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 Monday, June 30, 2008

I woke up in Beckley, West Virginia this morning to a very nice looking day.  I set out to follow the Norfolk Southern for the day in hopes of finding some trains to photograph.  The first signs of life I discovered were in Kellysville where several engines were moving around.  Unfortunately they weren't cooperating with me and I couldn't photograph them.  Onward it was.  One of the locations I wanted to photograph was the tunnel in Montgomery, Virginia.  Shortly after arrival I was greeted with a pair of eastbounds.  Unfortunately the photograph for the tunnel is for westbounds.

• 1353 Montgomery, VA - NS eastbound - NS 2549-NS 9837
• 1411 Montgomery, VA - NS eastbound - NS 9435-NS 6574-NS 6618

While waiting for, hopefully, a westbound a man walks over from a local house and tells me that I'm making the old woman there nervous and she's called the police.  To make life simpler I left and continued eastward.  My thanks to the U.S. government for instilling paranoia in the American populace.  Way to go.  Anyway, I ran across a very nice westbound which would have been great to photograph at the tunnel.  Son-of-a...

• 1528 Shawsville, VA - NS 23G west - UP 8553-CEFX 3153

Oh, and I got screwed by a cloud on this photograph too.  Alright, time to find one of the other locations I was looking forward to, the four track coaling tower in Vickers, Virginia.  I found it easily enough and even had the required eastbound on the way.  I was angling for a nice photograph when I discovered a very angry dog nearby.  I stayed just outside of leash range, took my photo and left.

• 1758 Vicker, VA - NS eastbound - NS 7617-NS 9704-NS 8890

Man, this day is not going well.  I was thoroughly frustrated by this point.  The sun was coming back out again but I'd had it.  I drove to Christiansburg and checked into the Fairfield Inn called it quits for the day.

Trackside Log for Monday, March 13, 2006

The weather this morning was looking remarkably good. The forecast was for sun and clouds until some severe storms were to blow through in the evening. Since my photographs of the Sago mine CF7 from the previous day were brutally dark I decided to reshoot it this morning.

• 0734 Sago, WV - Sago mine switcher - SRPP 2500

According to the local news the mine was due to reopen that week after being shut down due to an explosion. After shooting the CF7 I returned to Buckhannon to the Appalachian & Ohio. My timing was off because I missed a southbound while stuck in traffic.

• 0813 Buckhannon, WV - A&O power - WAMX 5006-WAMX 5103-WAMX 50xx-WAMX 51xx
• 0813 Buckhannon, WV - A&O power - BAR 355
• 0813 Buckhannon, WV - A&O power - WAMX 5120

Next I headed for the West Virginia Central in Belington. Wow. Some of the roads I was on to get there were little more than tracks through the forest. On the way I encountered an old Baldwin switcher left for dead at the end of a coal siding.

• 0838 Teter, WV - Rawhide Mine switcher - Cheyenne Sales Company RT-10
• 0924 Belington, WV - WVC power - WM 67
• 0924 Belington, WV - WVC power - WM 303
• 0924 Belington, WV - WVC power - Bentley Coal Company 207
• 0924 Belington, WV - WVC power - WM 415

Sadly the Western Maryland BL2 was locked indoors and it didn't appear to be any work this day, so off to CSX in Grafton. There was an assortment of CSX AC4400's, an SD80MAC, and two NS SD70M-2's.

• 1030 Grafton, WV - CSX westbound power - CSXT 583-CSXT 517
• 1045 Grafton, WV - CSX eastbound power - CSXT 209-CSXT 3xx

It wasn't overly exciting so I continued my journey to Moorefield and the South Branch Valley Railroad.

• 1327 Moorefield, WV - SBVR power - SBVR 182
• 1331 Moorefield, WV - SBVR power - SBVR 80

When I signed my release to photograph at the SBVR shops the nice folks there told me that a southbound was on its way to Petersburg. I went after it but it beat me.

• 1412 Petersburg, WV - SBVR southbound - SBVR 181-SBVR 91 (it's front coupled)
• 1420 Petersburg, WV - SBVR yard - SBVR caboose 1892
• 1428 Petersburg, WV - SBVR power - SBVR 90

Next I took off for the Winchester & Western in Gore, VA with a quick stop at the Potomac Eagle.

• 1531 Romney, WV - Potomac Eagle power - VIA FP9 nose
• 1531 Romney, WV - Potomac Eagle power - CO 8016
• 1531 Romney, WV - Potomac Eagle power - PE 722
• 1620 Gore, VA - WW power - WW 498
• 1620 Gore, VA - WW power - ESHR 8066
• 1620 Gore, VA - WW power - WW 1007

It was getting late so I would be staying over night in Harpers Ferry, WV. I checked into the Comfort Inn and then headed down to the station to write up the day's log and see what trains would pass in the night.

• 1917 arr/1918 dep Harpers Ferry, WV - MARC P879 west - MARC 69/MARC 70
• 1948 Harpers Ferry, WV - CSX V102-11 east - CSXT 4835-CSXT 785
• 2039 arr/2040 dep Harpers Ferry, WV - MARC P883 west - MARC 62
• 2109 Harpers Ferry, WV - CSX Q400 west - CSXT 591-UP 4489-CSXT 8148
• 2139 Harpers Ferry, WV - MARC eastbound deadhead - MARC 7846 (cab car; MARC 62 power)
• 2142 Harpers Ferry, WV - CSX Q139 west - CSXT 5221-CSXT 5232

Also of note is that the Harpers Ferry B&O station is well into its restoration to approximately 1931 specifications.