Taken yesterday, an NS military train advances south at Ridgeway, SC behind two Dash 9-44CWs running elephant style.
"Crude Oil Afire" Crude oil loads roll downgrade at MP 3 in the glint of a stormy twilight. I say stormy as a blizzard lashes the eastern half of the state and is moving towards Minot.
Its baaaaack…. It's not out on the road as often as it used to be, (I suspect coal and water bills may have become more of a concern than they used to be) but last Saturday, October 5th, PM 1225 pulled a fall color trip from Mt. Pleasant to Cadillac, and I got a couple of shots I thought were worth posting. The first was in a location some of you may recognize, (passing the elevator at Marion, MI) but from a different angle than previously. It was a bit brisk and I thought the smoke and steam made for a pretty decent picture. The second shot was a few miles up the line at McBain, where I don't usually manage to get a shot, but was able to shoot through the crowd this time.
One item of interest is the C&O style high number boards. They have been present the last two times I photographed her. They were not, however, installed when the Curwood Flyer shots were taken in 2017 (link below). Actually, these were not installed until after the 1947 PM/C&O merger. The crew likes to show their locomotive at both stages of her service life, so these are sometimes installed, sometimes not. https://www.trainboard.com/highball...end-proto-fun-10-27-2017.111354/#post-1032674 Another detail that was not replaced after the 2009-2015 overhaul was the jacketing applied to the sides of the firebox when the berk was new. They may have decided it was a maintenance headache that was more fun to do without.
This evening in Rosenberg an east bound UP fright stopped just short of the BNSF diamond. Then a BNSF container train pulled up north bound and stopped. Next a KCS west bound on the UP wanting to cross the diamond and head south west on the Macaroni (Ex SP Victoria Sub) pulled up and stopped short of the diamond. Finally a south bound BNSF mixed freight blew through the interchange. I was in my car by then and missed getting a shot of it. Peek-a-boo KCS on the other side of the BNSF container train slowing to a stop. You can see the UP headlight on the left right next to the power pole, the KCS stopped under the bridge and then the BNSF front and center. I waited for the south bound BNSF for a while but gave up.