Railfanning 3-14-2014

Hi, I spent last Friday photographing with friends Stan Short and Dale Diacont mostly in Orange, VA.  After a day of railfanning and dinner Stan and I headed to his home for an evening of slide viewing. We began our day at Orange.

Our first train of the day, at 10:15 was a work train with this SD70MAC on the point (above and below).

The train pulled clear of the cross over north of the station and the locomotive cut off  to run around the work train.  We found the engine at a grade crossing north of Orange.

After lunch we photographed Amtrak's westbound Cardinal.  The train is leaving NS trackage and entering the Buckingham Branch RR as it passes under the signal bridge.  The Buckingham Branch track is on lease from CSX and was the C&O connection from their Piedmont mainline at Gordonsville to the Southern; and then via trackage rights to Washington, DC.  According to Dale this signal bridge will come down when NS installs PTC on this route.

After the Cardinal cleared we headed to Gordonsville to see if we could find the Buckingham Branch train we knew was working in the area.  However, about half way between Orange and Gordonsville we passed the Cardinal poking along at about 30 MPH so we hurried to set up for a second shot of the train on the west leg of the wye at Gordonsville (above and below).

After the Cardinal cleared the gentleman in the photo above (porch, 2nd floor) confirmed what we had heard on the radio, i.e., the Buckingham Branch train went west ahead of the Cardinal; so we returned to Orange.

Things were quiet until about 3:20 PM when #214 showed up with an SD75 on the point.

About 45 minutes later a train we think was #12R passed through town.

Number 12R met #211 north of town and we caught it passing the old station which now is a visitor center (above and below).

The eastbound Cardinal was running about an hour late when it passed through Orange at 4:30 PM (above and below).

Our last train of the day was #228 at about 4:50 PM.

Thanks for looking.