Midweek Photos 4/24/2013

To catch live action of Steamtown's turntable, tune into http://search.earthcam.com/sea...1&term=steamtown

The expected times for TT action are 9:30 AM and 3-3:30 PM. Enjoy!

A few quick photos from "Cavalcade of Streetcars" last weekend at the National Capital Trolley Museum. 

The C&NW gallery cars at IRM last summer.

 

There is a Union Pacific rail yard about 5 minutes away from my house.  It also has a CalTrain station.  It's a great place to railfan.  Here are a few UP "patched" locomotives that show up at the yard occassionally.  Matt

Here are three vintage trollies, still inservice with San Francisco Muni Railway.  They are stopped on Jones St., Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco.  Matt

Some random pictures taken the past week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found this old photo today.  Then picked up up the after shot from google maps.

 

 

Very good start, everyone! I notice that the trolleys follow the bus rules. When waiting for one bus, it is an eternity for it to arrive. But as soon as one shows up, another is right behind it

Great photos guys....Grabbed a quick photo of this SD60M still in her BN colors. 

 

 

Sunday, April 21, I had occasion to take the train down to Washington, DC from Baltimore, to attend the annual dinner of the Washington, DC Chapter, NRHS. Here's a few photos from the trip down.

 

AEM7 #931 brings in #145 about 20 minutes late.

 

 

Locomotives at Ivy City yards.

 

 

The Capitol Limited Superliner Equipment

 

 

HHP #651 and train.

 

 

The Washington DC Metro at New York Avenue Station.

 

 

 

and finally, Genesis #138 waits to take its train south from Washington Union Station.

 

 

Edward--

I've ridden those trolly buses in Frisco a few times. They were just like the ones I remember when I was really little in Kansas City.  It's now the third week of April, but winter here didn't seem to look at the calendar.  Another snowstorm hit on Monday, so I headed back over into Minnesota.  The roads were bad and the old farmers were driving 25 mph on the two laners.  I knew I had no chance of chasing the trains which were going twice that, so I picked a couple of nice spots and settled in against the north wind.  First four shots are a series of s/b on the Marshall Sub at my favorite hump bridge at Manley, MN.  I made myself comfortable out in a snowdrift and settled in with my radio, Nikon D7100, and used my Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR to pick off shot after shot.  The trains were really moving as the dispatcher tried to clear up a backlog.  Once again, the dogcatch drivers were refusing to go out on the road.  The Dispatcher's solution was to have trains stop and pick up dead crews along the line and run them on in to Sioux City, IA.  One of these trains was the Sioux Falls local, being pulled by three Geeps.  The engineer was my good old buddy Denny, who calls himself the Railroad Cowboy!  He's actually a bigger railfan than I ever was, something that makes the local trainmaster raise an eyebrow at times.  When Denny saw me hunkered down out in the snow he opened his window and gave me a big thumb's up, and a couple of quick toots on the horn!    As night fell, I moved to Hills, MN and caught another s/b going through a grade as the snow was tapering off.  It was getting late that Monday night, so I decided to head home.  On the way my radio once again came to life as the dispatcher gave a warrant to a tanker train headed my way from Sioux Falls SD on the Corson Sub.  Hey, I could easily catch that train!  So, I did.  Set up a couple of flash on a trestle just east of Brandon, SD and sat waiting in the snow until it came.  Train came; I did my thing.  It was a very long train so I sat tight--could be a DPU on this thing.  And sure enough, there was!  It was now just after 1 AM Tuesday morning.  As I gathered my flash I paused to savor the experience of yet another winter night.  I love it all--the cold wind, the crunch of snow under my boots, and the chaos of a train rolling by at track speed nearby in the darkness.  I admit I felt a bit sad that this could well be the last winter night of the season for me--it's supposed to hit 70 degrees in a couple of days.  But then again, this winter has been full of surprises! You never know...........

 

I shot a bunch more images--there were trains going left and right.  This is probably enough though.

 

Kent in SD

Managed to catch the James Strates Carnival Train as it passed through West Trenton, NJ yesterday...here's the video.  Enjoy!

 

http://youtu.be/7LFgyXcDb9E

Nice video Jim, I looked out of my office window just in time to catch the last half of the Strates train as it passed through Rocky Mount, NC.  I had wondered where it was headed.

Everybody has something interesting this week.  Thanks to all for sharing.

 

Kent, Ten more merits for sitting in a snow bank for hours to get real winter train photos. Big Jim, I'm amazed at the size of the carnival train.  It goes on, and on, and on . . .

Yorkrail passes the York Fairgrounds just before the TCA show opens. 

 

 

 

After the first day of the York show, NS switches cars in the yard.

 

 

 

 

 

The next day, NS treated us with a heritage unit led oil train down the Port Road.

 

In Wormleysburg, just outside Enola, the PRR cat poles have been removed, but a position light signal bridge still stands.

 

 

 

 

In Columbia, cat poles and the Cola tower make great photo props.

 

 

 

 

A few miles up the river is the famous PRR photo location of Chickies Rock.  Once a trolley accessed park, this location can still provide some dramatic views of the once busy PRR low grade.

 

On Saturday the PC heritage unit sat at the point of another oil train at Enola.  Unfortunately, this one would sneak out at night.

More info on the Strates carnival train right here: http://www.strates.com/carnival_train.htm