Midweek Photos 12/4/2013

I recently caught NYS&W road freight "SU-100" getting ready to head east out of Binghamton, NY.  The power (four SD60's) was sitting on the mainline along US Rt. 11 near the Frito-Lay potato chip plant in Kirkwood, NY, while the tail end of the train was technically still in Binghamton city limits.

Despite running around at night a lot lately, I guess I don't really have much this week.  I actually ended up having to work Thanksgiving night!    The Dakota & Iowa RR (DAIR) continues to run trains every night after knocking off for Thanksgiving.  I went to my monthly camera club meeting last night and didn't get home until 9 PM.  It began to snow.  I knew I could still catch the n/b D&I train about 50 miles south.    Radar on the weather website showed a huge mess moving directly my way.  Hmmmm.     I put on my heavy expedition clothing as my wife silently watched.  She asked, rheotorically, "You aren't going out in this, are you?"  I replied, "Oh, it's not THAT bad."  I suppose for me "that bad" means the snow is so deep I can't even snowshoe out to my car.    So out into the night I went.

There was a shot at a big long trestle a few miles south of Fairview SD that I always wanted.  It's a very large public hunting area and pretty wild.  Mountain lions have been spotted in there.  I stuck my Ruger revolver in my coat pocket.  I set up three of my biggest lights and waited.  And waited.  And waited.  That's half of being a foamer, isn't it?   The snow was falling and making a gentle hiss as it hit the ground around me.  

I heard the train before I ever saw any light where I was down along the wooded river.  Pretty soon I did see the headlight piercing through the lightly falling snow and lighting up the top of the trestle.  As the train reached my mark, I popped it.  I hit it with 4,000 watt seconds of power (a lot!) and hoped Engineer Latelle didn't mind.  After listening to the train slowly roll by me in the dark, I packed up and headed back home.  It was 1 AM.

I spotted the train waiting for a warrant (to get on BNSF Canton Sub) in Canton SD.  So, I parked my car and went over for a chat with Engineer Latelle.  He was happy to have some company.  He once lived in Edgemont SD and ran trains on the PRB for the BN.  He had some winter stories!   One of the great things about living out here is when the weather turns nasty, train crews often feel sorry for you and invite you up to get warm.  I rarely turn that down.    I didn't get home until after 2 AM this morning, but all in all I think it was worth it.  The train will roll again tonight and I'll be out there of course.  Temps are supposed to drop below zero as the back side of the storm passes.  Don't want to miss that!  I'll be taking my shots at 7 PM rather than 1 AM though.  I can't stay out all night and then get up and work all day like I used to.

First shot, n/b D&I rolls along on the Fairview trestle.

Second shot, the storm begins to build.

Third shot, engineer Latelle at work.

And, that's all I gots this week.

Kent in SD

After years of restoration, Jersey Central 0-6-0 113 doubleheaded with Reading & Northern 425 from Minersville to West Cressona last Saturday.

Reading Anthracite purchased 113 in 1953, just before the swift, quiet and merciless scrapping of steam on the anthracite roads. She worked at Locust Summit Twin Coal Breaker, one of the largest in America and modeled on Roadside America in Shartlesville, PA. In 1979, Robert Kimmel purchased her and moved her to Minersville,PA, where he began restoration. He passed away in 2006, but his son and his family and volunteers continued his efforts and named them Project 113.

The only other Jersey Central steam locomotive still in existence is Camelback 4-4-2 592 in the B&O Museum in Baltimore.

Trains stopped near Cressona Aluminum. Bodies for Lionel 2530-series streamliners were extruded there and shipped to Lionel, where windows and baggage doors were cut, plastic vestibules installed, passenger silhouettes inserted on strips, and floors (with lights, trucks and couplers) slid into place. My father-in-law worked there. He told me that imperfect bodies were returned, presumably for recycling. Some were in running condition! Those would be collectors' items now.

Here is an eastbound UP coal train ready to depart from the yard at Jefferson City, Missouri, the capitol of the "Show Me" state. Jeff City is a crew change point on the  St. Louis-Kansas City route. The capitol building sits on a bluff above the tracks overlooking the Missouri River.

Dan