Railfanning 6-18-2011

Hi, I visited the Lebanon, PA area on June 18 with friends Rudy Volin and Jeremy Beck. As it had been just over 2 years since we had last been there, we were curious to learn how work was progressing on the 9th and 10th street overpasses. Not much has been accomplished. One large building along with, possibly, a few smaller ones, has been demolished. There is some construction material stockpiled on site and two small pieces of construction equipment.

After about a 2 1/2 hour wait NS finally ran a westbound, #21E.

Within about 10 minutes a westbound manifest showed up,

followed closely by this westbound auto rack train. Note that there are few train symbols as for the most part the crews did not identify their trains.


At this point we relocated to the 16th Street grade crossing just east of Wall Interlocking. First train up here, after a 1 1/2 hour wait, was a westbound local with two engines on each end.


About 15 minutes later an eastbound auto rack train went through,

followed about 20 minutes later by #250K.


The local power ran east about 20 minutes later.

Followed in about 15 minutes by a westbound manifest. Since it was just after 3:00 we decided to explore east.

We got as far as Richland, PA where we photographed this westbound manifest and then returned to Lebanon.

We set up for a westbound coming past the depot but NS ran only 2 eastbounds.


Then it was time to head for home. Hope you enjoyed the photos.

Railfanning 6-13-2011

Hi, Friend Paul Woodring was visiting the area from Ohio during the week of June 13 and we arranged to go out and photograph along the Metropolitan Subdivision that Monday. Our first stop was at Germantown, MD. Even though this area has become very built up over the years there are still some nice photo angles. In the first picture a MARC train is deadheading into Washington, DC.

A few minutes later Q226 came through on Track 2.

Our next stop was Barnesville, MD. The first train was D765, the train that carries garbage from the transfer station in Rockville, MD to a steam generating incinerator in Dickerson, MD. The steam is sold to a Mirant Energy power plant across the fence. The residue from the incinerator is shipped to a landfill, I think in Ohio.

After an empty coal train passed we relocated to Point of Rocks, MD. where we waited about an hour until Q278 came east.

A few minutes later R648 resumed its westbound trek.


We then move on to Brunswick, MD. CSX stages coal trains here for delivery to the Mirant Energy power plant in Dickerson as well as for their plants in Chalk Point and Morgantown, MD. This coal train has been staged on the normally westbound tracks and is heading east.

Shortly thereafter Q398 came east past another staged coal train and a cut of gravel hoppers.

Finally, E642 stopped to change crews before continuing west past WB tower. Rumors have been circulating that the tower would close shortly and its operations taken over by the dispatcher in Baltimore. However, the operator told us that they had just learned the tower would continue to in service for at least another 3 years.

Our final stop of the day was at Lander Road just west of Point of Rocks where we photographed Q217.

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Washington DC Photos

Hi, Our guide in Viet Nam, and now friend, Tran was visiting last week and Wednesday and Thursday was spent showing him the sights in Washington, DC. I took a point and shoot along on Wednesday. I gave myself the assignment of pretending to be a tourist and shoot as if I were just visiting. Here are some of the results with comments only where I feel necessary.


The next 3 photos are the relatively new WWII memorial.



For me the Viet Nam Memorial is the saddest place in the US, and possibly the world.


I feel people making rubbings of names on the wall symbolizes what it is all about.





I had never visited the Korean War Memorial. The realism of the soldiers who seem to be on patrol was stark.

There was a wall across a path next to the memorial that had images of service people. It also was very smooth, and therefore reflective. I attempted to get the reflection of the statue in the foreground on the wall in the photo below.


Here again reflections of the statues and the images on the wall.


The following 5 images are from the Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial.



One part of the memorial is given over to water flowing over rocks. I have no idea why this was included but I was intrigued by the textures and play of light.


Finally, my political commentary. There has been much said and written by strict constructionists of our Constitution about how we need to interpret it as our founders wrote it. However, here in the Jefferson Memorial is a quote from one our founders that I think disputes the claims of the strict constructionist.

Hope you enjoyed the photos. Bob

Railfanning - F unit weekend, Part - 2

Hi, Sunday, June 5, was the reason Jim and I went to Scranton, PA. A short trip was operated that morning by the Anthracite Railroad Historical Society behind a pair of F3s just repainted from a tangerine and blue Central RR of New Jersey paint scheme into a Delaware Lackawanna & Western freight paint scheme. Number 664 is owned by the ARHS while number 663 is owned by the Tri-State Chaper of the NRHS. During the early afternoon the ARHS's RS-3, freshly painted in CNJ green, operated on the Steamtown shuttle.

There were may opportunities to photograph the F3s at a number of different locations. The train was stopped for awhile at each photo stop so still photographers could get multiple angles and photo runs were made at some of them for the videographers.

The first photo is at Tower 6 as our train heads for the Steamtown loading platform.

We had a brief amount of time at the loading platform.

After boarding our train we headed east about a 1/4 mile. We then unloaded at our first photo stop, a tower just east of the former Lackawanna station, now a Radisson Hotel.

From there we headed to the east portal of Nay Aug tunnel.


Winton siding, between Elmhurst and Dunmore, PA was as far as the train went. A signal bridge just west of the siding provided a photo prop for the train headed both east and west. The photo below shows the train headed east.

After the locomotives ran around the train a photo run was made headed east.

Finally the train posed under the signal bridge. The highway in the background is I-380.


On our way back to Steamtown we once again stopped at the tower west of Lackawanna station.

Our train spent awhile at the Steamtown platform allowing a variety of shots,

including this one of both our train and the Steamtown shuttle.

While the shuttle was waiting for its second run of the day the F3s were put away. The Reading FP7s rest in the background.

As the weather was not very good we only photographed 2 runs of the shuttle. It is shown here at its loading area,

from the foot bridge from Steamtown into the mall, and

at Tower 60.


Finally, a shot of the Reading FP7s and the DL&W F3s side by side.


I hope you enjoyed the photos. I had a great time with Jim on the trip.