Midweek Photos 1/18/2017

Wash. DC '86

Bayview Yard Baltimore MD Feb '82

Bayview Yard Baltimore MD Feb '82

Riverside Shops Baltimore MD 1989. Note that the CSX crane still has its B&O marks

May '86 Harrisburg. FP40PH #277 is mid-train. Don't know if its running dead or what. 

Riverside Shops Baltimore, MD.  March 1989. Back then you could just wander around and snap photos.  Those were the "Good Old Days" for railfans. 

There's a lot of snow up on the old MILW transcon, now the BNSF Appleton sub, that runs through the northern tier of counties in South Dakota.  I decided to take yet another poke up there, despite finding little the last two 500 mile trips there.  Leaving I-29 at US 12 I followed the tracks west.  Nothing on the radio, the signals were dark.  In Aberdeen I stopped in the BNSF terminal to scrounge up some info.  The trainmaster I know was gone, and the only guy there was taciturn and not very helpful.  A second guy came in from the field and did some paperwork while I continued to talk up the first guy.  When the first guy left, the second guy gave me some info.  He said the tracks west of Mobridge were still shut down due to snow, and there has been a plow working it.  He said there was about five feet of snow on much of it.  He checked and said the plow probably wouldn't have a crew again until early Monday, but that could change depending the whim of the Chief.  He then tipped me off to an e/b grain train sitting at an elevator about 30 miles west that had a crew called.  I thanked him and headed west.  I did consider taking a chance and heading west in case the plow did start running, but in Aberdeen I was already 230 miles from home (on winter roads,) and if I went on west of Mobridge (on even worse roads)  it would most certainly turn into an unplanned overnight.  If the plow was running I'd have gone for it, but that was sounding very "iffy."  I went after the sure thing.

I found the grain train just before the dogcatch arrived.  They shuttled the lead engine off the front of the train and brought it around to the rear.  It took them an hour to clear the snow from the switches, and at least half an hour to do checks.  Finally it looked like they were getting ready to take off, so I drove back east to a cool concrete bridge near Mina SD I've always wanted a good shot of.  I set up and began to wait.  The sun was going down and it was getting dark.  Never heard a warrant go out.  When it was dark I went back to my car and grabbed about five flash, and set them up on the highway bridge.  I did my flash checks and waited.  Still no train.  The wind was picking up and the temperature had sunk a couple of notches below zero.  I figured something had hung the train up but it still had to come.  So, I laid down in the two foot deep soft powdery snow.  I was quite comfortable thanks to the 800-fill goose down in my mountaineering outerwear,  and out of the wind.  Train finally came about an hour after sunset.  (About two & half hours later than I thought it would!)  As the train approached I pulled a battery out of my inner pocket and stuck it into my camera, tested.  Battery was too cold to work!  I pulled out a second one, and it was barely working.  Train rolled out onto the bridge, I popped the shot, and it quickly rumbled off into the darkness.  I collected my flash and stowed everything back into my RAV4, headed back east along the tracks.  The grain train was long gone but I had hopes it might have put a w/b into a siding.  No such luck.  That was the only train I saw after spending ~10 hours along the line.   At least I got a half way decent shot out of the deal.  Sometimes, despite your very best efforts that's all you can ask.

Kent in SD

 I will add that the little road going over Snake Creek in the foreground is for snowmobiles.

Kent, I always enjoy reading your story about how you got the photo(s).  You are one tough buckaroo.

Tim O'Malley posted:

 

Oh, my!  Now, that is a real beater!  If I were an FRA Mechanical Inspector, I would head straight for that engine.

Number 90 posted:

Tim O'Malley posted:

 

Oh, my!  Now, that is a real beater!  If I were an FRA Mechanical Inspector, I would head straight for that engine.

It's not in service. This road is closed for the railroad to use.