MBTA photos

Hi, My wife Ruthe and I spent the weekend of 9/10 - 9/14 in Wellesley, MA visiting our daughter Jo and son-in-law Dave. They had a photo session on the afternoon of 9/11 (they are wedding photographers) and Ruthe was tired, so I took a walk down to the Wellesley Square station of the MBTA. Only platforms exist there, no station buildings. It was sad to see how the purple paint on the equipment had faded. I can remember shooting MBTA equipment in the late 1970s, when the paint scheme was new and the purple was vibrant.

The first 3 images are of a westbound train, the last image is an eastbound train. Power seems to face west normally.





I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Railfanning 8-31-2010

Hi, Friend Stan Short and I spent the afternoon last Tuesday photographing in Brunswick and Point of Rocks, MD. We started in Brunswick where we photographed a westbound auto rack train passing a stopped empty coal train and WB tower. This is the last operating CSX tower between here and Rowelsburg, WV or Connellsville, PA.

Shortly after the auto rack train cleared the coal empties headed west.

We then relocated to Point of Rocks where we photographed three westbound commuter trains, Amtrak's Capital Limited, and 3 CSX freight trains. Engines 20 and 21 are from a group of brand new locomotives currently being delivered by Motive Power Industries.




This CSX train is bringing incinerated garbage from the Marant Energy power plant at Dickerson, MD to Brunswick for shipment to a landfill.

Shortly before the second commuter train arrived we were pleasantly surprised when friends Dave Ori and Terry Chicwak from Cleveland showed up. We spent the next hour visiting and shooting whatever came along.

In the midst of the commuter rush CSX ran Q137, an intermodal train, west off the Old Main Line.

These locomotives will soon be almost entirely gone, being replaced by new ones like numbers 20 and 21.

Our final train of the day had westbound coal empties.

Thanks for looking. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Railfanning 8-27-2010

Hi, Friend Rudy Volin and I went out to photograph Norfolk Southern's B Line on Friday, August 27. As we were passing Manassas, VA we heard the dispatcher tell #227 it would be waiting at a location we thought was near Culpeper, VA for a meet. Based on further communication while we waited at The Plains, VA it seemed like #227 would not reach us for 1 1/2 hours. We decided to move on to see if we could find anything else to photograph.

Approaching Front Royal, VA we heard chatter on the radio indicating that grain train #40T was headed south and getting close. We went to Success, north of Front Royal, where the train showed up after about a 15 minute wait. The morning was off to a good start.

We shot the helpers going away before leaving.

Even better was that the train was headed down the Shenandoah Valley Line. Finding a southbound train here in the morning is not common so we decided to give chase. We both wanted the shot crossing Compton Creek on a long trestle so we went directly there. It was possible to photograph both the head end and

the helpers.
The dispatcher told #40T it would meet #202 at Vaughn. Number 202 is the new Memphis, TN to Newark, NJ intermodal train that runs via the Shenandoah Valley Line.

After getting a last shot of #40T we headed back to Compton Creek for a different angle of the trestle, this time with #202.

We followed #202 up to Riverton Junction in Front Royal.

We then got ahead of it and waited for it in Berryville, VA. However, the train was held at Success for some reason. Fortunately, it seemed, #11R from Binghamton, NY to Linwood, NC was approaching. However, when it was about 8 miles away the train went into emergency and took a 1 hour 25 minute delay. By the time it got Berryville the sun was on the wrong side of the tracks and the clouds had moved in. We left Berryville before the train arrived and moved south to Boyce.

While the train made its way through Front Royal we took a short cut and came out on Happy Creek Road, east of town. However, the train arrived quickly and we were unable to find a satisfactory spot. Soon after, the train climbed Linden Hill which slowed it considerably, allowing us to get this photograph at the top.

Our next planned location was at Marshall, VA, which should have been easy. Highway construction caused a traffic tie up and all we could do was listen as the train ran away from us. Once we cleared the tie up I thought we could beat the train to either the wye in Manassas or to the crew change a few mile south of the wye in Bristow since the train took a longer route and we could move faster. Shortly after we arrived at Bristow we could here #11R approaching Manassas. However, he blew through Bristow without stopping. So much for the crew change but still a nice photo spot.

Thanks for looking. I hope you enjoyed the photos.