hey yall, well actually I currently only have 1 pic to display, but as I get a chance more will come. I work as a security guard at an automotive parts manufacturer and Norfolk Southern services us. I took this picture with my camera phone (real cameras are not allowed in the plant) so it may be a little fuzzy, but this is a picture of a NS boxcar (one of a line of about 10 in the plant) about to be loaded with racks of car parts. as I get some pics of the engine and maybe some other cool shots I will add them as well. but for now this is what I have. enjoy
An interesting aspect of railroading, which we seldom see. Please be careful that you don't cause yourself troubles with your employer, by posting these views. Boxcab E50
since posting my first picture I have not had an opportunity to see the trains up close but here are a couple more pics that I was able to take. This first one is interesting, it is the engine coming into the plant's rail gate as seen from the security camera. I am not that good at identifying engines yet, but I think this is looking like a GP40 according to my Field Guide to Trains, by Gerald Foster. I shall try to get some more pics of the actual train rather than just through the security camera, one of these days I am bound to be out back when the train comes in. this next picture is of some more of the boxcars this time it is a line of them outside of the plant on one of the sidetracks. at any given time there are probably 20 to 30 of these outside either waiting to come in or preparing to be hooked up to a train heading to their final destination. again sorry for the poor quality of these pics, they were taken with my camera phone.
Becuase before CR, NS had no GP40-2s The tell-tale giveaway that it's a GP40-2, rather than a former N&W GP40: It has corrugated radiator grills... these stick out from the body
Early GP40-2s don't have the corrugated radiators. CR had five of those - the Reading Grace Miners. Did those end up with NS or CSX?
btw, the road number on that GP40-2 is 3040 for anyone who happens to be into tracking road numbers and whatnot
It would be interesting to track the engine numbers at your job. I expect that they will repeat to some extent. You could track boxcars, too. Just sort of a rail-fan type thing to do.
I think there are mainly 2 engines that come in, the one here that I have a picture of and sometimes I have seen a blue engine with Conrail paint, I haven't got a close look at this one, but I think it is also a GP40-2. As far as the boxcars, they are easier to track by the graffiti that is on the sides :tb-tongue: I am pretty sure there is a set number that are loaded at my plant, shipped to the assembly plants, unloaded and reloaded with empty racks for the return trip. Every week or so I will notice a certain graffiti tag has returned.
here is an old gondola, these were used up until a couple years ago to take baled scrap steel from the plant to the local steel recycling yard. But it was determined that baler operations and railing it there was not cost effective, so trucks replaced the train :tb-sad: but this and another have been left sitting on a sidetrack outside of the plant. dejectedly waiting to be picked up and given new life somewhere were they can truly be appreciated.
here is that engine I was mentioning with the Conrail paint, again sorry for the low quality of the pic, it was with my camera phone again
I finally caught the elusive NS GP40-2 number 3040 which up to this point had shown itself just in one grainy security camera image, lending one to be skeptical of its existence, much like the Loc Ness Monster (ok so maybe not, but it sounded good). This morning at about 6:30 I was out and about on my patrol route and lo and behold just down from the plant sat the Black Horse herself (are trains "her"? cars and ships are "her" so shouldn't trains also be "her"?). I was obliged to take some pictures and they are presented here for your enjoyment wouldn't you know, right under the road number it reads "GP40-2" doesn't that take all of the fun out of figuring out what the engine is if it tells you? I really like how the sun was just coming up it looks cool against the black don't worry, like I said it was not moving and no one was even around. I would NOT attempt to get this angle of a shot of a moving train
well here is yet another picture of a sleeping Norfolk Southern. I feel almost like I am cheating, instead of chasing down the train or waiting for one to pass, I take pictures of them just sitting there, but eh, I new at this and I find trains fascinating. This one happens to be a GP50 which I have seen sitting in the NS yard for the past couple days, but I have not had the opportunity to take a good picture. today I brought my good camera and took a picture. Again, it told me what it was. Which kind of takes the fun out of keying the train out, but oh well. I also took the picture through my dirty car window, so that is why the engine looks spotty.
A sitting subject is much easier to photo than a moving one. They both have their plusses, we like 'em both! Welcome to railfanning, and nice pics!
Good catch on the GP50. I can remember when they were in Southern paint and you could always count on them being on the hottest intermodal trains. Wow how the times change.
Wow, she hasnt been rebuilt yet either! Still has the high short hood, long hood forward, dual Nathans and the bell hanging from the long hood!
i know its not very visible in this image, but in the original 8.1mp image that the camera took, below the 7067 it says "CNOTP" now according to NSDash9.com this engine was originally a CNO&TP, now I may just be an idiot, but I can't seem to find out what CNO&TP stands for, I can find several references to in on several different NS fan sites, but everybody just mentions it as a given without explaining what it is. could anyone help shed some light on this for me?
