Midweek Photos 1/1/2020 Year in Review 2019

Part 2 of the thread.  March saw more snow, and the occasional sunny day to go with it.  I captured this photo of Maine Central 2-8-0 no 519 in some snow in the Steamtown yard. 

Steamtown was also visited by Peppersass, the original cog railway steam locomotive, which dates to 1866.  The Mount Washington Cog Railway was returning this piece from display in Washington DC, and spent a few days at Steamtown while heading back to New Hampshire.  The three park rangers here are Bill McCarthy, Larry Scucci, Jr and myself.  

April saw the return to steam at Steamtown.  The official return is during National Park Week, but with some heavy bearing work done on Steamtown's Baldwin 0-6-0 no. 26, they needed some test runs in the yard to see if any final adjustments would need to be done.

Steamtown has a fully functioning roundhouse, and you can walk to within a few feet of the steam engine to watch it enter and leave the building. 

The Trolley returns to service on the rail line in Scranton in late April, around the same time as Steamtown's operations begin.  

Baldwin no. 26 is on the move in the Steamtown yard.  The park to the right side of the train is called the Renaissance Park, and it opens to the public during its own season, from April to November.  It can be a good viewing area of the trains as they pass. 

Sundays at Steamtown bring a longer run for the steam engine.  The train is stopped at the bridge that crosses the Roaring Brook on the train we call the Nay Aug Gorge Limited.  Spring buds and leaves are bringing the area back to life. This pic was taken by a friend, Joe Link.

May and June photos are coming up next. 

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Rail-fanning with Train Room Gary • “Year in Review”

Hi from: Michigan

“Red Ford 150”  Trackside with my ride at the end of the line.

“The Shadow”  Check out my shadow, dealing with a ten foot chain link fence.

“Custom Caboose”  Rail-fanning on the rear of a parking lot caboose at Michigan Central Depot.

“Yellow Stools”  Twin step stools at Amtrak Station; Pontiac, Michigan.

“Union Pacific at Pontic, Michigan”  High speed UP 9045 is heading south with auto racks with new vehicles from GM plants.

“Long Shadows”  C&O Freight House at sunset; Plymouth, Michigan.

“Last call”  All aboard to Chicago.

“Cool Locomotive”  Rail-fanning with the grandchildren.

“Kicking up snow”  Cup of coffee for the trip to Detroit.

Cameras: iPhone 7  Plus - iPhone 11 Pro & Canon DSLR T6i • • • Post-production: Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom 

Thanks for taking a look & Happy New Year. Hope to see you out rail-fanning: Gary

In May, we staged a few "East Meets West" views of locomotives in tribute to the 150th Anniversary of the Golden Spike ceremony, and the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Two seen above are Nickel Plate Road no. 759 and Baldwin no. 26.  

Another Nickel Plate Road locomotive returned to the rails in 2019, too.  GP9 no. 514 has been undergoing work and some upgrades since early 2015.  It was good to see her back leading trains. 

In June, Baldwin no. 26 took to a different route than she normally traverses.  Between 1991 and 1999, she was a frequent traveler on what is called the Brady Lead in Scranton.  The Electric City Trolley normally takes this line, but this steamer and DL&W caboose no. 889 participated in a festival called Arts On Fire for a day.  Above, we see the steamer going past the former DL&W locomotive shops.  

Pushing across Cedar Ave, and passing the former Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley Railway's freight station.  

During the day, Steamtown ran the yard tours called the Scranton Limited with F3 no. 664 leading, and Nickel Plate Road no. 514 pulled a train to Moscow, PA.  I don't have a shot of the F3, but here is the excursion train posed at the 1904 DL&W station in Moscow.

Around 6:00, Baldwin no. 26 was back on the move, crossing Cedar Ave again, and I am on the opposite side of the tracks from where I stood earlier in the day. 

Also, a day trip to Port Jervis, NY brought the chance to take this photo of a Metro-North Train with NJ Transit unit pushing its train to Hoboken, NJ. 

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In late June, I worked with RailCamp East, a week long program organized by the National Railway Historical Society.  This is the 21st year that this program took place.  We herded 24 teenage boys around Delaware and Pennsylvania to various rail sites to expose them to all aspects of railroading.  Girls are welcome, but for 2019, only boys applied.  Here are some that I picked up at the Wilmington, DE Amtrak station.

A tour of the Wilmington Amtrak locomotive shops gives us a chance to see some locos still owned by Amtrak, but no longer used.  When the lease on the HHP8's is up, they go to the bank for disposition. 

Another tour was of the Washington DC station.  With Amtrak, MARC, and Virginia Railway Express serving the station, it is a very colorful place to watch trains. 

The Wilmington training center for Amtrak also gives the campers a chance to see all of the parts of the locomotive up close.  They also get to sit in the locomotive cab.  

Also at the training center, the boys can run a locomotive using the simulators.  This video game set-up has the actual controls and displays that an engineer for Amtrak needs to know once he takes the throttle of a real train.

They also learn how to dispatch a train using the graphic boards similar to those used at CNOC and CTEC for dispatching trains between Washington and Philadelphia. 

