After my final shot on a Wheeling chase, I started to head home, but was distracted by a gorgeous sunset (not uncommon for Pittsburgh, when it's not cloudy). I quickly pulled off at a rise on the former Pittsburgh Railways line that had drawn my eye for several years, and anxiously hoped for a light rail trolley to pass for the sun set too much. I know transit and train enthusiasts are not necessarily the same, but I liked this shot because of the glint off the car, despite the wires.
A few days later, a half-mile east and 50 feet higher, I snagged another WE 614 heading east with a train of tanks for the Allegheny Valley Railroad and Norfolk Southern. The former Pittsburgh & West Virginia line shares the ledge with Pittsburgh Regional Transit's East Busway, while the light rail line runs below. SD40-2 6383 is named for the Wheelings former head of maintenance, a bootstraps Rio Grande executive and friend of the CEO who is credited with greatly improving the WE's state-of-repair. Note the squirrel tracks on the ledge.
A brief flurry of snow swept through while the train was stopped at Bruceton to drop the AVR tanks.
In videos this week, first up is a chase of the Norfolk Southern local between Mingo Junction, OH and Conway Yard on what is now known as the River and Bayard Lines. The chase was part of one or two efforts I made in 2023 to see the PRR signals (mounted on Conrail-era masts) that still guarded the Bayard between Vanport and Yellow Creek, and also featured a pair of reactivated (since stored again) SD70M-2s. The day alternated between foggy conditions and brilliant sun.
Second is a May 2023 chase of Maryland & Delaware RS-3m 1201 on a Perdue grain shuttle run from the elevator at Roberts, MD, to the junction at Massey. Usually, the crews starts in Massey, but the previous run's crew had tied the train down in Massey after the elevator was unable to finish loading the train. This was a rare opportunity to take several shots which were usually backlit on the northbound trip in at least partially better lighting.
