Trackside Log for Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Today is another day.  I awoke with the intent to put the previous day behind me.  The first step was to leave Norfolk Southern behind me.  I made my way to Clifton Forge and back to CSX.  Shortly after arrival I found an eastbound coal train leaving the yard.  Things were looking better already!

• 0943 Clifton Forge, VA - CSX eastbound - CSXT 777-CSXT 791

There wasn't much else for me to photograph there so I decided to follow the Buckingham Branch toward Staunton.  Just as I'm about to go another eastbound with a Buckingham Branch engine comes through.  Where'd that come from?  "No problem," I say.  I'll just drive ahead and photograph it.  My first stop was Goshen where I sat and waited... quite a while

• 1203 Goshen, VA - Buckingham Branch eastbound Herzog - CSXT 369-CSXT 218-CSXT 760

That wasn't the train I saw.  Where'd it go?  Oh well, at least I photographed a train here.  I waited around a bit longer but nothing showed up.  I continued my drive through the Shenandoah Valley toward Staunton.  This is a very nice drive by the way.  When I arrived in Staunton I quickly found the Shenandoah Valley Railroad and the crew just parking their locomotive.  They gave me permission to take a few photographs so away I went.

• 1249 Staunton, VA - Shenandoah Valley Railroad power - DGVR 40 (photo)

Next I drove over to the Buckingham Branch shops to see what was there.  After obtaining permission for a few photos I took a quick photo tour.

• 1309 Staunton, VA - Buckingham Branch power - BBRR 3 and BBRR 11 (photo)
• 1312 Staunton, VA - Buckingham Branch power - BBRR 6 (photo)

Number 6 was looking pretty bad.  Nothing else was to be seen in Staunton so I headed for Gore and the Winchester & Western.  They've been good to me in the past.  Today was no exception.

• 1609 Gore, VA - Winchester & Western power - WW 709-WW 498 (photo)
• 1611 Gore, VA - Winchester & Western power - WW 120 (photo)
• 1613 Gore, VA - Winchester & Western pieces - WW 403 long hood (photo)

WW 120 was nice to see since it's a former slug with an SW1500 cab hacked onto it.  I love weird stuff like that.  I decided about this time that my night's destination would be Cresson, Pennsylvania.  The route to get there took me through Romney, West Virginia where I ran across the Potomac Eagle train parked and waiting for the next excursion.

• 1708 Romney, WV - Potomac Eagle power - C&O 8016 (photo 1, photo 2)

A couple years earlier I had visited Cumberland, Maryland in hopes of photographing at the bluffs in Locust Grove.  I waited for hours and nothing showed up.  This time however there was a westbound just departing Cumberland.  Yes!  I quickly drove over to the bluffs and waited for about ten minutes.

• 1801 Locust Grove (Cumberland), MD - CSX X389 west - CSXT 7812-CSXT 9018-CSXT 9026

Since the train was heading my way for a little bit I drove ahead and photographed it again in Hyndman, Pennsylvania.

• 1823 Hyndman, PA - CSX X389 west - CSX 7812-CSXT 9018-CSXT 9026

Wow.  This day was so much better than the previous day.  I was starting to feel much better about things.  I drove to Cresson and on a whim decided to see if The Station Inn had any rooms for the night.  Fortune was with me and I was able to secure the PRR room for the night.  What a great conclusion to a much improved day.  I spent a wonderful night at the inn watching Norfolk Southern move plenty of freight right outside.  I had a nice chat with some of the other guests and then had a restful sleep.

Trackside Log for Tuesday, March 14, 2006

I wanted to photograph MARC and the Capitol Limited so I got to the station at Harpers Ferry for 0645. Quite a few commuters were waiting.

• 0656 arr/0658 dep Harpers Ferry, WV - MARC P878 east - MARC 70/MARC 69
• 0738 Harpers Ferry, WV - CSX Q217-14 west - CSXT 7366-CSXT 8500

I was hoping the sun would stay away for the morning because Harpers Ferry is really an afternoon shot. The sun came out so I moved on.

• 0900 Martinsburg, WV - CSX V819-13 west - CSXT 590-CSXT 556-CSXT 429-CSXT 244

After a couple hours and only one train I couldn't take it anymore.

• 1158 Sleepy Creek, WV - Amtrak "Capitol Limited" east - AMTK 39-AMTK 176

Unbelievable. The Capitol Limited was several hours late. Worse, it surprised me and I couldn't photograph it. Shortly after I ran across HO tower and photographed it.

• 1211 Bath, WV - B&O HO tower

I worked my way over to Cumberland, Maryland and had a look at the CSX locomotive maintenance facility. There were locomotives all over the place but only one was interesting enough to commit to film, a B23-7.

• 1305 Cumberland, MD - CSX power - CSXT 5898

I found a nice location west of town on the main to Pittsburgh and waited… and waited. Nothing came. After a while I'd had enough and left for Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Maybe Norfolk Southern can outperform CSX.