On CONUS Lines, a special movement was photographed at Mid-Grade. The Norfolk Southern Heritage (Illinois Terminal) SD70ACe was moving slowly upgrade on the westbound main as the NS Office Car Special overtook it. In the second view the "boys" at CP Mid-Grade are interested in both the OCS and what's adjacent to it. Having just left the Holiday Open House at Ellison roundhouse, the IT SD70ACe gleamed in its freshly scrubbed paint in the third view. The special movement was comprised of an NS gon (buffer car), an Emmert International flat carrying the load bridge for the EI Schnabel car, the Schnabel car itself, and the EI caboose.
I shot the actual Emmert International special movement from an inbound Virginia Railway Express commuter train in May 2013 opposite the Potomac Yard mall. It had CSX and CP engines for power. The VRE conductor said they had been advised to "proceed slowly" when passing the special movement. (This made me happy, allowing several more photographs. It helps when the VRE conductors know you're a railfan and advise you of special movements such as this.)
I was able to get the numbers for all three cars off Emmert's website and set to work re-painting an Atlas 50 ft flat, MTH Westinghouse Schabel, and Atlas EV caboose. I downloaded the Emmert International lettering from their website and downsized it to fit on the caboose. The vertical ends of the load bridge were cannibalized from a Weaver bulkhead flat and I scratchbuilt the platform itself out of Plasticstruct and basswood.
This was the second project I completed during the nine month run of the "modern era" on CONUS LInes. The NS OCS was the first. I normally have one or two projects to complete in each time period/geographic location/operating railroads CONUS Lines is "operating" in. It keeps CONUS Lines "fresh" and always presents me with new challenges to replicate the world of railroading I have photographed and observed for more than six decades.