Rail-fanning on The OGR Forum 🚂 Welcome: Pictures YOU have taken! • Hope to see you out rail-fanning.

Thanks, I’m surprised NJT doesn’t use some variation of Amtrak’s “cabbage” or the old LI’s power sled cabs, seems like a waste of a unit but see on the CR shared asset locals all the time. Neat stuff, thanks for posting.

A train in need of a crew waits at the Lyle Ave crossing in DeSmet, SD.  We’ve heard it idling since Friday early afternoon and it’s still there now, Sat 0900. ( So it IS prototypical to “block the main” ! )

Rich in SD

Some recent work

new spring snow on the joint line 4/23

this train was a major headache for the southbound parade on the Joint Line in April. DPU alternator failure prompted emergency crew to use helper unit stationed at spruce to shove them over the divide. After 3 hours of waiting things finally got underway

moments before failing the train is past spruce

dead in the snow fall partly around Palmer Lake and blocking the county line road crossing

Crews hostel helper unit on the rear. Bnsf 9375 was the dead unit alternator failed

Chief hosa southbound 4/23

sunrise over the Palmer divide

my friend Curt running this southbound B DENSBD4 21A 4/22/23

Watching trains at the Homewood and Matteson, IL, train-watching platforms. The former was built by CN next to the newly-built junction between CN's IC mainline and the EJ&E bypass around downtown. The latter is next to the former IC mainline and just south of one of CN's two major Chicago-area yards (the other being Kirk in Indiana).

train time at keenesburg, co 4/23

Fantastic picture!!!

Gibbon Ne is less than a mile west of these pics. One looking back to Gibbon sitting on the south track of the cutoff to Marysville Ks and then KC. the other looks east on the cutoff with the tracks to to Omaha or Missouri Valley on the far left, the latter via Kennard and Blair  

As the 611’s time at Strasburg winds down, here’s a look back to 2021 when the kids treated me to a birthday lunch behind her aboard the dining car. I hadn’t seen the 611 in person since riding a Piedmont Limited excursion out of Alexandria, VA in 1983. It was like being reunited with a long lost friend.        

Bob

@pittsburghrailfan posted:

Watching trains at the Homewood and Matteson, IL, train-watching platforms. The former was built by CN next to the newly-built junction between CN's IC mainline and the EJ&E bypass around downtown. The latter is next to the former IC mainline and just south of one of CN's two major Chicago-area yards (the other being Kirk in Indiana).

May the 4th be with you!

Bob

@CNJ 3676 posted:

As the 611’s time at Strasburg winds down, here’s a look back to 2021 when the kids treated me to a birthday lunch behind her aboard the dining car. I hadn’t seen the 611 in person since riding a Piedmont Limited excursion out of Alexandria, VA in 1983. It was like being reunited with a long lost friend.        

Bob

Super photograph, Bob!!  They knew how to wish you a Happy Birthday!!

I saw the 611 once, in Roanoke in the late '80s.

I caught Norfolk & Western/Strasburg #475 crossing Paradise Lane after eating dinner at the Red Caboose Motel on one of our fall trips to Strasburg, PA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7s2xZ6eswY

Lake State Railway • Saginaw Michigan

April 14, 2023 - It was a windy Spring Day in Saginaw Michigan. This rail-fanning trip will start at Brasseur Electric Trains. This is a historic building from about 1885. In the past its was a grocery store and a mens clothing store. They have large photos on the wall showing these stores. The tin ceiling is still the same today.

I went there to see if I could find Rail-King’s new Lake State Railway switcher. Let’s go for a walk and see what we can find at The Lake State Railway Headquarters.

Thanks for taking a look. Hope to see you out rail-fanning: Gary 🚂

@trainroomgary posted:

Lake State Railway • Saginaw Michigan

April 14, 2023 - It was a windy Spring Day in Saginaw Michigan. This rail-fanning trip will start at Brasseur Electric Trains. This is a historic building from about 1885. In the past its was a grocery store and a mens clothing store. They have large photos on the wall showing these stores. The tin ceiling is still the same today.

I went there to see if I could find Rail-King’s new Lake State Railway switcher. Let’s go for a walk and see what we can find at The Lake State Railway Headquarters.

Thanks for taking a look. Hope to see you out rail-fanning: Gary 🚂

Gary, that rock is making your switcher look small! That is a great paint scheme and will look good next to some of the new Lake State SD70MACs from the new atlas catalog.

Looks great, Gary!  That Huron engine shows the same colors as the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad here.  Those folks are everywhere!

Check out Run 330 June/July 2023, Page 10 to learn more about Brasseur Electric Trains. If you can not come in person they do a lot more online for parts & service.

Gary 🚂

I took this yesterday evening in Winlock, WA.

