Trackside Log for Saturday, July 12, 2008

Today I met up with Marcus and we drove out to Brantford for some photography.  Shortly after arriving we found that Canadian National train 580 was about to head out on the Brantford Spur.  We first went to Colborne Street to photograph it.

• 1150 Colborne St., Brantford - CN 580 - CN 4125 (photo)
• 1155 Eagle St., Brantford - CN 580 - CN 4125
• 1201 Port St., Brantford - CN 580 - CN 4125

While train 580 switched at the east end Marcus and I headed over to the west to locate a good spot to photograph the train as it passed by the two former railway bridges over the Grand River.

• 1322 Icomm Dr., Brantford - CN 580 - CN 4125

Again we let them finish switching and waited for them to exit.  We caught them running along Holme Street.

• 1354 Holme St., Brantford - CN 580 - CN 4125

Then we photographed them one last time from the former Grand River Railway bridge in Lorne Park.

• 1401 Lorne Park, Brantford - CN 580 - CN 4125 (photo)

After the fun of chasing 580 around Brantford we grabbed a bit to eat and drove over to Paris Junction to see what might pop up.

• 1517 Paris Junction - CN westbound - CN 2419-CN 2678-CN 2270 (photo)
• 1621 Paris Junction - CN eastbound - CN 5510-CN 5381-CN 5518-CN 5293-CN 5710 (photo)
• 1623 Paris Junction - Via 76 east - VIA 6415 (photo)

After the Via train Marcus and I drove back to Brantford to check out the model railway shop in Brantford station.  After that we departed for our respective homes.  We definitely had fun photographing 580.  The crew likely thought we were nuts, but whatever.

Trackside Log for Saturday, July 5, 2008

Wow, it had been a very long time since I'd visited either Guelph Junction or Scotch Block.  I decided that I needed to remedy that problem.  I drove out to Guelph Junction first.

• 1124 Guelph Junction - CP 241 west - CP 8806-CP 8706
• 1243 Guelph Junction - CP westbound - CP 9511-CP 9525

The sun was starting to get around to the right angle for Scotch Block so I made the move.  I also met up with a few friends that I hadn't seen in a while there.

• 1443 Scotch Block - CN 435 west - CN 5730-CN 5369
• 1541 Scotch Block - CN 338 east - CN 5412-CN 2572-CN 2599-WSX 302 (Wierton Steel)
• 1758 Scotch Block - CN 393 west - CN 2513-CN 2415
• 1807 Scotch Block - CN 382 east - CN 2452-GTW 5948

The Wierton Steel switcher was a nice catch for the day.  Well time was getting on so everybody parted ways and I headed back home.

Trackside Log for Wednesday, July 2, 2008

I awoke refreshed at The Station Inn in Cresson to a beautiful morning. I wandered downstairs for a grand breakfast with the other guests. I must return again sometime soon. After food and banter I drove to Lilly to photograph some action on the former Pennsylvania Railroad.

• 0934 Lilly, PA - NS eastbound - NS 6789-NS 9424-NS 3027-NS 6508
• 0949 Lilly, PA - Amtrak 42 east - AMTK 97
• 0955 Lilly, PA - NS 14G east - NS 9930-NS 9283 w/ helper NS 3336-NS 3353
• 1019 Lilly, PA - NS westbound - NS 6756-NS 9515 w/ helper NS 3339-NS 3346
• 1034 Lilly, PA - NS westbound helper - NS 3357-NS 3372
• 1043 Lilly, PA - NS westbound - NS 9560-NS 9367 w/ helper NS 3373-NS 3338
• 1108 Lilly, PA - NS 500 east - NS 9225-NS 6594-NS 8689 w/ helper NS 3351-NS 3342-NS 3345-NS 3350
• 1141 Lilly, PA - NS eastbound - NS 7205-NS 7206/NS 7204-NS 7214

What? A tiny push-pull salt train with a pair of SD80MACs on either end? I had to see that again. I drove back to Cresson to photograph it in the yard there.

• 1159 Cresson, PA - NS eastbound - NS 7205-NS 7206/NS 7204-NS 7214 (photo)

The clouds were gathering and starting to become frustrating so I packed up and headed for home. Back in Canada again I heard Canadian National train 565 leaving Port Robinson. I was in a good position to catch it at Netherby.

• 1830 Welland, ON - CN 565 east - CN 4110-CN 4112

And with that I drove back home. Overall the trip was a good one but that first day in Virginia was monumentally frustrating.

Click here to view a map of the GPS data collected during the trip.

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 Sunday, June 29, 2008

Wow, I got up pretty early this morning. How unlike me. Anyway, I started the second day of my Virginias trip by heading over to the Amtrak station in Charleston to see if CSX would be so kind as to run a train or two.

