@Mark Boyce posted:Looking mighty good, Dave! I'm glad you got to be there, and thank you for posting your videos!
That Canon camera was the best thing I ever bought aside from trains Mark. I am constantly amazed at what I am able to capture in the lens. I can't believe how clear and crisp those videos are with the train cars passing by.
Well I hope everyone is having a great evening or morning wherever you are located, I’m in downtown Busan Korea for another three weeks, then back to Seoul Korea. This topic is so interesting, seeing so many beautiful trains from all over the World.. These pictures were taken yesterday…. Happy Railroading Everyone 
Larry, looks like you're having a great time in Korea. I know that Australians call McDonald's Mackers(slang or local talk for it, still called McDonald's), what do Koreans call it?
@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4, thanks for the heads up on McDonalds, we call it McDonalds in Tennessee, some times Mickey Dee’s, however in Korea, they call it McDonalds…. Yes, my wife is Korean, from Busan Korea, we are having a blast, visiting her family, and we are taking tours… Happy Railroading Everyone 
The video captures a Norfolk Southern freight heading westbound through the Hoosac Tunnel in Florida, MA on Wednesday afternoon. As fun as it was to capture the video, just being there when the train came through was yesterday's highlight for me. New to railfanning last year, I picked up a couple of tips and tricks from the forum with one being get a scanner. I've carried it (Uniden Bearcat 125) with me on most trips and occasionally get something useful over the radio waves, but more often than not it had no bearing on what I got to see. So, having arrived early afternoon at Hoosac Tunnel, and having been alerted by other railfans I had just missed an eastbound train by the proverbial "15 minutes", I had low expectations for catching a train on this day. After a 2 hour wait with nary a cricket coming over the scanner, I took a walk down the tracks (on the service road) to check out the signal lights heading westbound and noticed a change to green over red over red - good news. Coming back to the car I swapped out the rubber ducky antenna for a car top mount and immediately picked up dispatch chatter and subsequently "milepost .... no defects detected" and a few minutes later the train. Before checking the signal lights, I was literally two bites away on a ham and cheese sandwich from heading home empty handed.
Deconstructing the day, I've put together a list of self-reminders for better railfanning in the future:
Oh, and the other tip received here was not to be a foamer - i.e., one who foams at the mouth while seeing trains. Not only is this false advice, but I don't see the point in railfanning if you aren't foaming at the mouth or bulging at the eye. If I could still skip, or jump up and down, I'd do that, too. Foamer t-shirt on order!
@leapinlarry posted:Well I hope everyone is having a great evening or morning wherever you are located, I’m in downtown Busan Korea for another three weeks, then back to Seoul Korea. This topic is so interesting, seeing so many beautiful trains from all over the World.. These pictures were taken yesterday…. Happy Railroading Everyone
@Mooner posted:Deconstructing the day, I've put together a list of self-reminders for better railfanning in the future:
- Arrive at the railfanning location 15 minutes earlier.
- Look around the scene for signal indicators.
- Don't be lazy and attach the rooftop antenna to the handheld scanner when you arrive; you bought the darn thing so use it.
- Never leave the scene before finishing a ham and cheese sandwich.
Oh, and the other tip received here was not to be a foamer - i.e., one who foams at the mouth while seeing trains. Not only is this false advice, but I don't see the point in railfanning if you aren't foaming at the mouth or bulging at the eye. If I could still skip, or jump up and down, I'd do that, too. Foamer t-shirt on order!
No shame in foam....especially when it's on top of a glass of Guinness......
Larry, thank you for posting so many photographs from Busan, the station, and of course the trains! 👍🏻
@c.sam I think you must be right about the Southern Railroad! 😃😄
Went for a drive to see the fall foliage today, and went through Brownville NE. There is a little museum there inside the old CBQ station and caboose.
I was also scanning some of my past photos, here is one of Nebraska Central's SD45s that I took in the mid 2000's.
I stopped back at Strasburg on my way home as I always do coming from York, and boy did I get a surprise.
Some video from Strasburg with #90 in charge. The one conductor said that they switched out #89 as that was doing the morning runs. They'll have two engines running for the Christmas season as that is their busy season.
And some more goodies to be had.
Secret sauce?
Last two of #90.
