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Welcome once again to Wednesday and Midweek Photos.  It's a new month, and here are a few odds and ends of rail related photographs I took in the past week.

Above we see an anniversary banner honoring the Centennial of the Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad in 1951.  It is in pristine condition, and is in the process of becoming part of the Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley chapter, NRHS in time for their own 40th anniversary this year. This particular banner once hung on the Binghamton, NY station.

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The rich colors of the leaves are highlighting the deep colors of the Reading FP7s at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton. This is an early morning view...

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... and an afternoon view.  I also drove to Reading Company territory yesterday to take photos of a local hero from the Central RR of New Jersey.

 

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After several years of restoration, 0-6-0 no. 113 ran her first real mileage (approximately 7 miles to Schuylkill Haven) to help out with a festival on September 28.  She was a static display near the train station in SH while Reading & Northern ran short passenger trains from the festival.  Then... the two locomotives double headed on one of the trips that afternoon.  

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Of course, I was not able to catch this occasion, but some others on the board here have posted photos and video.  Yesterday, I went to 113's home to catch these two images of her at rest in Minersville, PA.

 

I now hand the thread over to you.  Any photos of the real world of railroading are welcome.  Have a great day.  

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This past Sunday, a group of us Pittsburgh Independent Hi-Railers decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and head down to Sand Patch for some train watching.  Unfortunately, they were working in two of the tunnels and had all traffic stopped for most of the daylight hours.  We did get to see some of the work equipment, and we did catch one train at the end of our day.

 

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It was my first trip to Sand Patch, and even with the lack of trains to watch, we still had a lot of fun.  I'm looking forward to doing it again.

 

Andy

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Swipsey--

I've been looking at the little helicopters for the past three years now.  The price on the one you show (the most popular one right now) has fallen considerably.  The camera is probably a GoPro which shoots video or stills.  The combined cost for both is now something like a thousand bucks, which is certainly in the affordable range.  I have not yet bought one because:  (1) I've been buying vintage Leica equipment (not cheap!) and (2) the wind out here is often way too much for the little helicopters to cope with.  (Over the past four days it's been 20-40 mph virtually non stop.)

 

Last Friday I drove out to extreme southwest South Dakota, for rifle/antelope season.  I didn't have a lot of time to spare, but I did manage to make it over to Crawford Hill in Nebraska, on the BNSF Powder River Sub.  The line there is double track and gets extremely heavy use.  The trains are pretty much nonstop.  This line funnels coal trains in/out of the WY coal fields, 24/7.  The hill there is very long and steep, so there are helper units (multiple) working there.  I saw a couple of stack trains and one manifest while out there over the four days, but I'd say about 90% of the traffic is coal shuttles.  There's a nice little bridge over the tracks at the crest of the hill, and it shakes like a leaf when the heavy trains go under it, notched to the max!  Most loaded trains had about 6-8 engines on it, including helpers.  I also followed the line north into Wyoming a ways, and found some spots I'd like to return to.  It's typical wide open antelope country!

 

First shot:, an empty train is n/b as a loaded s/b heads away. The helper units have cut off and are waiting for dispatch to clear them and they can go back north for the next train.  Second shot: a loaded s/b is thundering up the hill at a crawl despite being notched out.  You hear these trains LONG before you see them.  Third shot:  the only tunnel in Nebraska, now abandoned.  The hill was notched out and double tracked immediately to the west. (visible in 2nd shot)  Fourth shot:  the country is so open you can photo an ENTIRE coal train at once in numerous places.  Fifth shot:  SD/WY border on one of the typical roads I was driving looking for antelope.

 

I would include Crawford Hill as one of the "10 wonders of Foamer America."  It's more impressive than Horseshoe Curve and is in fact a double horseshoe.  Access is good, and you generally have the whole place to yourself.  The trains are very impressive as they thunder and smoke up the hill, and crews are railfan friendly.  I do have to wonder what will become of this line as the use of coal drops.  Without coal, I have to wonder if the helper units would still be around, or if the entire line will still be there.  Today the action is nonstop around the clock, but twenty years from now, who knows.  If you are a hard core railfan looking for the best, this is a spot you need to check out at least once while you can.  The area I'm talking about is very remote, but worth the effort.

 

 

Kent in SD

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Last edited by Two23

Kent,

 

The helicopter is a DJi Phantom.  You can now purchase just the helicopter for $479.00.  If you want the camera the total package goes for $808.00.  The guy who was flying this one was really good at it.  He had it up 200 feet and down low enough that he was buzzing the locomotives as they went buy.  Was fun to watch.

 

John

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