Railfanning 1-26 to 1-28-2016

Hi, I had the opportunity to visit with my friend Stan Short from the morning of January 26 through the early afternoon of January 28. During that period we spent our days photographing trains and the evenings looking at railroad slides. It was great.

Shortly after my arrival on Tuesday morning we headed for CSX.  It was dead and we did not see a train until 2:50 PM when this north bound intermodal came through Doswell, VA with a pier of Tier 4 compliant GEs.

Next up a few minutes later was a southbound coal train (above and below).  I was surprised at how much had changed at Doswell with the addition of a new industry just out of the photo to the left.

During the next half hour Q400 came north and

Amtrak #95 went south.

We set out early the next morning to shoot some dips on the NS mainline starting at Culpeper, VA.  As the northbound Amtrak from Lynchburg was due in about an hour we elected to wait for it photographing NS #213 in the interim.

Number 95 was right on time.

After loading passengers it departed (above and below).

We found our first dip at Midland, VA where we shot NS #35Q (above and below).

Next up was Calverton with a northbound local (above and below).

Our final train of the morning was Amtrak #51, the westbound Cardinal (above and below) just before 1:00 PM.

The next train, NS #211, was at 4:43 PM.

The next morning we hung around Fredericksburg.  Our first train was Amtrak #84 at 10:15 AM (we got a late start).

Next the local backed down from the yard in Fredericksburg to work an industry near the new VRE platform.

Soon after the local went by Amtrak #67, running about 3 hours late, hustled by (above and below)

followed shortly by #89, the Palmetto.

Thanks for looking.

Japan - 4

Hi, This will be a brief post as once again the port,  Korsakov on Sakhalin Island, was not very interesting photographically. The island was wrested from Russia in the Russo Japanese war of 1905 and returned to Russia after World War II.

Korsakov was the only port during both cruises we had to access using tenders.  From there we took a bus to Yuzhno.

Our first stop was at this small, wooden Russian Orthodox church.  Only external photos were possible as we could not go inside.

On the way to our next stop we passed this colorful apartment block.

This park, called the Square of Glory, honored the Russian military of World War II (above and two below).

This statue represents Mother Russia.

A little boy was having a good time climbing on a tank.

From the park we headed to the Sakhalin Regional Museum.

Our final stop was a small shopping mall where there were a number of jewelry stores specializing in watches and

a grocery store (above and  two below).

Here too there is an extensive display of liquor.

Thanks for looking.

Japan - 3

Hi, After a day at sea Diamond Princess reached our first port of call; Kushiro on the island of Hokaido.

On exiting the ship I noticed the ships reflection in a huge puddle.

Our first stop was the Kushiro Shitsugen National Park.  The park is devoted to plants and there really wasn't much to see there.

Next up was Akan International Crane Centre.

During the winter food is set out for the birds and there is flock in residence.  During the summer only a couple of birds in cages were present.

Our final stop was at a typical Japanese grocery.  The shopping center also had a McDonalds.

The displays are very different than in the U.S.

Fruit is very carefully packaged although not all was done to this degree.

This section was devoted to painkillers and

this one to fireworks.

Two young girls were enjoying playing on exercise machines.

A variety of liquors were offered.

The next day was at sea which provided an opportunity to look around the ship and take some photos (above and three below).

This is one of the bridge wings taken from our balcony.

Some sun coming in at a rakish angle combined with the ship's wake to produce this photo.

Thanks for looking.

Railfanning 1/22/2016

Hi, I spent yesterday afternoon taking these photos at Gaithersburg, MD with friend Ira Silverman. Between CSX and MARC it was reasonably busy.

Shortly after our arrival the early afternoon MARC train for Brunswick pulled into Gaithersburg.  When I heard the train call a signal about a mile away I set up for the shot with my wide angle to short tele zoom but could not find the focusing square.  I quickly realized the battery was low so I hurried back to the car and put a spare battery into my grip.  It too was low so I grabbed the camera with my tele zoom and was able to grab this photo.

Next up was Q130.  By this time I had put my third battery into the camera with the wide angle to short tele zoom and it was fine.

By now the snow was really picking up so to protect my cameras we moved to the parking structure diagonally across the street from the station.  Here we photographed the empty garbage train returning from Dickerson, MD,

Q261 (abpve and below),

an eastbound auto rack train, and

two more commuter trains (above and six below).

We were going to stay for the westbound Capitol Limited but learned it was cancelled.  Way to go Amtrak.

Thanks for looking.