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.