Rail-fanning on The OGR Forum 🚂 Welcome: Pictures YOU have taken! • Hope to see you out rail-fanning.

A Metra "flip" train, in Naperville, IL. The train comes in WB, runs down to the switch "plant" west of Naperville, crosses the 3 track main, and returns to Naperville EB. The engineer alights from the cab, walks back to check that his marker lights are on, then walks forward to the cab car.

@mark s, thanks for the description ahead of the photos--very interesting.

Thomas at the Illinois Railway Museum July 17, 2021. The IRM did an excellent job with "Day out with Thomas"

Eastbound UP line Metra in Glen Ellyn, Il with March snow still hanging around.

Eastbound BNSF freight, River Rd. Naperville, Il under a blue sky

January 2020, Glyndon, MD.

Some shots I've taken locally this summer in the area south of the Puget Sound...

Napavine Hill-

Cab of Chehalis tourist RR # 6, note the kink in the track from the area slowly sliding down hill-

Napavine Hill-

Chehalis, south end of the former NP depot (just a few feet away from the Chehalis Rail Cam)-

Napavine Hill-

Seattle, near Boeing Field-

Ballard-

Winlock-

Between Centralia and Bucoda-

Napavine Hill-

Napavine Hill-

Tenino-

Near East Olympia, at the bridge at Waldrick Road-

Chehalis, where the Milwaukee Road used to interchange-

Tenino-

Tacoma-

Winlock-

Tenino-

Tenino-

Tenino, on a running meet (which I've seen more than a few in the last year or so)-

October 1986, 4985 at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania before going to Harrisburg,

Should read 4859, got a little dyslexic with the number.

Winlock, WA:

Tenino:

The following photos were taken today of these handsome Metra/BNSF/Burlington Budd Co. built gallery cars, in Naperville, IL.  I will turn 76 this September; I rode in these same cars when I was 10.......TEN........years old !  Believe these are the oldest pieces of revenue producing railroad equipment presently in service in the United States.  In those mid-nineteen-fifties trips to downtown Chicago, always made it a point to sit on the north side of the train, of course in the upper-deck, so as to catch a glimpse of the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal 0-8-0's working the Robey Street yard and passenger car wash.

NS lite engines eastbound from former LV main (now NS Lehigh Line) now on former CNJ main at Bloomsbury, NJ (now NS Bloomsbury Industrial track but owned by NJT) to pick up a stored empty tank train. In my CR/CNJ days I ran on this trackage as conductor when it was still the former CNJ mainline to Allentown, PA.

Thanks for looking.

Walter

A view from work…NJT Port Morris yard…

A few from the past:

Took these over the past couple days:

Winlock, WA-

Evaline-

Chehalis-

Pics taken a few years ago while visiting family near Palmer Lake/Greenland, Colorado.

Nov, 2016  Pere Marquette 1225 does the  72 mile passenger run from Owosso to Clare Michigan.  What a great day.

I took this tonight, almost watched a deer turn itself into hamburger...

The deer gets onto the tracks the first time at 1:35

More videos I shot from yesterday:

Reading & Northern/Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, Jim Thorpe, PA

Here are a couple videos I’ve captured over the last month or so.  Pretty nice sound considering both were shot with an iPhone.  Turn up the speakers and enjoy!!

July 22nd.  Grafton & Upton (Massachusetts short line RR) shifting cars around in their Upton, MA yard.  Power this day includes Precision Leasing #9619 GP40-2LW that arrived on the G&U earlier this year…and two G&U MP15AC’s (originally CSX)…

August 12th.  CSX local freight departs the Grafton & Upton’s North Grafton, MA yard after dropping off loads and picking up empties.  The conductor has just lined the switch for the train to re-enter the MBTA (CSX) eastbound main.  The pair GP40-2’s (#6241 & #6216) wait for the gates to go down at Westboro Road, then accelerate through the crossing…

And here are a few still photos, all taken by me in my travels over the last month or so…

August 4th.  PNLX #9619 shoves a cut of cars into the south end of the G&U North Grafton, MA yard...

August 12th.  CSX local freight led by a pair of GP 40-2’s getting ready to depart the G&U North Grafton Yard.  The engineer in the lead unit (barely visible behind the two tank cars in the first photo) is waiting for the conductor to radio confirmation that the switch has been lined for the train to re-enter the eastbound main…

August 17th.  Pan Am Railways B40-8 #5972 idles in the South Fitchburg, MA yard.  This is one of many locomotives that Pan Am has acquired from CSX and has obviously not made it through the paint shop yet to receive its blue and white Pan Am livery.  It's stenciled "MEC" (for Maine Central) in white on the cab just below the road #...with black lines painted through the CSX markings on the nose and sides...

July 26th.  A center cab switcher sits on a flatcar inside the Port of Davisville automobile unloading facility in North Kingstown, RI.  Unfortunately I don’t know this little switcher’s origin…or whether it’s coming or going!  There’s a short line RR named Seaview that serves the Port facility and the nearby Quonset Business Park.  Maybe it belongs to them?

