Midweek Photos 12/30/2020 Year in Review

Back to my year.  I happened to be near Bridge 60 tower late in the afternoon of July 27, and heard the inbound train blowing for the crossing.  I decided to wait and see what the Delaware-Lackawanna had on the line.  It is nice to see a Lehigh Valley Yellow Jacket, which is over 55 years old, leading another line of Alco-MLW dinosaurs from the 1960s on the grain train.

August 1 was my first railfan trip involving people since January.  A friend chartered the caboose on the Strasburg Rail Road, so I met up with him and some of his friends.  Baldwin no. 90, originally built for the Great Western Sugar company is still running like a clock on that railroad line. We see the engine running past our train at Leaman Place, about 5 miles down the line from the starting point of the railroad.

The following Saturday, August 8, I made a quick run down to Glen Onoko, near Jim Thorpe, PA, to see yet another steam locomotive return to service.  Reading Blue Mountain & Northern's 4-6-2 no 425.  This was also built by Baldwin (like the previously mentioned 90)

In September, I ventured out to Cleveland for a few days as a vacation.  I enjoyed the quiet along the Cuyahoga River walkway where I could take photos of trains crossing this lift bridge.

A short walk away is the RTA light rail line.  This seems to be a new portion, since this part of town is redeveloping.  I last visited Cleveland in 1995, so I don't remember much of the city from then.

October saw the leaves changing, and some display locomotives at Steamtown were changed around for the season.  !916-built Rahway Valley 2-8-0 no. 15 was attached to a display freight train in part of the yard.  

In November, it was another trip to Strasburg.  This time, 2-6-0 no. 89 took the train trips.  This is the opposite end of the line from my above photo of no. 90.  

Finally, for my only rail-fanning of December, 2020, this Bethlehem Steel 0-6-0T in Tannersville, PA.  I have one day left of the year to catch another train, which might make in into next week's Midweek Photos.  I wish all of you a happy and healthy new year.  

For whatever reason, 2020 was an unjustifiably good year in terms of trains. As the above photo demonstrates (on January 1st), all signs pointed to a mediocre year. A standard NS intermodal speeds through Haysville on the Fort Wayne Line, on a day when my camera died after just two trains.

In March, I returned home to Pittsburgh for a spring break that turned into a whole half of a semester online. From March to May, I stayed inside, avoiding the pandemic and finishing out the academic year. Above, from one of the times I ran an errand for the family, a newly wrapped Port Authority trolley sits at the South Hills shops, advertising the change of the Blue Line Library (42L) to the Silver Line, eliminating one of the last vestiges of the pre-bus, pre-light rail consolidation.

With the completion of classes in May, and the temporary summer abatement of cases, I headed back out to Haysville, which proved to have its highs and lows in terms of consists, as per usual. Here, an SD70ACe leads an eastbound 10K manifest through the crossing. ACes appeared more frequently this year, along with AC44C6Ms, as the standard cab SD70S and NS's few SD70Ms were retired at the very beginning of the year.

An ET44AC leans into the curve at Haysville with 20E, the (usually) COFC/TOFC/single stack train for E-rail in New Jersey. By mid-to-late June, the contraction of the lengths of locals and some intermodals appeared to have disappeared, but NS has yet to reintroduce some symbols.

On June 6th, the Pennyslvanian started running between Pittsburgh and points east again, but in a sign that 2020 was far from done, the P42DC that had been sitting in the station since the last pre-pandemic run refused to start, necessitating an assist from an NS engine that itself had a few lighting issues.

In a personal first, I caught my first Union Railroad job on the same day, what I believe is called the "76" crew.

Masked up...

In July, NS ran a rare stone train on the FORL, with Chris T. in the conductor's seat. Leading the train is a sight that will become rarer as 2021 begins: a Dash 9 in the old Thoroughbred scheme (and dashed frame striping).

By now, people seemed to be weary of the pandemic, or at least believe they had it under control. The C07 turn that I caught in late June was back up to full length, running with an SD40E, SD60E, and an SD70ACC.

In early July, my family visited the old former CSX, nee-C&O owned White Sulphur Springs resort. CSX was still dragging coal to tidewater, but the Cardinal was still running with a reduced consist.

An SD40E leads the C07 past the camcorder of another fan out to catch the Penn Central leading intermodal 25Z. Masked up, we both were.

The following week, the Penn Central returned leading a very abbreviated office car special. Seen at Rochester, the train was rumored to contain operations rationalization folks. Thus far, there have not been substantial changes that were not already planned, but some symbols have been abolished, and old symbols revived.

The last Pittsburgh & Ohio Central locomotive on the POHC, an SW1500, sits with capped stacks in POHC's McKees Rocks yard, sidelined by a genset, a GP10, and eventually, a former PIR SW1200RS. By September, the unit had been shipped off, probably to LTEX.

The stone keystone which adorns the former PRR trainshed in downtown Pittsburgh, just before the start of the semester.

By October, I was back in Williamsburg, VA, for a compressed semester of college. I took one day off to catch a rare CSX military move to Fort Eustis that was running with KCS power.

An SD70ACC accelerates an intermodal through the signals guarding the interlocking at LEETS.

Delray Switch Tower - Detroit, Michigan - Part #3

Built in 1949 & is slated to close this year. This trackside structure has historic switch levers that date back to 1910. This is according to the trade marks and dates on these levers. Now with computer aided switch management these are going off line.

There is talk about saving this structure because it is part of the Michigan Central Depot Station. Which is set to open in 2023. This tower is used to manage traffic going to the Michigan Central Depot, Ford Motor Rouge Plant and trains in the Detroit & Windsor Railway Tunnel.

I will close out this years “ Midweek Photos” with posting a variety pack of Photoshop Enhancements.

Human Eye Saw This

Wild Colors

High Contrast with Abstract Colors

Duotone

Crazy Skies

Wild Sunset

Stars Over Delray

Gary 🚂

Tim, thanks for keeping this thread going week after week.