Good evening everyone!
What a great thread!
Just made it to Spencer, NC as a four day graduation trip with two stops being at train museums. First day, first stop is at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. Got some good photos of locomotives, buildings, and rail side views.

Tomorrow will be day two at the museum. Next stop will be Lynchburg, Virginia to walk the stage and then to the Spirit of Roanoke’s stomping grounds. Virginia Transportation Museum.

@PRRronbh posted:

They are having a train show there May 20 &21.

Ron

Neat! Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend. Got to get back to Texas by Sunday.

CSX trains through our area in New Jersey on the Lehigh Line frequently have distributed power. Pictured here are a few recent examples at Piscataway.

In the first pair, we see an eastbound manifest led by ES40DC 5217 with ES40DC 5259 cut in mid train on February 25th. Following is an eastbound intermodal headed by ES44AH 946 with ET44AH 3387 on the hind end on March 10th. Next is a westbound manifest led by ET44AH 3314 with ES44AH 3217 mid train on March 18th. Lastly we have M404 headed by ES44AH 968 and ES40DC 5223 with ET44AH 3391 and ES44AH 802 mid train on April 25th. That was a lot of power but it was a big train with an axle count of almost 800.

Bob

Good evening everyone!

Here is some photos at the Virginia Railroad Museum.

Thanks for the lead-in @Trainmaster04.  N&W 1218 is looking good in retirement, and appears to be well taken care of at VRM.

Here she is 31 years ago, back in June of 1992, in excursion service.  She's departing the south/southwest end of Oakwood Yard in Melvindale, Michigan on a hazy morning headed for Fort Wayne, Indiana and is pulling a lengthy consist.  The trip was organized by the Bluewater Michigan Chapter of the NRHS:

It would be nice to have her on the main and all fired up again some day, but for now she rests comfortably.

Mike

Wow, Trainmaster04 and Mellow Mike!  I saw 1218 in ‘92 on an excursion from Alexandria to Charlottesville Virginia.  I know because our older daughter was 1 and our younger wasn’t born yet.  I took photographs and paced it with a friend’s camcorder.  They got lost in a move, unfortunately!

I was a car host on that trip back in 1992! 

@Mark Boyce posted:

I saw 1218 in ‘92 on an excursion from Alexandria to Charlottesville Virginia.  I know because our older daughter was 1 and our younger wasn’t born yet.  I took photographs and paced it with a friend’s camcorder.  They got lost in a move, unfortunately!

Mark,

Same situation that day and afterward, but two boys instead of two girls.  Our visit to watch her depart rekindled my life-long interest in mainline steam.  After that, and through 2009, as a family we've been lucky enough to see in action, follow, or ride behind about 15 different mainline steam locomotives in excursion service.  If I remember correctly 1218 that day was the first one.

Although they don't really follow 'O' Gauge stuff, at 33 and 28 years old now they're still interested in the latest steam news, and excursions, to this day.

These photos were also essentially lost.  I had been sending my pre-digital era negatives out for scanning for several years but stopped about 10 or 12 years ago when Walgreens removed negatives from their popular and relatively inexpensive "Shoebox" scanning service.

I just recently resumed, with a new local provider, and of course the roll of negatives with these on it was first I dug out and first in line for processing.   More to come.

@Jon Stachowicz posted:

I was a car host on that trip back in 1992! 

Jon,

Thanks for hosting.  It can be a thankless job.

Having been persuaded to try an excursion after seeing 1218 we soon bundled up our 2 year old and boarded a similar trip later that year.  The car hosts helped make the event so enjoyable, and still do on every excursion we've been on since.

Mike

Mike, appreciate the kind words.  I was a car host on various NS steam excursions for 5 years (1988-1993).  I met a lot good people and enjoyed the experience. 

Chicago South Shores refurbished Santa Fe caboose. The shops are a couple miles from my house.

NOTE:  photos taken by me.

Wow, what great stories with 1218! I knew the excursion made an impact but did not know how big. I know it definitely made one on me!

Great photograph of you, @Trainmaster04!

@Mellow Hudson Mike our daughters are 32 and 30, and neither nor their husbands have any interest in trains.  I might note, that I followed the 1218 to Charlottesville, then drove home.  We lived off US 17 not far from where the old Southern tracks cross under the highway at Bealeton.  I have no idea where I picked up the schedule, maybe a hobby shop, but saw that the return trip to Alexandria would get to Bealeton just after dark.  My wife and I got our 1-year old ready and parked where there was a small group of people gathered waiting for the train.  Right as 1218 got to us, he let out a blast on the whistle!  It was so loud I worried it would hurt our daughter’s ears, but she didn’t even cry.

@Jon Stachowicz, that sounds like a great experience!!

