picture at all! Actually, in this case I feel both factors help to strengthen this photograph.
December 29, 2017 – Union Pacific 8403 leads a mixed freight southbound on the Mt. Vernon Subdivision, with Kansas City Southern 4058 trailing, as they cross over the Norfolk Southern line at Mount Vernon, Illinois.
January 3, 2018 -Day 65 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge – T-Rex – Damion’s mamaw bought him a dry erase board today and here he proudly shows off his first drawing, that of a T-Rex. After being down with the flu since Monday Im glad my photo subjects come to visit me!!! LOL
January 2, 2018 – Day 64 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Damion and Socks – My nephew Damion carries my cat Socks to his sister Elaina.
December 29, 2017 – SAVATRANS 1912 leads an empty coal train north as it passes the Evansville Western Local in preparing to back into the Port of Indiana at Mount Vernon, Indiana.
December 29, 2017 – SAVATRAN 1912 leads a empty coal train northbound across the Big Creek bridge, north of Mount Vernon, Indiana, as it heads to Sugar Camp mine to pickup a load of coal.
December 26, 2017 – Norfolk Southern’s Bar Heritage Unit 1111, starts downgrade at East Douglas, out of the yard at Princeton, Indiana, headed to pickup another load of coal at the Francisco Mine in Francisco, IN.
December 26, 2017 – Norfolk Southern Interstate Heritage Unit, 8104, brings up the rear of empty Norfolk Southern coal train D435-24, outside the Squaw Creek Mine at Booneville, Indiana.
January 1, 2018 – Day 63 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Happy New Year – They say what you do on New Year’s Day you’ll do all year long and, so I made sure I took a photo of family and one of our kids! This is Damion and his mom Ashley!
December 31, 2017 – Day 62 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Three Generations – From right, my sister, her great grand daughter and my sister’s daughter. This brings to mind a point. I’m into genealogy and I just want to mention that when you shoot photos that need to stand the sands of time, you need to have prints made! I’m afraid the time will come when, so much is digital and easy to lose over the years, that pictures will be lost to researchers!
December 30, 2017 – Day 61 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Socks – There’s nothing better on a cold winter’s day than a lap cat!!!
December 29, 2017 – Evansville Western Railway 4519 leads a loaded coal train south across the Big Creek bridge, north of Mount Vernon, Indiana, as it heads to the Mount Vernon Transfer Terminal.
December 29, 2017 – Day 60 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Days gone by – Today’s photo is of the end of an old CN baggage car that had been converted into a camp car for crews. Got it today during a visit to the Mid-America Locomotive & Car Repair, Inc. Evansville, IN with fellow railfan Ryan Scott, who knows the folks there.
December 28, 2017 – Day 59 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Making Memories and photos – Today Damion and I spent some time building him a Secret Agent Power Watch!! Of course, it had to have a Laser Canon, Lasers and guns attached! One thing about making memories with your little ones is that usually there’s a picture to be had during or at the end of the process!
December 26, 2017 – Indiana Southern’s 3382 heads up a coal train as it snakes it’s way through the landscape at 0.25 mph as it loads coal at the Somerville Central Mine in Somerville, Indiana on a cold December day.
December 26, 2017 – A frigid cold wind blows across the flatland’s as CSX Q647-26 heads south up the viaduct at Rahm, Indiana as the last light of the day fades on the Henderson Subdivision.
December 27, 2017 – Day 58 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Damion and his new duds – My nephew shows off some of his new duds he got for Christmas. When photographing kids sometimes it works better if you ask them to take pictures of something theyre wearing, doing, playing with, ect, rather of say I want to take a picture of you. They enjoy having photos taken of their prized possessions. Also, don’t just take a picture and leave it on your phone. Get your favorites printed out and share them with the kids. All mine love having pictures they can hold, put in their photo books or hang on the wall of their room.
December 26, 2017 – Day 57 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Merry Christmas Bear – I turned around for this one! Driving down a country road today in Evansville, Indiana I spotted this stuffed bear hanging from a post that had a sign above it that says Merry Christmas. The red letters don’t show up the best in black and white, but I like the shot anyway!
December 26, 2017 – Pioneer Lines PREX 912 (GP9) and 806 (GP8) sit idle in the yard at the Indiana Southwestern Railway at their Harwood Yard in Evansville, Indiana the day after Christmas. I hadn’t been to this location before fellow railfan William Crupper took me by there today. I’m sure someone’s mentioned it before though, perhaps Ryan Scott?
I’d love to catch them out working in the Evansville area sometime. Can anyone tell me when they run their trains and any sort of a schedule when I might catch them leaving? Also, any info on industries they pick-up at would be nice to know as well!
According to Wikipeda: Indiana Southwestern Railway (reporting mark ISW) is a subsidiary of Pioneer Railcorp, operator of several short-line railroad companies. The ISW is a Class III railroad, and operated on 17 miles of track from Evansville, Indiana, northward to Cynthiana, Indiana. That track is currently out of service but switching still occurs in ISW’s yard and surrounding industries.
The line was originally operated as part of an Illinois Central Railroad line that ran all the way to Newton, Illinois. Illinois Central sold off the line south of Browns, Illinois, to Indiana Hi-Rail Corporation; the line went through a succession of operators, all of which had to contend with the line’s ancient bridge over the Wabash River near Grayville, Illinois. The bridge suffered damage from floods on more than one occasion, and one span finally collapsed completely around 1999.
Pioneer bought the line and its Evansville shops in 2000 from the Evansville Terminal Railway. However, when Pioneer stopped shipping grain, the track had to be dismantled and salvaged at the close of 2011. Only the small stretch from the interchange northwest of Evansville to just north of their yard is still used, a distance of about 4 miles.
The dates back to 1881 as part of the Evansville and Peoria Railroad, which then became part of the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville Railway through a series of purchases. The PD&E became part of Illinois Central in 1900. The ISW is currently the only remaining in-service segment of the PD&E south of Mattoon, Illinois.
December 26, 2017 – “Twas the night before Christmas” when empty Norfolk Southern coal train D435-24, with Lehigh Valley Heritage Unit 8104 pulled to a stop outside the Squaw Creek Mine at Booneville, Indiana, where it still sits the day after Christmas, waiting for a crew to take it on into the mine for loading. With the holidays over crews across the nation will soon once again begin to move their trains.
December 15, 2017 – CSX Q513 heads south on the Henderson Subdivision at Nortonville, Ky with SunRail Commuter Service unit 110 trailing as the fifth unit. Ties are finally being laid for the connection of the sidings at Romney and Nortonville to produce about a six mile stretch of a new two track main.
According to Wikipedia: SunRail is a commuter rail system in the Greater Orlando, Florida area. Service began on May 1, 2014. Phase 1 comprises 31 miles (50 km) with 12 stations along the former CSX Transportation “A” Line connecting Volusia County and Orange County through Downtown Orlando. The extensions proposed for Phase 2 would add a new northern terminus at DeLand and four more stations southward, terminating at Poinciana in Osceola County. It is expected to be fully completed sometime in 2017. Formerly known as “Central Florida Commuter Rail”, the SunRail system is financed by the state and Federal governments and the counties it serves. SunRail is Florida’s second commuter rail system after South Florida’s Tri-Rail.
SunRail opened on May 1, 2014 with over 10,000 passengers riding the trains on opening day. In 2015 the system saw 957,800 passenger trips, for an overall average of 3,800 paying riders per weekday.