Railfanning - 11/18/2012

Hi, I went out on Sunday with friend Marc Laborde and his son Anthony.  As I was unsure of traffic levels that day we headed for Shenandoah Junction, WV where we could shoot both CSX's former B&O east west route and NS's former N&W Shenandoah Valley line.

We were unpleasantly surprised when we arrived at Shenandoah Junction to find a crew with heavy equipment on the track working on the NS line.  However, shortly after we arrived a ballast train went east on CSX at about 10:00 AM.

As we saw the heavy equipment moving south toward the NS grade crossing in town we went to line up for a shot of the expected train.  We found one of the trucks with some of the crew parked near the grade crossing.  From one of the crew I learned their track authority was good until noon.  With this information we decided to head up to Hagerstown to see what we could find there.  As we were on our way to Hagerstown we heard the dispatcher extend the track authorities (it turned out there was a surfacing gang working in the Charlestown, WV area) until 2:00 PM.

When we got to Vardo Yard in Hagerstown I went into the yard office to try to get some information.  Although the yard clerk was cool, he did tell me that the train sitting outside, which turned out to be #37Q, was called for 12:30 PM and that #11R would depart at 1:30 PM.  While we were there we had the opportunity to photograph this high hood SD-40 switching the yard.  #37Q is sitting to the right on yard air. 

We headed north to try to find #11R.  However, when we reached Greencastle, PA we heard #11R call Vardo for yarding instructions.  So we returned to Hagerstown just as #11R entered the yard.  We noted that the crew for #37Q was aboard so went south to Antietam, MD arriving and getting set up just as the train was descending the hill in the background.

#37Q stopped just north of Shenandoah Junction until the surface gangs cleared up.

At about 2:15 PM #37Q came south.

At 3:30 PM #11R crossed the diamond with CSX's Shenandoah Valley line (under the third car in the train) in Charlestown, WV.

I hope you enjoyed the photos.