Midweek Photos 11/18/2020

Down to the bottom of the photographic barrel this week (these may even be reposts), but fortunately our semester is done next week because COVID inspired a compressed academic schedule, so I will be socially-distancing trackside again soon.

NS 951 was an office car special that ran on the Fort Wayne Line back in July. Shorter than most, it featured just the Penn Central heritage unit, Buena Vista, and one additional office car. Here, the train passes Glenfield, PA, 10 minutes from a quick stop in Conway Yard.

Under normal circumstances, chasing a train along PA-65 would be difficult to do without breaking traffic laws, but the 20-minute stop for a crew change allowed me to make it to Rochester at the western end of Conway.

The train would eventually make it to Chicago before making a run through the South. Rumor had it that the train was staffed by NS bean-counters who were looking to cut costs, but thus far the only change has been to re-assign the routes of two manifests and to fold the Pittsburgh and Harrisburg Divisions (not lines) into one Keystone Division.

Finally, here's a shot of a KCS GEVO and SD70ACe leading a military logistics train to Fort Eustis south of Williamsburg. The full video can be found on my YouTube channel below.

Jackson Michigan • Norfolk & Southern Yard

Autumn 2020

I arrived at the Jackson Amtrak / Norfolk & Southern Yard at 2:10 PM, November 4th. I parked the F150 and set off on foot. This photo story is not in the order of how the images were captured. I met a lot of interesting people from the guy who manages the Amtrak Station, to an N&S Engineer.

We are here! Rail-fanning in the Great Lake State. The only state with an international train tunnel to Canada.

This rusted out boxcar and passenger car are parked behind a vacant warehouse.

I was a taking a photo of this caboose and an engineer came out of his office building. We struck up a conversation about the caboose. He was very proud of this caboose because it was in storage for decades on Zug Island, Detroit. Zug Island is about 100 miles from Jackson and this caboose has been at Jackson for five weeks. He talk about the history of this caboose and the short term and long term objective for placing this caboose back into service.

N&S Locomotive on the main line with the N&S Caboose #585618.

N&S #9917 & an Amtrak gravel car.

N&S #9917 & an Amtrak gravel car.

Behind the engine shed a boxcar up on blocks.

The trucks from the boxcar.

Sunset at the Norfolk & Southern railyard on a warm November evening.

Artistic fun with Adobe Photoshop using custom colors.

All photos shot with a Canon DSLR T6i on November 4th, 2020 & processed with Adobe Photoshop.

Thanks for taking a look and hope to see you guys & gals out rail-fanning.

Take care: Gary 🚂

Another photo from the Inman engine terminal, back in May of 2019.

Great photos guys.  Thanks for posting!

The Strasburg Rail Road always has been, and continues to be, a class act from the Get Go indeed!

Wow, that NS Penn Central heritage unit really brings back memories of a railroad that was for many railfans and model railroaders alike, a love/hate affair.  Still would prefer to see PC freights tackling Horseshoe Curve on all four tracks instead of NS with the fourth track removed.  Just something missing in Century 21 railroading if you ask me, or even if you don't!

trainroomgary: Sure would like to know the heritage of the rusted passenger car and box car.  Wonder if they could still be restored to their onetime glory?  Sad to see equipment just sitting and rusting away like this instead of making money for their owner while they were still operating in revenue service.

Hi Trinity River Bottoms Boomer:

Thanks for checking out everyone's photos this week. You asked about the rusted boxcar & passenger car. It looks like the passenger car was moved to this yard recently. This photo is from Google Earth and was captured in the summer of 2019. You can see the boxcars from outer space but no passenger car.

Next time I am in Jackson I will seek out some information.

Hope this helps: Gary 🚂

Aurora, Il old Burlington Route caboose displayed by the old round house and Metra end of line station.

Metra trains ready for Monday’s commuter runs. Could not find the CB&Q  heritage unit maybe next time.