RailCamp rolled over to July, with visits to the Strasburg Rail Road, and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.  Two of the Strasburg steam engines were steamed up, and one of them was just for the RailCamp kids to take cab rides on Friday.  

Later in the month of July, I caught Steamtown's two trains in action, and passing by each other.  The Nickel Plate Road Geep and Lackawanna F unit would lead the excursion through the Poconos, and steam locomotive no. 26 was leading a yard train through the city of Scranton. 

Baldwin no. 26 is also seen in late August running through Nay Aug Park in Scranton.  This Sunday only train runs about 5-miles round trip.  It is a local favorite. 

During the Spring and Summer, Steamtown commemorated the 60th anniversary of the Reading Company Iron Horse Rambles by touching up the paint, striping, markings and the diamond-shaped herald on 4-8-4 no. 2124.  This was the first steam locomotive to run the Rambles for about 3 years.  1950-built FP7s no. 903 and 902 were posed next to this dressed up steamer in time for Steamtown's Railfest. 

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In September, I went to a meeting in Northumberland, PA to plan a chartered excursion for October.  Part of the meeting meant inspecting the passenger cars that would be used during the trip.  One of the nice pieces is this restored Pennsylvania Railroad cabooses.  

Not all of the cars have a Pennsylvania Railroad heritage, but the aim is to have the entire train painted in PRR markings someday.  This is one of the lounge cars that was used.  

Also in September, the Greater Carbondale (PA) Chamber of Commerce chartered Steamtown's train for a couple of Wine Trains.  The rain and the locomotive headlight worked together really well in making this shot. 

At the end of September, I was back at the Strasburg Railroad to take part in the Norfolk & Western reunion.  N&W J no. 611 went to Amish country for its annual inspection, and stayed more than a month with special themes each weekend. Special charters on many of the weekdays, too.  

Strasburg's own 4-8-0 no. 475 was modified to one of her appearances while on the N&W, also.  We see this steamer taking on water.  I don't think I have ever seen them water one of their engines before.  

Quite a crew of Steamtown people took the day to spend at the Strasburg RR, and we had this group photo taken. I'm in the 611 hat. 

In October, a couple of my friends and I went to where they would check in and stay before going on a train trip.  They stayed in one of the caboose at the Depot Junction in Catawissa, PA.  On display by the station is this 0-6-0.  There are other cars, mainly cabooses, in this property, too.  The proprietor owns several miles of railroad bed and bridges.  I believe he bought 25 miles from Conrail, but now owns around 8 miles.  

These two Lehigh Valley cabooses are parked at the end of the 8 miles of roadbed. 

Steamtown's excursions ran throughout the month of October, and the most colorful time to be on the rails in Pennsylvania.  The above photo is in Gouldsboro, and the lower photo is in Moscow.  Some of the excursions featured diesels leased from the Delaware Lackawanna Railroad.  No. 2423 is performing a run-around move to pick up the coaches which are sitting right next to the photographer.  

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Spectacular photos, Tim. Thanks for the trip down (recent) memory lane!!!

I've been all over this year...but there have been a few themes. 

In January, I took Amtrak back to Williamsburg for my second semester of college. A sudden snowstorm dumped several inches on Washingtonjust before I arrived at the station, covering the P42DCs laying over between Regional and long-distance runs. 

In late February, I walked to the Williamsburg station to catch the second-to-last run of Regional 83 to Williamsburg. The 83 was unique in that it only ran on Fridays southbound, then ran up the peninsula the next morning without stopping to serve as the first train of the morning from Richmond. The train was cut and the schedule changed to allow a second departure from Norfolk. 

In March, I headed back to Pittsburgh for spring break and my favorite haunt, Haysville on NS's Fort Wayne Line. Of the many trains I caught that day before service cutbacks took full effect, these two catches were the best; a C44-9W running LHF down to a stopped intermodal, and SD40-2 3469 leading local C28 eastbound. 

April was a busy month with academics and the start of final exams, so I was unable to get trackside again until the 150th Anniversary of the Golden Spike driving, on May 10th. With NS cutovers of PRR- and Conrail-era signals on the Pittsburgh Division creeping steadily westbound starting in April, I began to focus on capturing the PRR signals at MP 10.6 in my shots. Here, an SD60E pair leads local C35 westbound under the bridge, and a Dash-9 leads the New York Central heritage unit eastbound over the crossing.

June found me back home working at my LHS; a late start one morning allowed me to finally catch the Pittsburgh & Ohio Central local heading southbound to Washington (PA) for the first time in nearly 4 years. 

I was all over the place in July; back to Haysville to catch C28 again and my first set of DPUs on an NS train (10K), and down to Washington for one week of a summer class. I caught one of MARC's rare HHP-8 electrics pulling a Penn Line train out of WAS from my inbound Metro subway car. 

In August, I was back in Pittsburgh to finish out my summer, catching a Wheeling and Lake Erie train as well for the first time in several years. I also shot my final shots of the PRR bridge at Haysville, and my final shots of SD60Es with their original NS-designed cooling system; as I noted while railfanning today, NS has started replacing the filters with ones cannibalized from retired SD60s and SD60M/Is. 