• 0746 Charleston, WV - CSX eastbound - CSXT 478-CSXT 656 (photo)
• 0803 Charleston, WV - CSX eastbound - CSXT 4842-CSXT 532
• 0821 Charleston, WV - CSX westbound - CSXT 5213

That plan worked out rather well. Since I had to drive through Winifrede Junction anyway, I checked out the Big Eagle Railroad again. The two geeps were again missing from the junction so again I drove west along their tracks to find them. I didn't need to go far before I found them dumping balast in Winifrede.

• 0932 Winifrede, WV - Big Eagle westbound - JTPX 2012-JTPX 2011 (photo 1, photo 2)

After a few photographs I continued my trek toward Thurmond, my primary destination for the day. I was following CSX for much of the way and heard a westbound on the scanner in Pratt.

• 1010 Pratt, WV - CSX westbound Herzog - CSXT 369-CSXT 218

A little farther east I found a westbound coal train parked in Handley.

• 1015 Handley, WV - CSX westbound - CSXT 5357-CSXT 5463 (photo)

At Deep Water I turned south and enjoyed the drive along some more twisty mountain roads on my way to Pax to begin my search for R. J. Corman. In Pax I found the coal loadout but no locomotives. So I started tracing the track back east toward Thurmond and discovered the three tunnel motors parked at a new office facility in Meadow Fork.

• 1200 Harvey, WV - R. J. Corman power - RJCX 8718-RJCX 8336-RJCX 8569 (photo 1, photo 2)

After a few cloudy photos I drove the short trek to Thurmond where I visited the National Park Service in the fabulous Chesapeake & Ohio station. Then I began the wait for trains. Nothing showed up for nearly five hours but in that time the sun came out. When the westbounds began to flow the lighting was very nice.

• 1502 Thurmond, WV - CSX westbound - CSXT 7739-CSXT 4838
• 1700 Thurmond, WV - CSX westbound - CSXT 7684-CSXT 5383
• 1715 Thurmond, WV - CSX westbound rail train - CSXT 2220-CSXT 6917
• 1731 Thurmond, WV - CSX westbound - CSXT 4755-CSXT 871
• 1750 Thurmond, WV - CSX westbound - CSXT 337-CSXT 487
• 1922 Thurmond, WV - Amtrak 51 west - AMTK 152

Scheduled time for The Cardinal was 1847 so it was late. There were still plenty of clouds in the sky but miraculously every train was sunlit and every train was a westbound. I couldn't have asked for more. Well, Amtrak could have been on time.

After the westbound extravaganza I packed up and drove to the Fairfield Inn in Beckley for the night.

Trackside Log for Saturday, June 28, 2008

For a little vacation time this year I decided to take a drive through the Virginias to photograph some railway scenes. After work the previous night I drove to Fairmont, West Virginia and stayed at the Fairfield Inn. This rainy morning I awoke and made the short drive to Grafton to see what was going on at CSX. There was a variety of motive power parked at the fuel racks and quite a few LLPX engines leased by the Appalachian & Ohio at the far end of the yard. A CSX westbound was parked under the Bridge Street bridge and provided my only photograph in Grafton.

• 0840 Grafton, WV - CSX westbound - CSXT 403-CSXT 452 (photo 1, photo 2)

Very little seemed to be going on at the time so I continued on to the West Virginia Central in Belington. I've been there a couple times in the past but every time I go there's something different. Today was no exception. Fortunately the rain subsided enough for some photography.

• 0937 Belington, WV - West Virginia Central power - WVC 92 (photo)
• 0939 Belington, WV - West Virginia Central power - RT 10 (photo)
• 0940 Belington, WV - West Virginia Central power - WVC M-3 Edwards Motor Car (photo)
• 0941 Belington, WV - B&O C3014 caboose (photo)
• 0943 Belington, WV - West Virginia Central power - WVC 39 Plymouth ML-8 (photo)

My next destination was the Appalachian & Ohio. I stopped by Buckhannon but no motive power was there. I figured the abundance of LLPX engines in Grafton explained that. So onward to Burnsville I drove where I found a pair of CEFX SD90MACs.

• 1112 Burnsville, WV - Appalachian & Ohio power - CEFX 130-CEFX 125 (photo)

While photographing the SD90MACs the sun started to come out which was nice. When I got to the Elk River Railroad it was mostly sunny but a bit hazy.

Every time I visit Gassaway the Elk River geeps are in a different location yet I never get to see them actually working. Well, except for ELKR 4 which never goes anywhere.

• 1158 Gassaway, WV - Elk River Railroad power - ELKR 4 and ELKR 1-ELKR 3 (photo 1, photo 2)
• 1206 Gassaway, WV - Elk River Railroad power - ELKR 2-ELKR 5 (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3)

From Gassaway I began to make my way toward the night's destination: Charleston. This part of my drive was great fun. The route I chose took me through some wonderfully winding two lane roads through the West Virginia mountains. I had a great time winding my Mustang around them. All good things must come to an end though. Shortly before I got to Gauley Bridge the skies opened and it rained hard. I pulled off the road to wait it out near Alloy where coincidentally a set of Norfolk Southern motive power was parked with a coal train. Once the rain stopped I took a few photos.

