Railfanning the Maryland Midland and MARC - 4/10/2019

Hi, I enjoyed a great chase of Maryland Midland train UBHF with friends Jim Kleeman, Ken Lewis, and Bill Kalkman last Wednesday. As the train was westbound in the morning back lighting was a problem.

My first shot was at Thurmont, MD where we found a couple of flowering bushes. Having the Maryland Midland heritage unit leading westbound was a nice surprise.

We then headed to a farm lane on the south side of Sabillasville (above and below).

We were just barely able to beat the train to the point where the railroad crosses MD 550.

The train arrived in Highfield, MD (above and below)

stopped at the Highfield Road grade crossing

to await CSX local D702.

Once D702 cleared UBHF pulled its train down toward Fort Ritchie (above and two below)

and then backed its train on to a siding off the CSX track to Gettysburg, PA.

The power then came back toward Fort Ritchie

and coupled on to the cut of cars D702 had left for the Maryland Midland (above and below).

After picking up another cut of cars just around the corner from the above photo UBHF came through Blue Ridge Summit, PA.

We caught the train again at Lance, just south of Sabillasville,

between Lance and Thurmont at a place I was told is called Flint and

finally at Detour.

We then headed for Point of Rocks, MD in time to photograph the first westbound MARC evening rush hour train, P873 (above and below).

Then it was off to Harpers Ferry, WV for P875, the first train of the afternoon to Martinsburg, WV.

We finished up our day of railfanning with P877 at Brunswick, MD (above and below).

Thanks for looking.

Railfanning the Delmarva Peninsula - 4/3/2019

Hi, I joined friends Bill Kalkman and Jim Kleeman for a day trip to the Delmava Peninsula in early April.

Our first stop was in Federalsburg, MD where we caught Maryland and Delaware RR #1203 switching (above and below).

From Federalsburg we went on to Seaford, DE where the Delmarva Central SE-1 job had already gone to work with the crew switching just north of the old Pennsy depot (above and below).

                                     

Next they came south and left the mainline to work the connection with the M & D (above and three below).

After separating the engines so that they had one on each end

the crew headed north.

We photographed the train passing the Perdue Farms feed mill in Cannon, DE with NS #52M unloading in the background

and then passing #52M.

After SE-1 passed we shot #52M by itself.

Next up was a more traditional elevator just south of Bridgeville, DE.

On SE-1's return from Greenwood, DE we photographed it passing the Perdue feed mill on the north side of Bridgeville

and then in Seaford (above and five below)

where it pulled up on the interchange lead (above and below) and called it a day.

Next we journeyed to Delmar, DE where we waited about 3 hours for RD-2 to go to work at 3:00 PM.

When the crew went to work they went to the south end of Delmar Yard, located in Maryland, to switch (above and below).

On the run south we caught the train at Fruitland,

Princess Anne (above and below),

and crossing the Pocomoke River in Pocomoke City, MD.

I could not have asked for a better day: good friend, great weather and two trains with beautifully painted switchers.

Thanks for looking.

Trip to Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina - Final

Hi, This final post covers the last two days of our trip. On the next to last day we arrived at the Blue Ridge Southern office in Canton about 8:00 AM only to find that the westbound morning train had left about 15 minutes ago.

Having learned that the train would go further west this day, turning back in Sylva, NC, we headed out in pursuit. However, we neglected to ask where the train would work. We started looking for a location west of Waynesville and found a nice spot where we waited for 2 1/2 hours with no train. As the rails showed no sign that a train had passed we were confident. However, about 11:00 AM we decided to head back into Canton as the Asheville Turn was supposed to leave at noon. About twenty minutes after we arrived back at the office the Asheville Turn was cancelled for the day due to track work so we headed back west.

Finally, on the east side of Sylva we found the crew running around their train (above and below).

Fortunately this is not currently fast track and we were able to photograph the train further east of Sylva,

at Willets-Ochre Hill,

Fisher Cove and

at Granny Smith Drive off Apple Drive west of Waynesville (above and two below).

The next day was allotted to NS in Virginia. Our first stop was Alta Vista as I had never seen the large trestle there. Just south of town a signal indicated a northbound was headed toward us so we set up for a shot on the bridge. After about 20 minutes we could hear the northbound approaching but it took the connection to the former Virginian and headed west instead of crossing the trestle.

After lunch we explored a little and found this spot just east of downtown where a pair of CPLs still govern train movements. From a railfan who was waiting there we learned an eastbound coal train was close.

Next we headed up to Lynchburg. However, the weather was poor, the train operations in town were confusing and Saturday traffic was awful so we decided to quit a day early and head for home.

It was a very enjoyable and productive trip for me right down to the last photo. Thanks for looking.