No horseheads are to be seen on the sides of these Dash9-44C's at Wyomissing JCT on NS's Harrisburg Line today. NS 9628 leads 201 West, and NS 9730 trails second on I0R.
Sepp, I understand the horsehead's appearance in the hood striping, but what exactly is a "catfish"? I've been watching NS trains for 35+ years and I can't see why some are catfish and others not. Thanks! Locally, NS crews are calling multi-mile-long trains "Longbores". NS is adding a three mile long siding in the SC upstate and extending another near Greenville, SC to keep the road fluid. One of these nice fall days, I'm planning a day trip to the NS main west of Charlotte, NC to hopefully catch some action. There's now a Railcam at the Spartanburg, SC depot:
Looking at the Railcam view, if you were to walk away from the camera down to the highway crossing in the distance, you'd be at Magnolia Interlocking. [04/03/2019]
I don't remember if it was the NS crews or local railfans who started calling the widecab Dash9's "catfish",
Oh, I get it then -- just a generic descriptor for the multitudes of Dash9s. Now I know! Thanks. Widecabs with white paint in the numberboard area (as in my photo above and one of yours too) were routinely called "Tophats", but I don't find this term used much anymore.
Catfish are named for their whiskers. Santa Fe was just one of several roads with a Whiskers Scheme, I believe, so I don't blame NS fans for not using that word.
Not trying to be disagreeable, Hardcoaler, but as far as I knew, "Tophats" referred to the standard cab Dash9's that NS bought initially. I think the term was used in the Diesel Era series, because of the roof A/C.
Thanks for the correction -- that makes sense now that you explained it. I'm kind of a strange railfan I suppose in that aside from NS's Heritage Units and foreign power, I don't have much of an interest in modern locomotives. When I was young, I could call out models in an instant, but through the years, everything started to look the same to me and I lost interest. When I post pictures, I have to look up what I shot. Embarrassingly, I often can't even tell manufacturers of units these days. Maybe Kalmbach needs to publish a Third Diesel Spotters Guide for fans like me, in large font of course. My interest in railroading leans toward signaling, structures, engineering, operations and history.
Same here. And with automobiles as well. Of course back in the 60s, there were not that many different models. Imports were few but each of those was quite distinct. Now I can usually tell an SUV from a pickup truck.
I totally get that, Hardcoaler, and even though I try and spend a couple of hours trackside weekly, I identify locos by their cab number. I've pretty much got an idea of which models bear which cab numbers.
That's a good idea @Sepp K . Looking at my recent pictures, I'll bet I could work up a cab number scorecard that would show those locomotive series that most frequently appear. Neat that you spend a few hours trackside each week. I enjoy getting out too, though I'm more apt to do it if a Heritage Unit is leading a train that I hope to find. Younger fans I meet are so well informed and are a great source for news. I don't know how they do it, but some use ATCS to read NS signal aspects and train locations real time.