• 1547 Alloy, WV - NS power - NS 8730-NS 9368 (photo)

Just as I was finished photographing these two engines I noticed a security guard coming out of the coal facility they were parked at. I'm not sure if he was interested in me or not. The fact that I was leaving anyway made it moot. Other sets of mixed Norfolk Southern and CSX power were to be found on the opposite side of the facility and easily photographable from the side of Route 60.

• 1551 Alloy, WV - NS power - NS 7576-NS 9631 (photo)

Next stop was the Big Eagle Railroad in Winifrede. First I stopped off at Winifrede Junction but neither of the JTPX engines were there so I deduced they were out on the line somewhere. I drove west along Fields Creek Road which parallels the track. I ran across the train loading gravel just beyond the town of Winifrede.

• 1628 Winifrede, WV - Big Eagle Railroad eastbound - JTPX 2011-JTPX 2012 (photo)

They were just finishing the load so I drove back along the track to find a suitable location to photograph them again.

• 1654 Winifrede, WV - Big Eagle Railroad eastbound - JTPX 2011-JTPX 2012

With some more time left in the day I drove back to Winifrede Junction and photographed the train as it passed under the CSX line and Interstates 64 and 77.

• 1720 Winifrede Junction, WV - Big Eagle Railroad eastbound - JTPX 2011-JTPX 2012

After a fun day I checked into the Fairfield Inn in Charleston. I had some time to kill so I walked around town and then noticed the lights on at the Apalachian Power Park. I walked over and watched the minor league West Virginia Power defeat the Lexington Legends 3-1.

Trackside Log for Wednesday, June 25, 2008

I was home from work not feeling well today but by mid-afternoon was starting to feel a bit better.  I heard a southbound Canadian Pacific train and walked out behind me house to see it.

• 1419 Fenwick - CP 426 south - CP 8613-CP 5978 (photo)

OK, that was enough.  I went back inside and laid down again.  It's depressing when you're ill on a nice day.

Trackside Log for Tuesday, May 20, 2008

This was the last day of our 2008 grain elevator extravaganza in Saskatchewan and beyond. We got started in Medicine Hat, Alberta and needed to get to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan that day to catch our plane the following day. No problem, we had plenty of time. Along the way we discovered a number of Canadian Pacific trains on the main line.

• 1005 MDT Dunmore, AB - CP power - CP 5919-SOO 6035 (photo)

Wait a second. That train looks familiar.

• 1029 MDT Irvine, AB - CP westbound - CP 6069-CP 8840-GCFX 3097 (photo)
• 1120 MDT Walsh, AB - CP westbound - CP 9117-CP 9137 (photo)
• 1325 CST Maple Creek, SK - CP westbound - CP 8505-CP 8719 (photo)
• 1340 CST Maple Creek, SK - CP 671 west - CP 8573-CP 9731/CP 8743-CP 9591
• 1454 CST Gull Lake, SK - CP westbound - CP 6604-CP 5757-GCFX 3062 (photo 1, photo 2)

After Gull Lake we left the Canadian Pacific main line and drove to Saskatoon and our lodging. This was a good trip. I we photographed plenty of grain elevators, trains, scenery and generally relaxed. That's why I take these trips.

Trackside Log for Monday, May 19, 2008

OK, we're going to try this again. This is the third time I've been to Sandpoint to photograph a morning train crossing the Lake Pend Oreille bridge. Sam and I got out nice and early and no sooner got on our way when we heard a foreman get a work permit for the bridge. Son-of-a...! That's the third time that's happened to me. So instead Sam and I drove over to the interchange yard and photographed the local power.

• 0840 PDT Sandpoint, ID - BNSF power - BNSF 3009-BNSF 3013 (photo)

I was pretty frustrated so I decided to push north to British Columbia. After a quick border crossing we headed to Cranbrook where we found a westbound just arriving and an eastbound about to depart.

• 1221 PDT Cranbrook, BC - CP eastbound - UP 8287-CP 9702
• 1228 PDT Cranbrook, BC - CP westbound - UP 8259-CP 9556/UP 8303 (photo)

Nothing else was in the area so we continued eastward along Highway 3. Sam and I enjoyed the scenery of Crowsnest Pass and exited the mountains at Cowley, AB. Here we found a meet between two Canadian Pacific trains.

• 1536 MDT Cowley, AB - CP westbound - CP 8754-CP 8800-CP 9707 (photo)
• 1548 MDT Cowley, AB - CP eastbound - UP 8301-UP 8263 (photo)

We figured out that our evening's destination would be Medicine Hat, Alberta. On our way through Lethbridge we checked out the monster trestle over the Oldman River. Sam was suitably impressed. No trains were immenent though so we continued east toward Medicine Hat. At Burdett we photographed our last train of the day.

• 1847 MDT Burdett, AB - CP westbound - CP 5919-SOO 6035

Then it was straight to Medicine Hat for a good meal and night's sleep.