East Broad Top - February 1976

Last Thursday, August 19th, I was on day 4 of 9 riding across the country in coach on an Amtrak Railpass. I took many pictures on my trip, but figured I would start with some shots that won't find their way into a YouTube video at some point.

For this segment of the trip, I was traveling on Amtrak's Sunset Limited from Houston to Los Angeles. Coming into El Paso, we passed several lines of stored locomotives in the yard, including this standard cab SD60 stored with several of its comfort cab brethren and a few SD70Ms.

We had to make a long backup move (almost three miles) into the station because of a westbound freight that would have passed between the platform and the station. Like several other cities I visited Houston follows a turquoise and sandstone red  color palette for many buildings and highway overpasses, a novelty for a northeasterner accustomed to gray and yellow or blue highway bridges.

The Sunset climbing out of the city westbound toward Los Angeles. Our second unit was Amtrak's Phase II heritage unit 130 (the original Amfleet and F40PH delivery scheme), now about three years into its role as a replacement for the wrecked Genesis 66 (the original Phase II HU).

At Deming, NM, we passed Union Pacific's interchange with the Arizona Eastern, a Genessee and Wyoming shortline noteworthy for its use of ex-BNSF B39-8 four-axle GEs. Parked in the yard was the ex-Southern Pacific Hydra-cushion boxcar, now owned by the AZER.

At Tuscon, we stopped for a crew change and smoke break, and I attempted a long exposure shot of our heritage unit. Unfortunately, the platform near the fuel bowser was blocked by cones which I was hesitate to reposition for tripod use; local railfans who were attempting the same shot said that this was in response to railfans being on the platform when a senior executive passed through.

Here is a shot from the yard today..

Steamtown National Historic Site (Scranton, PA) with my daughter, September, 2018.  Sometime later, an unexpected view of a siding and bumper being reclaimed by nature in Ardmore, PA and, finally, a pair of cabeeese put out to pasture (also in Jim Thorpe, PA).

9

Street running in Fort Collins, CO July 2011.

The king of steam rolling in to St. Louis. Came in on one track then had to reverse to come over to the station tracks.

Legendary steam locomotive no. 611 on the Strasburg Rail Road!

Digital at CN Yard & Home darkroom tour

August 16, 2021 • Waterford, Michigan

This E J & E #659 is used by the CN Railway as a switcher. Notice the engineer in the window and the yardman on the front of the locomotive.

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Notice the yardman on the back of this covered hopper. This covered hopper is loaded with plastic pellets on it’s way to an automotive plant in Flint, Michigan.

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We are now in my home darkroom. The is a Beseler 23CII enlarger used to enlarge negatives. I share this room with the furnace and peg boards for hand tools.

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The enlarger under red safe lights.

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The developing trays. Kodak Dektal, Stop Bath, Fixer & Wash Sink. Processing the prints are done under red safe lights and the negatives are done in total dark.

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The developing trays under red.

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This upcoming rail-fanning season I have plans go back to film. I will be doing a few show-and-tells on how this is done.

Every model railroader started out rail-fanning!

Hope to see you out rail-fanning and posting your images on “Rail-fanning on The OGR Forum”. Any day and time. 😎

Gary

Visiting the Cumbres and Toltec with my son.

@Ross posted:

Visiting the Cumbres and Toltec with my son.

Very nice. A date would be helpful.

My go at visiting the horseshoe curve and all the surrounding spots. Hard to believe this was in 2018.... Filmed this when I was a junior in HighSchool.... now posting this as a junior in college

Hot Water, the date would be today 29 Aug!

@trainroomgary posted:

We are now in my home darkroom. The is a Beseler 23CII enlarger used to enlarge negatives. I share this room with the furnace and peg boards for hand tools."

Really cool, thanks for sharing the pictures of your darkroom.  That took me straight back to my high school and college days when photography was a principal hobby and part time job for me.  I loved working in the darkroom and would probably love it still!

-Jim

Hi Jim Tuscan: Thanks for taking a look at the “Darkroom Tour”. Eastman Kodak Company last filed for bankruptcy in 2012. Several companies have the rights to manufacture their chemicals, but there has been some quality control issues along with financial issues.

ILFORD Photo has been in business for over a hundred years. I have used their film and photo paper. I am thinking about changing the chemicals in my home darkroom to Ilford Chemicals.

ILFORD Film has a Youtube channel that you should find helpful. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/c/Ilfordphoto/videos

Gary

Here are some pics of my trip to Colorado.

Visited our son near Seattle and found this overpass while looking for breweries.  Looks like loads of re-bar in the gondolas.  Would have stayed longer but for the rather fragrant trash train parked there.

@mikey posted:

Great shot, where was this?

A few more Cumbres and Toltec from Aug 29-30.

Chama NM

Near Antonio CO

Antonito engine facility

@p51 posted:

Great shot, where was this?

Elko,NV

Great stuff guys!

I have been working on a new series on the BNSF Brush Subdivision between Denver and Wiggins.

Great thread