Wow, what a bunch of beautiful pictures of real railroads, this is such a uniquely beautiful thread for everyone who loves railroading in some form or another… Here’s a few more pictures from Busan, Korea… @C Sam, I’m not sure the SR on the front of the diesel stands for Southern Railroad?, but it’s one fast train, thanks for the comment, Happy Railroading Everyone 
@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:Secret sauce?
Water treatment for the boiler. Prevents rust and scale build up among other things.
Nice to see 90 under steam again. Thanks for sharing all the pix and videos.
Bob
@Mark Boyce posted:More great photographs, Larry! Our younger daughter and her husband were in Japan last month and rode the bullet train there. I’ll have to go back through their FB posts and see if I can find any photographs of it.
My older daughter and her husband were in Italy 2 weeks ago. She didn’t take many train pictures; but the aerodynamic nose on this one got me.
For today's video, here's one from last fall down in Connellsville, PA. Over the past 20-odd years since CSX unveiled its 'YN3' scheme, a combinations of retirements and rebuilds/repaints have steadily eroded the ranks of EMD locomotives in the 1990 - 2002 YN2 livery. While I suspect at least a few other GP38-2 and GP40-2s still wear the YN2 in captive yard service, CSX 2765 and 4419 gained celebrity status in 2022 as the purported 'last' units of their respective types to wear the scheme. These two units seem to rotate around the system; after my above trip to see the unit at work on the yard pulldown, it would head east for a well-documented stint on the local from Rockwood to Johnstown. After moving on for most of 2023, the unit is again on the L100 for at least another few weeks, if one can catch it; I tried on 9/22, unfortunately on a day when (for whatever reason) the local did not run.
More recently, I spent another Friday with the Buffalo & Pittsburgh up near Mt. Jewett, PA. As I'm sure y'all have seen, the SD60Ms that spent the past ten years or so handling road freights for the B&P (as well as many of the SD40-2s that have been around even longer) are slated for reassignment to other Genesee and Wyoming properties to replace road power scraped as part of a deal with the EPA.* The replacements, about 20 or so ex-BNSF Dash 9s reconditioned by Wabtec, have already started arriving. Additionally, the ex-B&O position lights that guard the controlled sidings between Dubois and Mt. Jewett are slated to be either cut down or turned by the end of the year. Together, these two changes represent a major shift in the appearance of the B&P, hence why I made yet another trip (despite the 2 -3 hour drives and early wakeups) to see them. On this particular day, I got extra lucky, as the leader for the northbound RISI (Riker Yard, Punxsutawney, PA - Salamanca, NY) road freight was the only ex-Burlington Northern "Triclops" on the roster, which had been out of service since 2021 and only been back on the mainline a few weeks.
For this particular trip, the excuse for making the drive up from DC was that my parents were out of town visiting one of my siblings in their new apartment, leaving me in charge of the new puppy. Since I would be out of the house for several hours, I decided to take Pepper with me. She tolerated the trip surprisingly well, but made it clear that she would rather we do something else by moving into the driver's seat any time I left the car for more than ten minutes.
* If you haven't heard, in 2020 the EPA sued Genesee and Wyoming for failing to maintain adequate documentation for their fleet's compliance with emissions standards, and for not having an adequate number of units that met minimum standards. As part of the settlement, G&W paid the EPA a several million-dollar fine, and worked with the agency to identify a list of 88 locomotives to scrap. The affected units range from old and semi-rare Geep and SD9 variants to several SD40-2s, which have to be rebuilt or rendered inoperable by the end of 2024. Consequently, G&W is relocating several units, including B&P's road power, to the affected operations (such as the Ohio Central) and purchasing almost 100 Dash 8 and Dash 9 units from Wabtec.
@RSJB18 posted:Water treatment for the boiler. Prevents rust and scale build up among other things.
Nice to see 90 under steam again. Thanks for sharing all the pix and videos.
Bob
Yes Bob, I think Jack(Hot Water) had explained about water treatments in one of the other topics of discussion some time ago. I do remember replying that I figured they would have to pop it in at some point in time. It was interesting seeing them so that though as I never thought I'd see it.
Not sure what it is. Sitting in the Whittier, Alaska yard last week.
@RK posted:Not sure what it is. Sitting in the Whittier, Alaska yard last week.
