The Pics. Round 2

Over the past three years or so, I have taken a lot of train pics. Most of you should know that I do this as a hobby. I do know a few people around my area that either work or work alongside the guys on the rails. So it is now too hard for me to find out what is heading my way. That and I am a member of three or four Yahoo groups, so word gets around to me every so often that something good is coming. Or I just happen to catch it with only a few minues notice.

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[edit on 18-5-2009 by gimmefootball400]

I like the photos!
But to the "untrained" eye, other than these being cool pics of trains.
I'm not sure what's so special about these particular locomotives.

Could you add a little commentary?
Are these running on a strange schedule? Or are they rare in your neck of the woods? Is there some unusual freight being transported?

Through university, I worked with a railroad company that had a stretch of 15 mile private track. They picked up coal down at one end from the ships, and took it to the other end of the track at the power plant. After unloading, they'd do it again. I was responsible for track maintenance. I found out the hard way that what they'd do is drop you off at one end and give you what you needed. Then tell you to walk back, greasing and tightening every bolt on the track until you got home. 7.5 miles one day, 7.5 miles on the other end the next day. The days to follow weren't as bad, we only began to cut brush for 15 miles.

The upkeep of these tracks can be hard work.

I do not envy those who first laid the track with very little of the machinery that exists today.

reply to post by spacedoubt


Some of these motors that are included can be rare sights around here. For example, the two Union Pacifics and the Illinois Central SD70. We hardly ever see any IC units coming through here that are still in full bore Illinois Central paint. On very extremely rare occasions, we'll get a BNSF unit or maybe a SOO Line/CP unit if we are lucky. Actually, they don't really have a set schedule like they used too. Nowadays, it's call a crew and let the train wait in the yard until a crew gets there. As for the unusual freight being transported, I can't really say that we've had any through here within the last few months. The last oddity that went through here was a nuclear waste car bound for Utah. Other than that, it's been the same old manifests and coal drags every day. That and we did get some reroutes through here a few months back.

reply to post by chissler


Sounds like what a buddy of mine did several months ago. Out in the middle of the Nevada desert was where he worked for shortline out there. He told me before he left that the ties they used were not even close to the ties that are used here on the East Coast. He said that the ties were made from solid oak trees. That to replace the spikes in them, you would've had to have used a drill, an epoxy gun, and the spike. From the time that the epoxy was shot into the hole, you had about twenty to thirty seconds before it dried to havve had the spike in it.

I have a habit of taking photos of scenery and other trains from inside a train. I will now post the photo taken when I was in the early morning train to university and it was a very foggy day, and the loco pilot was speeding. What do you think about this?

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Edit: I guarantee you that the visibility to the eye than in the photo.

[edit on June 4th, 2009 by peacejet]

PJ,

If the man behind the throttle felt safe enough, then he can do it. With good visibility or the crappiest visibility that you can have.

Oh yeah.........
I forgot about the videos!!!!







[edit on 4-6-2009 by gimmefootball400]

[edit on 5-6-2009 by gimmefootball400]

Here are the pics that I've taken over the past week.



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And one more video!!!
Got abig time horn salute from this guy.


[edit on 5-6-2009 by gimmefootball400]

nice train pics! I think you will like the one i did of a tornado bearing down on a train...

Oh wow!!!

I bet I know what the crew would have been saying if that had been the real thing.....

Oh !!!! Can't this thing move any faster!!??

By the way........

The paint job on that was based on Erie Lackawanna's scheme and the power looks like an ALCo Century C420 and an ALCo Century C628.

Man........

Has it really been this long since I have updated this thread?
I guess it actually has been a while since I have updated it.
Anyways, here are some new pics that I have taken in the past week or so.

First off, I had a little bit of time on my hands the other day. So, I got a shot of the manufacture's date on one of the rails.


Second off, we have Amtrak's Eastbound Cardinal heading toward Prince, WV and points east.


Third, we have a little switcher going westward after working one of the local industries here.


Fourth, we have westbound manifest freight symbol Q303-29 heading through town passing an eastbound coal train.


Fifth, former Chicago and Northwestern coal car on the same coal train.


Sixth, something you don't see every day of the week.


Pictures from Friday the 7th of August.

Amtrak train #50 passing through Marmet heading eastbound. This time he had Amtrak's Head Honcho's car on the rear end of the train.


Westbound manifest freight Q303-06 heads west with the 5375 running solo.


Eastbound N702-05 Virginia Power coal train gets framed up by two cameras that are rolling when he popped up.


Westbound T337-05 mty train heading back for the yards at Russell, Kentucky.


This westbound N667-07 mty Virginia Power train rounds the bend past the historic Ebenezer Chapel at the east end of town. Of Note - The church in the picture that is below has sat in the exact same spot since it was built almost 200 years ago. This church is on the National Register of Historic Places, hence the gates.


[edit on 9-8-2009 by gimmefootball400]