Mark.  It sure was.. Back on the 1990 Chicago-Ft. Wayne excursion, I got to ride in the cab of the 1218 from Hammond, IN  to Norfolk Southern's Calumet yard on the South side of Chicago on the return trip at night.  Regrettably I did not take photos--we were running on a busy stretch of track,  there was a lot going on in the cab and I didn't want get in anyone's way.  That said, it was very memorable!

https://youtu.be/TSh9ikJB-Ls
Took this today, good horn salute!

And some pics taken the past few days:

REPOST 5-16-2023 as original photos did not link. Thanks for heads-up Train Room Gary.

Took a visit to Sterling Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, NJ last weekend and was able to photograph a former CNJ caboose that was repainted one side CNJ and the opposite side LEHIGH & HUDSON RIVER RR ! This caboose as CNJ #91544 is a correct road number. The L&HR actually served this quarry years ago.

Some nice CNJ track equipment too.

Worth a visit and the underground mine tour is really neat.

Walter

On Saturday, I joined about ten other teenage and young adult railfans in chasing a N72 mine run from CSX's Newell Yard to Bailey Mine on Norfolk Southern's Manor Branch. The train, which started out as CSX E808 in Chicago, ran with a KCS de Mexico "Grey Ghost" AC4400CW in the lead, and a BNSF SD70ACe trailing. On the Monongahela Line, this was an extremely uncommon event, and likely to become all but impossible as the remaining Grey Ghosts are repainted following the CPKC merger.

N72 rounds one leg of the wye at BROW as it heads on to the bridge for the the Norfolk Southern mainline. The trackage around here is of mixed heritage, with the PRR, P&LE and Monongahela Railway (once owned by those two railroads) all converging on Brownsville. At some point, Conrail mounted a pair of PRR PLs on their leg of the wye; on another end, there are a pair of US&S searchlights.

Running down the street in West Brownsville. CSX trains have another set of street-running trackage to navigate, in Elizabeth, PA, that they have to traverse before reaching the yard in Newell. E808 I believe came in during the night, so no one saw that particular stretch of street running.

Now on the Manor Branch proper, the train passes a dilapidated barn.

The train of empties crests the grade at Time, PA. A short jaunt of less than 5 miles downgrade will bring the train to the loop track at Bailey. Loaded trains require a manned helper to shove their trains out of the mine to just past the top of the grade shown here.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to New Zealand in 2004. We even got to ride in the locomotive cab (and honk the horn) on one train:

It was a beautiful afternoon for spending a few hours trackside along the Lehigh Line in Central New Jersey and the trains cooperated. First, we saw Norfolk Southern 62V which is an empty trash train originating at Mingo Junction, OH destined for Oak Island in Newark. Next, NS 11N which is empty autoracks from Doremus Avenue in Newark to Sterling Heights, MI with a Union Pacific unit trailing passed westbound. Next was the Conrail Shared Assets local coming east behind NS GP38-2 5279. Lastly, CSX M422, a manifest train from Rocky Mount, NC for Selkirk, NY, passed eastbound.

Bob

Some photos from Utica, NY

Some photos from Utica, NY

After receiving a heads-up that the previous day's 618 had run out of hours before Connellsville, a friend and I chased the consequently late 617 from the CSX yard to Rook. Leading the train was one of a few "special" units on the Wheeling, the tiger-painted 6383 J.J. Gonzales (with flashing ditch lights). The real stars of the show were the bridges we photographed the train crossing. The P&WV bridge over Rt. 51 was already or will soon be replaced as the interchange with I-70 is redesigned. Many of the other bridges on the route retain N&W hamburger heralds or lettering from that successor of the road.

(0:00) Intro

(0:11) Owensdale bridge

(1:37) Rt. 51, Belle Vernon

(2:18) Speers Trestle

(6:22) Mingo Creek Trestle

(6:52) Patterson Ln.

(7:13) Ridgeway Drive (CP Sheetz)

(8:11) Rook Yard

(13:34) Photo

@SWCLARK posted:

Some photos from Utica, NY

SW those are nice shots, been in that NYC station for train shows and took my daughter to the DMV some years back, at one time it had a pretty good size yard back in the glory days.  That loco had a runaway hit it a few years ago. well done Mark

@pittsburghrailfan posted:

After receiving a heads-up that the previous day's 618 had run out of hours before Connellsville, a friend and I chased the consequently late 617 from the CSX yard to Rook. Leading the train was one of a few "special" units on the Wheeling, the tiger-painted 6383 J.J. Gonzales (with flashing ditch lights). The real stars of the show were the bridges we photographed the train crossing. The P&WV bridge over Rt. 51 was already or will soon be replaced as the interchange with I-70 is redesigned. Many of the other bridges on the route retain N&W hamburger heralds or lettering from that successor of the road.

Dan, That's another nice video!  I never thought of the N&W herald being a hamburger. 

First time I've seen this pair dropping off covered hoppers at the Cargill salt plant in Watkins Glen (Finger Lakes Railway).