Midweek Photos 6/4/2014

Maryland Midland rolls through town at dusk:

I found this monument in a cemetery in Loose Creek, Mo while looking for my great great grandfather.   Thank God for medicine and machinery!

Nathan

Nice pics, cholera sounds nasty.  Here are a few from around Lincoln this last few weeks.  We have a  line of ballast hoppers for Herzog sitting on a siding that seldom gets used.  I found the set of AGP engines on another siding while cars are being loaded at the elevator down the line. Then one day I caught this SD40-2 with some gondola cars and still using this old caboose, and last a SD60 (I think) going past our training center.  It had a load of ADM tank cars going south on the KC line.     Nick

Yesterday I caught the Pennsy E8's going home:

A nice CN unit passing through Olmsted Falls, Oh

A leased unit I have not seen before passing through Berea, Oh

A Union Pacific locomotive still in Southern Pacific colors.

Great going so far, everyone! I took the chance of an employee and new volunteer break-in run at Steamtown to go for a chase today.  The only operating locomotive currently at this National Park unit in Scranton, PA is Nickel Plate Road GP9 number 514.  She took a train of four cars to Moscow, PA.

Due to road repairs and the traffic snarls in Scranton, I began my chase in Dunmore, the next town out.  The bridges are for Interstate 81.  In the top photo, where the coaches are rounding the curve is roughly where the Erie Railroad had a bridge crossing this line (Lackawanna) going to their passenger station in Scranton's downtown.

These views are taken from the Mill Street bridge.

This next view is Elmhurst, PA, a few miles shy of Moscow.

Look what was waiting in Moscow when I arrived!  Delaware Lackawanna train PT 99(?) On the return from Portland, PA with freight for distribution in Scranton.  NO 414 is a genuine Lehigh Valley C420.  All units are Alcos.

514 gingerly approaching the big freight.  More in my next post...

My internet router gave out, so I had to re-boot to get it back on line.  Just a couple more shots, and then I am done.

The passenger train pulled into the siding to make room on the mainline for the freight.

Once the line cleared, it was routine. Pass the freight station, and then pull up to the passenger station.

One horn blast!  They have arrived!

Davenport Iowa and the Mississippi riverfront, then just upriver a consist of mixed power

Cholera is basically "death by diarrhea."  It was nasty stuff before the invention of antibiotics, and still is in some parts of the world.  It's caused by bacteria and flourishes where sanitation is poor.  Summer is definitely here and the nights are short.  That puts a crimp in my foaming!   Last week I continued my quest to photo the DME blue & yellow SD units before they get repainted.  My wife came home from work at 4:30pm Sunday and found me napping on the sofa.  She asked, "Are you just going to lay around all day?"  I replied, "Nope!  I'm going to go look for a train."   I headed out to Huron, SD and found a train being put together.  Yard crew told me it was a w/b and would leave around 11pm.   Hmmm.  I'm two hours from home, train leaves headed even further away late at night.  Probably not my train this time!  I asked if anything was coming from the east.  His face lit up and he said, "Yeah!  There's a power move 26 engines on it!  It will be here a bit after midnight."  Twentysix engines?  Midnight?  Sounds like my train!  I headed back east to Brookings to try and intercept it.  I found it there at 11pm.  I raced back to Arlington, SD to set up a few lights and catch it at a small elevator.  I didn't have a lot of time!  I heard the horn, then saw the lights, and when it rolled to the right spot, I popped a shot.  As it was rolling by I popped a couple of others too.

 I quickly pulled my gear in and raced off to Huron.  The wind had died down and it was perfectly still.  The big reflecting pool on the James River in Huron would be perfect tonight.  As I drove I kept thinking what an epic shot this was going to be!  Twentysix engines reflecting perfectly in the river below a big trestle!  Could be my best shot of the year, even.  I set up two big lights, tested, and waited.  Around midnight my wife called, "Where are you?"  I told her Huron.  She asked, "When you coming home?"  I told her after the train comes.  She asked, "When's that going to be?"  I replied, "Dunno."  So I waited alone in the dark, listening to the roar of the river as it rushed over the lowhead dam.  Midnight came and went.  One o'clock came and went.  Two o'clock slipped by.  Where's the train?  Should have been here by now!  I decided to leave my stuff and go look for it.  I found it dead on the line, about 8 miles short of the trestle!  Crew had died and I knew there wouldn't be a replacement until after sun up.  Dang!  My dream of glory had slipped away once again.   I went back to Huron, gathered my stuff, and headed back east.  I popped a few shots of the parked train, lit only by the stars.  At 3am you can already see some sunlight coming in from the east.

I got home around 5am Monday morning and slipped into bed.  I had to be at work in about three & half hours.  My wife stirred and asked, "Why are you getting up so early?"  Getting up?  I just got home!

Kent in SD

Two23    excellent photos.  The last one is killer with the stars and a little sun light of to the corner.  Great photography.  Nick