Looking at the piece on the right, I'd say its a dump body for a large mining dump truck???? Probably too wide to ship in one piece so they leave it in two halves and weld it together at the final destination.
Purely speculation on my part......
@pittsburghrailfan posted:For today's video, here's one from last fall down in Connellsville, PA. Over the past 20-odd years since CSX unveiled its 'YN3' scheme, a combinations of retirements and rebuilds/repaints have steadily eroded the ranks of EMD locomotives in the 1990 - 2002 YN2 livery. While I suspect at least a few other GP38-2 and GP40-2s still wear the YN2 in captive yard service, CSX 2765 and 4419 gained celebrity status in 2022 as the purported 'last' units of their respective types to wear the scheme. These two units seem to rotate around the system; after my above trip to see the unit at work on the yard pulldown, it would head east for a well-documented stint on the local from Rockwood to Johnstown. After moving on for most of 2023, the unit is again on the L100 for at least another few weeks, if one can catch it; I tried on 9/22, unfortunately on a day when (for whatever reason) the local did not run.
More recently, I spent another Friday with the Buffalo & Pittsburgh up near Mt. Jewett, PA. As I'm sure y'all have seen, the SD60Ms that spent the past ten years or so handling road freights for the B&P (as well as many of the SD40-2s that have been around even longer) are slated for reassignment to other Genesee and Wyoming properties to replace road power scraped as part of a deal with the EPA.* The replacements, about 20 or so ex-BNSF Dash 9s reconditioned by Wabtec, have already started arriving. Additionally, the ex-B&O position lights that guard the controlled sidings between Dubois and Mt. Jewett are slated to be either cut down or turned by the end of the year. Together, these two changes represent a major shift in the appearance of the B&P, hence why I made yet another trip (despite the 2 -3 hour drives and early wakeups) to see them. On this particular day, I got extra lucky, as the leader for the northbound RISI (Riker Yard, Punxsutawney, PA - Salamanca, NY) road freight was the only ex-Burlington Northern "Triclops" on the roster, which had been out of service since 2021 and only been back on the mainline a few weeks.
For this particular trip, the excuse for making the drive up from DC was that my parents were out of town visiting one of my siblings in their new apartment, leaving me in charge of the new puppy. Since I would be out of the house for several hours, I decided to take Pepper with me. She tolerated the trip surprisingly well, but made it clear that she would rather we do something else by moving into the driver's seat any time I left the car for more than ten minutes.
* If you haven't heard, in 2020 the EPA sued Genesee and Wyoming for failing to maintain adequate documentation for their fleet's compliance with emissions standards, and for not having an adequate number of units that met minimum standards. As part of the settlement, G&W paid the EPA a several million-dollar fine, and worked with the agency to identify a list of 88 locomotives to scrap. The affected units range from old and semi-rare Geep and SD9 variants to several SD40-2s, which have to be rebuilt or rendered inoperable by the end of 2024. Consequently, G&W is relocating several units, including B&P's road power, to the affected operations (such as the Ohio Central) and purchasing almost 100 Dash 8 and Dash 9 units from Wabtec.
Dan, thank you for the update on the B&P. Taking Pepper on the trip was a good plan! Expose the young to trains.
@cpowell posted:Drove up to Jim Thorpe, PA to ride the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway on Monday. Here are two photos of the engine.
Charlie
The TV show "CBS Sunday Morning" (which we never miss) did a very nice piece yesterday on the town of Jim Thorp (and about Jim Thorp himself). The Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway looks like another reason to visit!
A Charger leading westbound Amtrak Cardinal away from stop at Staunton, Va., last Friday. The eastbound 15 or 20 minutes earlier had P42DC No. 127.
A little autumn color from southern New England - both mother nature and New England Central (G&W) pumpkin orange engines. The 5 pack of NECR engines are shoving across the diamond heading into the yard in Palmer. The 2nd clip is a CSX freight heading east along Route 67 going through Warren late in the day. The CSX wasn't a plan and I wasn't familiar with Warren, but sometimes dumb luck is your best plan. I took a wrong turn heading home and saw the CSX running from a distance across a field parallel to the road I was on. I looked at the GPS map display on my dashboard and tried to match up a spot down the road where there might be a crossing or vista and found a roadside pullout in Warren - bingo. The train came by less than a minute later.