September, October, and November were all jam-packed with college and Revolutionary War reenacting events, preventing me from heading trackside in any capacity until just a few days ago over the Christmas holiday, where I caught I few Metro-North and Amtrak trains in the setting sun at Fairfield, Connecticut, on the NEC. 

Here's to a 2020 filled with exciting railfanning for all!

Quite a productive year for me. I'm going to attempt to include one photo for each day I've spent trackside, in chronological order.

In April, I cured my cabin fever in historic Fostoria, OH with Norfolk Southern and two CSX lines.

In May, I celebrated National Train Day with Jones & Laughlin no. 58 at the Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum.

In June I had my first work session with the American Steam Railroad Preservation Association and Reading no. 2100. The big thing that we accomplished that day was hanging the bell back on the engine.

The day after the work session, I went up to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad to film the regular Scenic train.

In mid-July, we made more progress on the 2100, including removing the "Ferroequus" lettering from the tender.

On July 20 and 21, I went out to Strasburg, PA to film the legendary railroad that calls this town home. Along with filming trackside, I rode behind ex-Canadian National no. 89 on Saturday and ex-Great Western no. 90 on Sunday.

89 put on a great show climbing out of Cherry Hill.

On a rainy Monday, July 22, I went up to the legendary Horseshoe Curve to film Norfolk Southern, catching a whopping three trains before it began raining too hard and we had to leave.

I also visited the Railroaders Memorial Museum in downtown Altoona that day, seeing K4 no. 1361 in her disassembled form.

In August, we helped our friends at the Midwest Railway Preservation Society with track work that needed to be done within a week's time. Photo by Brian Smith.

In September, ASR had their open house featuring keynote speaker Ross Rowland, a legend in the preservation industry.

On September 22, I chased Nickel Plate Road no. 765 for the first time in nearly a year. Many things went wrong on this day, but it was still a blast.

I also attended the night photo session with the 765 on the 27th. Special thanks to Mark Turkovich for helping me edit this photo.

On September 28, I chased the 765 again. She is seen here racing through the small town of Jaite.

On September 29, I again chased 765, now with NC&StL no. 576's whistle mounted.

On October 12 and 13, I went back out to Strasburg, but to see something very, very different. She can be seen on the left, next to a sugar beet-hauling Decapod from Colorado. To say it was an interesting mix is an understatement.

The 611 puts on a show accelerating out of Groundhog Cut. I was in a photo line of perhaps 15 or 20 people while getting this shot.

Now in November, I again helped with the restoration of Reading no. 2100, but this time on assignment. I was to take photos for the organization's social media and video updates. They can be seen in the October and November video updates. In this photo, we're taking some preliminary staybolt measurements while formulating a plan to document them.

On November 16 and 17, I went up to Michigan to see Pere Marquette no. 1225 on the head of the North Pole Express. To my dismay, the flying numberboards were absent from the locomotive, but she still put on a brilliant performance.

The 1225 can be seen here racing through the small town of Carland.

Now in December, the Holiday Season is in full swing, and I helped with the Midwest Railway Preservation Society's final open house of the year.

On the last work day of the decade, we again worked on the 2100, opening the small smokebox door and preparing to open the big door. We also worked on welding the stoker auger to build up worn areas and cracks.

Like I said, quite a year. Looking forward to 2020!

Great thread!  Thanks for sharing.

Thank you, one and all for the contributions so far.  During this past year, I felt like I didn't do anything or go anywhere, and yet the photos tell a different story.  This has been quite a year for railroading.  But then again, they all are in their own way.  Here is what I was up to in November and December. 

On November 3, the trees in Scranton were at their peak in color, and would be free of leaves within a week.  Steamtown's Baldwin steam engine runs on weekends through Veteran's Day.  

This is one of her last runs through the yard in what we call the "regular" season.  After taking a couple weeks off, we will dive deep into the holidays. 

Scranton's Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad has perhaps the largest fleet of operating RS3 locomotives.  Built by Alco in 1951, The Central of New Jersey no. 1554 is a regular on freight trains. To her right is dead RS3 no. 467, in Reading Company colors.  She has been a display engine on this track for about 10 years.  This unit was preserved by the Anthracite Railroads Historical Society in the 1990s.

Steamtown runs Holiday Express trains the three days after Thanksgiving.  Mike Bischak took this group photo of the people involved in the Saturday afternoon train during the layover in Moscow.  

Yes, we get snow, and it helps to accent the white locomotives of the Delaware-Lackawanna, plus it lends a classic look to their "heritage fleet."

Steamtown's Baldwin no. 26 finished off 2019 with a series of Santa Claus trains running from our turntable area to Nay Aug Park and back.  The North Pole Limited train is seen crossing over Cedar Ave, passing the former Railway Express Agency building. 

And my final photo for 2019.  The day after Christmas, this Delaware Lackawanna train crosses South Washington Ave. in Scranton.  The parking garage on the right is part of the Marketplace at Steamtown. 

It has been a great year.  Please, keep those pictures coming.  Everything is worth viewing.  See you more in 2020. 

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“A winters day
In a deep and dark December”

- Paul Simon

Steamtown, December 5th to be precise...