Railfanning 3/8/2017

Hi, On March 8 friend Dale Diacont and I spent a beautiful day railfanning the lower end of the NS Shenandoah Valley line. We began the day in Dale's hometown of Waynesboro, VA waiting for #201.

Instead we found local V83 working an industry on the south side of town. It did not take long before the light engines headed north to the small Waynesboro yard

for a crew change

before heading south to Lofton, VA to work.

On the way we caught the power at Lyndhurst.

The power beat us to Lofton but we did not have to wait long before they came out while switching. This provided a number of opportunities to photograph from different angles using different focal lengths (above and four below).

We then caught V83 heading north at Greenville, VA. The SD70 in the siding has a work train.

Having heard on the scanner that V83 was to meet #201 just north of Greenville we returned to Lofton for our next shot.

I really wanted to shoot a train at Solitude, VA so that was our next stop. After a long wait #201 showed up (above and two below).

We grabbed a sandwich to go at a Burger King and headed to Lithia, VA where 15T and 16T met. 16T was horribly back lit but 15T got its portrait taken passing the old section house on the left, and an old whistle post and CPL on the right.

Our last shot of the day was of 15T passing another CPL, this time at Cloverdale, VA on the outskirts of Roanoke.

A beautiful day with good railroad action and good company. The day was a 10!

Italy Trip - 14, Malta

Hi, Malta was the fourth stop on our cruise.

Entering the harbor at Valletta was very impressive with the combination of old fortifications and old buildings (above and three below).

We docked next to a row of colorfully decorated buildings.

A long ramp lead from the port up to the main part of town.

Our day in Malta was spent riding another hop on hop off bus around the island. Given our short stay we elected to stay on the bus.

 Immediately upon climbing the ramp we passed the independence monument at the entrance to Maglio Gardens.

In the towns the buildings were ornately decorated (above and below) and

many had balconies (above and below). The streets were very narrow.

The Church of St. Mary in Mosta is known locally as the Miracle Church. During World War II two German bombs fell on the church with 250 parishioners inside attending mass. Neither bomb exploded.

Mdina, as seen from our bus, is a walled city and was the capital of Malta up until about 1530.

Another church we passed was the Ave Regina Caelorum.

A number of coastal towns had modern apartment buildings and hotels (above and below).

The Porte de Bombes, located in Floriana was once was a gate through the town's outer wall and had a single arch. The second arch was added in 1868.

Next up was the War Memorial and then

this fountain.

We had time before dinner to take some photos from our balcony (above and three below).

Thanks for looking.

Italy Trip - 13, Messina, Sicily, Italy

Hi, Our third port of call was Messina, Sicily.

This statue, Stelle Della Madona Della Letera, greets ships entering the harbor.

An excellent view of the city was available from the sundeck of the ship. Here is Temple Christ the King.

We decided to just walk into the city instead of taking a shore excursion off the ship. We passed through Piazza Unione Europea and came upon this war memorial.

Occasionally a really old car, such as this Fiat 500 (above and below) was seen. This model was built from 1957 to 1975.

Eventually we came to Fontana de Orione in the Piazza Duomo (above and below).

The main attraction here is the Protometropolitana Basilica Cattedrale. At noon there is a show in which the statues in the various windows move (see seven below),

Note the different positions of the heads and the closed vs open mouth in the photos above and below.

The old and the new - horse drawn carriage and cell phone.

There were some pretty building decorations (above and two below).

After our walk I paused to take a photo of our ship. Thanks for looking.