CSX, in South Richmond, south of the James, seen Monday afternoon on my way home from my job at the VA……
Peter
October 21, 2023 - When you are a rail-fanner you can even rail-fan from a commercial airliner. This was shot from a window seat over the wing. The green arrow shows the rail yard in Reno and the red arrow shows the wing tip.
Thanks for taking a look. Hope to see you out rail-fanning: Gary from Michigan 🚂
Railfanning from the air! That’s great, Gary!
Tried something new on Thursday night by sleeping in a caboose at the Chester (MA) Railway Station and Museum.Perfect night for a campfire, local pizza, Thursday Night Football on an iPad under the stars, and trains. The caboose sits adjacent to the tracks used by CSX and Amtrak in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains. 11 trains roared by with 7 coming in the dark of the night. We heard and felt them all - 7:59 PM,10:22, 12:19 AM, 1:57, 3:14, 3:16, 4:31 and 6:38. Admittedly, I might have only had one eye open between 3:14 and 4:31, but it was my good eye. Plenty to see once the sun came up with trains passing at 7:55 and 8:42 both east and westbound. The train at 7:55 had a CSX Baltimore & Ohio Heritage unit behind the main engine (see amateur video).
Looks like a great time, Moon! I see Mrs/Ms Moon is bundled up but enjoying the fall fire. That’s a great opportunity at that location! Thank you for sharing
Today's video is from when I was still commuting from Williamsburg to DC for spring break back in 2021. I videoed the Amtrak carmen and hostlers replacing the P42DC that hauled our train to DC with an ACS-64 for the trip to New York.
For a photo, here's a snapshot from last Friday's chase of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad. The road's C&O-inspired unit headed light from Staunton, VA, to Pleasant Valley to pick up cars from NS, including three ex-MARC GP40WH-2 units for storage and possible rebuilding. 
The road's yard in Staunton is also currently playing host to Precision Locomotive Leasing's pair of WM-painted units, a former BNSF, nee BNSF and WM SD38P (SD35) and ex-WM SD40. Rumor has it that one unit is just back from lease, and that the other will soon be leaving for an assignment.
About 20 years ago i had a business trip to Colorado. I took my Dad with me. We flew to Denver and took a rental car down to Royal Gorge. I had arranged for a cab ride. Here are a few pictures; my Dad in the Fireman’s seat, then each of us in front of the F unit.
Your photographs certainly must bring back great memories, Bob!!
@Mark Boyce posted:Your photographs certainly must bring back great memories, Bob!!
Thanks Mark, they certainly do. They are in a collage on a closet door in the train room.
So many great posts it's to hard to comment on all of them but there are a few I must comment on.
Larry it truly looks like you are having a blast, it's nice to be able to spend so much time in your wife's "home town". Pictures of the high speed trains in both Korea
and Italy
got me thinking about the aerodynamics involved. I always thought a constant slope would produce the best aerodynamics for speed but it seems from these photos and other pictures of high speed European trains that compound slopes may actually be better for this application.
Being an O gauger and not a railfanner I remember seeing No. 90 for the first time and being surprised by the large gap between the boiler and the drivers. I guess I was used to the motor and gears occupying that space.
"Looking at the piece on the right, I'd say its a dump body for a large mining dump truck????" Bob I was thinking the same thing but thought the part that went over the cab looked too long, and not thinking the piece on the left was the other half I all to quickly dismissed that idea. But your two halves idea and possibly misleading angles at which the halves are sitting on the flatcar I can definitly see that being the answer.
Mooner, that's night a bad night of "camping" for a die hard railfan and totally understanding partner.
Bob that could be my Dad, right down to the eyeglass frame.
Wow @Swipesy! 110 cars!!!
Mark that consist was 210 cars. I video it also and puts you to sleep counting the cars - better than counting sheep, lol.
John
@Swipesy posted:Mark that consist was 210 cars. I video it also and puts you to sleep counting the cars - better than counting sheep, lol.
John
My mistake! That was a typo on my part. The keys on the phone are too small, but I should have proofread before hitting Post. 😩
Yes that would be better than counting sheep! 😄
Here are some pictures from Eola Yard, Aurora Illinois. The first and second video was one train, 3 pullers 2 pushers.
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
